We had an advanced injection training this past Friday on different ways to use Radiesse dermal filler to correct crepey areas of skin, improve skin tone, texture, and replace volume loss, on body areas like the knees, neck, buttocks, and thighs. I didn’t know I was going to get to be a a model beforehand, but I got to get my neck treated! (And as you can see from the picture up top, Iris got her some areas on her buttocks treated!)
Just the day before, I had taken my magnifying mirror to the bathroom counter to check for stray eyebrows or whiskers. What’s up with the little chin whiskers? I have one on my upper lip that I swear grows back in one day. I spend half my life grooming! Anyway, the lighting in my bathroom is this terrible can lighting so I have to angle the magnifying mirror just right to catch the light and I have to bend over it. I glanced down at myself and saw my bent-over reflection. You know, when you bend forward and you realize you had no idea your skin could sag that much. Like suddenly it’s not attached to your body or something. So anyway I saw this neck skin that I thought couldn’t possibly belong to me, but it does. So thin and slightly saggy and crepey. I made a mental note to ask Kit for some skin tightening that week. But before I could get around to it, we had this training and they asked if I wanted to be the model for that particular portion.
Radiesse is not made of hyaluronic acid like most fillers (think Juvederm and Restylane). It is made of calcium hydroxylapatite (CaHA) microspheres suspended in a gel. What makes Radiesse unique is the ability of the product to act as a scaffold under the skin, providing structure (instant results) and stimulating your own natural collagen to grow (long lasting results).
For these body area treatments, the Radiesse is injected with a cannula, so the majority of the treatment is totally painless. You only feel the initial needle pricks at the insertion points, and then you truly truly feel nothing as the cannula glides within a very specific plane under the skin. Because of the unique makeup of Radiesse, you get the instant plumping effect expected from dermal fillers, and then you also get the long term effects of the collagen stimulation, both of which help to dissipate the saggy, crepey skin. This technique can be used for shaping and smoothing near the buttock - think slight re-shaping or filling in/smoothing of some cellulite dimples.
It can also be used for the knees to help with all those lines that end up on the top of the kneecap as we age. We saw some pretty impressive before and after pictures throughout the training. My neck is still bruised and may need to have a little bit more product added, so no before and after pictures of me yet.
If you are interested in doing this treatment we recommend doing a Skin Tyte treatment on your neck just before heading to get your filler. The two procedures compliment each other perfectly.