Sculptra

Over a period of time your skin becomes thinner, and loses its firm and young looking appearance. The natural elasticity of the skin is lost, and the facial contours lose natural fatty deposits. Hollows and grooves begin to appear on the cheeks and around the temple. Your skin begins to lose volume making your face appear narrow and thin, and making you look older than your years.

Sculptra is ideal to help increase the volume of facial areas that are depressed, correct skin creases, folds, wrinkles, and scars. Sculptra is also ideal to treat visible signs of fat loss on the face. Your practitioner can use Sculptra to restore the contours of your face, and remove wrinkles and lines without the help of surgery. Sculptra is an injectable material containing micro particles that smoothen and lift skin, smoothen wrinkles and creases, and erase scars and dark circles.

The main ingredient in Sculptra is Poly-L-Lactic acid. This has been used commonly in surgeries in bioresorbable sutures, screws and bone plates, and as medications. More recently, it has been used to enhance facial contours in ageing skin. Since 1999, more than around 150,000 people have been able to improve the appearance of their skin using Sculptra. This is a biocompatible material, and has long lasting effect.

Sculptra involves little pain, and can provide results that are natural looking. It works to smoothen the areas of the face that needs treatment by affecting the lower skin layers. Sculptra will be injected into the areas of the face, and the number of injections can vary depending on your age, severity of your wrinkles and the kind of treatment you require. The results of Sculptra can be seen for up to 2 years, making it longer lasting than other non surgical treatment.

Procedure
You can expect some amount of discomfort during treatment. Common side effects include pain, bleeding, swelling, bruising or redness at the injection site. These effects disappear after 2 to 6 days. You will notice the results of Sculptra, on a gradual basis over a few weeks.

You may also notice some slight burning at the injection site during treatment. Your practitioner may use a local anesthetic to avoid discomfort. After the treatment you may use an ice pack to calm your skin.             

After the treatment
You may be required to massage the areas that have been treated for the first few days after the procedure. If you notice any inflammation or bumps, consult your practitioner immediately.

Side effects
Commonly seen side effects include pain, bleeding or bruising that disappear in a week. Another side effect may be the formation of bumps beneath the skin that are only visible when you press the area. These bumps may begin to form within the first year after treatment, and sometimes disappear on their own. In some cases, bumps that are visible and red in color have also been seen. There may also be a risk of infection.

Result
The results of Sculptra are not immediate.  During a first treatment procedure, it may seem as if the injection has an immediate effect. This is because of a swelling that results from the injection. After a few days, when the swelling subsides, and the water that is used to dilute the Sculptra injection is absorbed by the body, you may feel as if you look the same as before treatment. The injection takes some time to show effect, and results are normally seen in about 6 weeks. After a few weeks, your practitioner will examine the treated areas again to determine the need for additional injections.