Micro Lipoinjections, also known as "fat transfers", "fat micro transplants", etc., are in essence the injection of a small amount of the patient's own fat tissues —harvested from the thighs or abdomen, into the lips and other facial areas with the purpose of diminishing the appearance of small depressions, wrinkles, lines, scars, etc. This procedure is also applied to other parts of the body, with the same purpose.
Micro Lipoinjection is an office procedure that takes approximately thirty to forty-five minutes to complete; usually, three to five sessions are necessary to obtain the desired results, which are very satisfactory if treatments are repeated every four to six months. This is due to the natural process of reabsortion of the transferred tissues. AutoCollagen™ is advised for longer, lasting results.
Micro Lipoinjection is probably the most used treatment for lip enhancement, sometimes in combination with AutoCollagen™ for the softening of deep lines around the mouth.
| 51 years old female patient shown before treatment for deep lines around the mouth and at two months after completion of three treatments with a combination of Micro Lipoinjections, AutoCollagen™ and gentle Microdermabrasion over a period of sixty days, concurrently with daily applications of a 10% Vitamin C and Vitamin E lotion preparations. |
| 32 years old female patient shown before treatment and at six weeks after completion of two treatments with Micro Lipoinjections over a period of three months. Note the fullness of the lower lip on the picture on the right. |
Collagen injections have been used for several years to treat facial wrinkles and lines, as well as for lip enhancement. This procedure does have some noticeable cosmetic effect but has a number of serious drawbacks: collagen for injections usually comes from animal sources. Since it is a foreign protein, injected collagen may be attacked by the immune system, which may lead to serious allergic reactions.
This is not common but it does happen. Furthermore, animal collagen, if not properly processed and handled, carries a risk of introducing into the deep layers of the skin unknown amounts of micro-organisms, which would cause a local inflammatory reaction with swelling, redness and the elimination of the injected substance. It has been reported in the medical literature that animal collagen may provoke a long-lasting auto-immune disease.
The wrinkle smoothing effect of injected animal collagen is relatively brief because it does not integrate into the skin's own collagen mesh. As a result, it breaks down relatively quickly, which causes wrinkles to reappear.
New technologies to resupply wrinkled areas with collagen are emerging: one notable improvement is to inject collagen from the same patient, to completely eliminate the risk of allergic and auto-immune reactions. The results with these new treatments last longer than those using animal collagen.
AutoCollagen™ is similar to an "autograft", which means taking tissues from one part of the body and placing them in another area on the same patient.
Doctors at our practice have extensive experience with these procedures, which apply the latest advances in the field: we reduce wrinkles, lines, deep acne scars and other skin problems by treating patients with their own collagen and collagen-producing cells.
This procedure is more involved than Micro Lipoinjections, but its results are longer lasting because the patient's own collagen and cells are incorporated into the treated areas. Also, this approach eliminates the possibilities of serious side-effects and complications such as allergies, immune reactions, rejection, infections, etc.
AutoCollagen™ is a highly specialized approach that yields very satisfactory results, it is done at our offices and does not require complicated care. The initial treament —tissue harvesting, takes approximately thirty minutes. The amount of tissues obtained is small, always proportional to the number and size of the areas to be treated. After allowing for seven to ten days to process the harvested tissues, they are ready for injection
The application sessions may take approximately thirty minutes each and its number —usually from three to five, varies with the areas to be treated.
We use AutoCollagen™ for lip enhancement and to treat frown lines between the eyes, deep acne scars, cheek depressions, lines around the mouth, forehead wrinkles and lines, crow's feet, deep smile lines, dimples and facial scars.
AutoCollagen™ injections cause minimal discomfort and normal activities can be resumed immediately. Treated areas may have moderate swelling for a few hours. There may also be slight bruising, which can be covered with make-up. Depending on the treated area and the results, several injections may be necessary to achieve the desired results.
For more detailed information, we encourage our patients to schedule a first appointment, free of charge. Our doctors will answer all the questions they might have regarding this procedure or any other of our specialized treatments.
Micro Lipoinjection Fees: $650 - $980
Autocollagen™ Fees: $860 - $1,260
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