The Mummy Makeover is so 2016, the Menopause Makeover has taken a front row seat. For women entering their 40s, 50s and beyond, the instrumental shift in hormones and collagen and elastin loss are driving a new wave of cosmetic surgery and appearance medicine treatments. With oestrogen on the decline, bone loss and soft tissue breaking down and skin thinning, the face and body take a hit. Fortunately, there are both surgical and non-invasive cosmetic procedures to contour, rejuvenate and redefine.
The Menopause Makeover procedure line-up is unique to every woman but treatments to address key face and body areas – the tummy, eyes, breasts and face – include . . .
Liposuction and Renuvion . . .
Liposuction is an effective procedure for targeting stubborn pockets of fat – especially those about the middle, hips and flanks. However, it doesn’t always remedy sagging skin and laxity, which many women face with a drop in oestrogen levels. Renuvion – helium plasma and radio frequency technology in captured in a wand and delivered via small incisions – when combined with liposuction surgery, tightens and shrinks skin tissues. Results are immediate and tightening and contracture continues to unfold across the next 12 months. This powerful duo is especially suited to women – and men – who are just starting to notice loose skin and are wanting to enhance their liposuction results minus the invasive incisions.
Blepharoplasty. . .
The eyes are delicate and one of the first areas to show the signs of age. A blepharoplasty, or eye lift, remains a staple on the cosmetic plastic surgery popularity list because it effectively removes excess skin – both upper and lower eyelids – tightens and harmonises the face.
Most women, regardless of age and stage, aren’t aiming for ‘the pulled back’ look or excessively slanted eyes, so a gentle approach to eyelid restoration is essential.
Depending on your individual goals and needs, a surgeon will determine whether you require an upper or lower eyelift – or both. Upper lid surgery removes sagging skin, and excess fatty tissue and muscle, and gently lifts. A lower blepharoplasty removes and repositions the fat/skin beneath the eyes. Whilst there is more than one surgical approach, typically fat is removed from inside the lower lid to avoid external scarring.
With both eye lifts, the overall goal is balance and gently enhance the eyes.
Sofwave. . .
The skin loses collagen at a rate of 1 – 1.5% per year after the age of 25 – yikes! Not to mention the sun, free radicals and diet all contributing to a breakdown in our skin proteins too – not ideal! To support the skin and boost collagen and elastin levels as age creeps in, Sofwave is on hand. This non-invasive facial procedure heats the dermal layer of the skin at the ideal temperature with its revolutionary SUPERB™ Synchronous Ultrasound Parallel Beam technology, stimulating collagen and elastin production. Because it stimulates at just the right depth — 1.5 millimetres — just below the surface of the skin, where collagen is most abundant, it doesn’t damage the precious fat cells. Most people require just one Sofwave treatment, with renewed cells regenerating across several months, and greater skin lift and a reduction in laxity for the long-term.
Breastlift . . .
Elasticity loss doesn’t just take a toll on the face as the years charge on it’s also the breasts that head south. A breast lift or mastopexy – often combined with fatgrafting for greater volume or a reduction – can elevate the breasts, correct any lopsidedness, reposition the nipples (which may have stretched). Whilst no two breasts are perfectly symmetrical, the goal of a lift is to elevate them to their natural position on the chest, remove any excess skin and tighten surrounding tissues.
Necklift . . .
A neck lift focuses on restoration of the jawline and excision of skin folds under the chin. The procedure involves removing excess skin and fat, and then redraping the skin, with scars placed in inconspicuous places. During surgery, restoration of the jawline is achieved, and the folds of skin under the chin excised via a neck lift. The procedure involves removing excess skin and fat, and then redraping the skin, with scars placed in inconspicuous places – with incisions healing within approximately 10 days, and swelling subsiding within several weeks.
Final words? Ultimately,the menopause journey is an individual one, therefore any cosmetic and appearance medicine should follow suit.
