Holy Moly! If I hadn’t seen it first hand, I wouldn’t have believed the amazing results that can be achieved with Sculptra. If you have facial volume loss and are looking for a treatment that will restore structure to your facial contours and give you a more youthful, natural look, definitely give this product a whirl.
What is Sculptra?
Sculptra Aesthetic is a unique facial injectable that is unlike the hyaluronic acid (HA) fillers that are commonly used to correct facial volume loss. Sculptra is not a filler, it is a bio-stimulator: it is the only volumizer specifically designed to stimulate your natural collagen production, and clinical studies have shown it can last at least 2 years.
Sculptra is best for adding volume to:
Hollow cheeks
Softening boney cheekbones
Nasolabial folds
Hollow chin area
Defining the jawline
Hollow temples
Some body sites
Traditional dermal fillers, like Juvederm and Restylane, are used to fill lines, wrinkles, and folds. Results from these products are immediate and can last from several months up to one year, depending on the quanity of product injected, where the product is placed, and your own metabolism. Sculptra works differently from these HA fillers. Sculptra is different because it gradually and subtly corrects these facial wrinkles, using your body's own natural collagen.
What is Sculptra made of?
Sculptra is made of poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA) which is biodegradable and biocompatible, and has been used in other medical forms, such as dissolvable stitches. PLLA is basically a synthetic of lactic acid, which is made in our muscles after exercise. Once injected, the PLLA interacts with your own collagen, resulting in increased collagen growth.
What happens in the body that makes our facial skin sag or sink?
Collagen acts as a support structure for your skin, provides overall volume, and gives shape to your face. Loss of collagen is one of the primary, underlying causes of facial aging. As skin ages, the middle layer of the skin (the dermis) thins due to this collagen loss, which is also sped along by environmental and sun damage. At about age 30, collagen loss decreases your skin’s elasticity and moisture. By stimulating collagen production, Sculptra helps to replenish lost volume by providing a foundation that gradually restores the look of fullness to shallow or deep facial wrinkles and folds that have been depleted over time. This provides a refined, more youthful looking appearance that can last more than two years.
How does this treatment work?
Unlike traditional dermal fillers, Sculptra results are not immediate. Sculptra begins to work from the day of your first injections, but you may not see results until after your second injection session, nearly six weeks later. A favorite analogy with this product is seeding. The Sculptra injections are like seeds of collagen that encourage your own collagen to regrow. This regrowth occurs over months: not only giving you subtle and natural results, but also giving you long lasting results, as the volume you will achieve is your own collagen, rather than HA (like traditional fillers) that begins to diminish from the time of treatment.
Correction with Sculptra takes place in a series of treatments. On average, three injection sessions are needed over a period of several months. The number of vials needed, injection sessions, and the number of injections per session vary from person to person.
Directly after your first session, you will look very similar to how you will look at optimal correction, several months later. However, as the water from injection dminishes over several days, you will return to looking how you did prior to that first treatment session. But don't despair! Your collagen is being re-grown, and you will soon begin to see that subtle collagen regrowth over the next few months, ultimately culminating in a fairly spectacular, more youthful appearance.