Facts About Your Skin

Facts About Your Skin

Your face is your calling card; it defines you through your look, your expressions, and your unique personality. It’s what you present to the world as ‘you’, so it’s worth looking after.

When your skin is healthy and glowing, you appear more youthful and as a result, you feel more attractive and confident. But maintaining this vitality becomes more of a challenge as the natural changes that come with ageing take place.

The Statistics

To get you thinking about your future face, here are some little-known facts about skin and ageing:

  • Skin is our largest body organ, making up 15% of body weight. Total skin surface adds up to between 1.5 and 2 square meters – that’s a lot of skin to take care of!
  • Skin is thickest on the palms and soles at up to 4 mm thick and thinnest on the lips and around the eyes at just a fraction of a millimetre thick.
  • On average, each square half inch of skin contains 10 hairs, 100 sweat glands, and 1 metre of tiny blood vessels.
  • Every 24 hours, the skin sheds a layer of dead cells, constantly renewing around every 28 days. An average of 40 kg of skin is shed during a lifetime, and dead skin cells make up about 90% of household dust.
  • Many people believe that only gravity creates wrinkles, but research shows that loss of facial volume and changes in bone structure are much bigger culprits.
  • Women tend to experience facial bone loss at a younger age than men, which may explain why women are more likely to seek cosmetic enhancement at a younger age than men.
  • A smoker in their 40s may have as many wrinkles as a non-smoker in their 60s.
  • Exercise can combat wrinkles. The boost in blood circulation to the skin strengthens blood vessels and increases the renewal of cells.
  • Stress is hard on the skin. Low-level tensing of facial muscles works to create an aged appearance.
  • Sun damage is thought to be responsible for 80% of skin ageing. Without sun damage, we would probably not develop wrinkles until we were in our 80s.
  • Skin cancer is the most common of cancers among both men and women, accounting for more than 30% of all cancers combined.
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FAQ

How does muscle relaxing toxin injection work?

It works by relaxing facial muscles, thereby temporarily reducing and smoothing dynamic frown lines and wrinkles, i.e. those lines caused by movement of the muscles.

Who should not take botulinum toxin?

  • Had an allergic reaction to any of the botulinum toxin products or their ingredients.
  • Have a skin infection at the planned injection site.
  • A disease that affects your muscles and nerves (such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis [ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease], myasthenia gravis or Lambert-Eaton syndrome).
  • Had any side effect from the product product in the past.
  • A breathing problem, such as asthma or emphysema.
  • Swallowing problems.
  • Bleeding problems.
  • Plans to have surgery.
  • Had surgery on your face.
  • Weakness of your forehead muscles, such as trouble raising your eyebrows.
  • Drooping eyelids.
  • Any other change in the way your face normally looks.
  • Are pregnant or plan to become pregnant.
  • Are breast-feeding or plan to breastfeed.

Do treatment results differ?

Yes, individual results may vary. To get the best results, it's important to go to a doctor who is experienced in administering these injections.

What conditions can be treated effectively with laser therapy?

  • Vascular lesions

Well-defined lesions (abnormalities of the tissue, in this case the skin) that contain blood are usually amenable to laser therapy. These include unwanted blood vessels (‘broken capillaries’) on the face, and birth marks such as port wine stains. Depending on the size of the lesion, the number of laser treatments that are needed can range from 2 to 10 or more.

Laser therapy is also sometimes used for small varicose veins and spider veins.

  • Pigmented lesions

Pigmented lesions that can be treated include: freckles; solar lentigos (liver, or age, spots); flat, pigmented seborrhoeic keratoses (age warts); and café au lait spots (light-tan spots). Laser treatments for pigmented lesions are generally spaced 6 or more weeks apart, to allow your body to get rid of the dispersed pigment.

  • Tattoos/Not currently available

The principle of laser tattoo removal is basically the same as that of the removal of pigmented lesions, but the wavelength of the light beam needs to vary depending on the different ink pigments used in the tattoo. In general, homemade Indian ink tattoos and black tattoos respond most readily to laser removal. White tattoos do not usually respond to treatment. Red is relatively easy to remove, while yellow, orange and green are more difficult.

Skin that has been stained from nasal piercing or from iron injections also usually responds well to laser treatment.

  • Hair removal

Laser-assisted hair removal is both efficient and long term. It works best on thicker, darker hairs, as these hair follicles absorb more light than do smaller, paler hair follicles. Most people find that the amount of hair is reduced by 70 per cent or more after the course of treatment. Laser hair removal also avoids the possibility of ingrown hairs. Sweating changes are sometimes noticed in the treated area.

  • Signs of ageing

Laser resurfacing is used to help reverse the signs of ageing caused by sun damage. Signs of ageing include fine wrinkles and crinkly skin. Resurfacing is also useful in reducing the appearance of acne scars. Following treatment, your skin often takes several weeks to recover.

Laser resurfacing is a safer and more refined procedure than it used to be, but it is still not recommended for people with olive or pigmented skin because of the possibility of uneven skin tone or loss of colour from the skin after treatment.

  • Scars

Whether scars of previous surgery, acne or post burn scar, can all be minimised by laser resurfacing, CO2 fractionated laser is in particular useful for these conditions.

Who can be a good candidate for PDO Lift?

PDO procedures are safe for adults with mild to moderate skin laxity, who keep up with healthy lifestyles and have maintained their weight for at least three months.

Who can be a good candidate for Double chin Treatment ?

The best candidate is an adult 18 years or older with moderate to severe fat beneath the chin. You might not be a good candidate if you have had or are planning to have facial surgery, if you have trouble swallowing, are pregnant or nursing, or have an infection or medical condition in or near the planned injection site.