Skin Laxity
What causes skin laxity?
As we get older, there is natural breakdown of collagen and elastic fibres in the skin. This causes the skin to lose its firmness and elasticity. These is also sometimes loss of fat or migration downwards. Skin starts sagging over certain areas for example the eyelids, under the eyes (eye bags), the lower cheeks (jowls), and neck.
What is the treatment for skin laxity?
Severe sagging skin is traditionally removed with surgery (e.g. face lift, eyelid surgery). For mild to moderate skin sagging, non invasive skin tightening is a safe option. Skin tightening uses deep heat at different levels of the skin like the dermis to stimulate new collagen formation or the deep muscle layer for direct tightening. The advantage is very minimal downtime and side effects. These treatments provide “toning” of the skin and is a less invasive alternative to surgery.
There are different types of medical equipment that can stimulate various degrees of skin tightening. These include intense pulsed light, lasers (fractional carbon dioxide laser, Pico laser), radiofrequency and high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU).
Skin tightening can be combined with other treatments like botulinum toxin, filler or bio remodelling injections for best results.
Your dermatologist will assess you to see if you are suitable for skin tightening.