Did you enter the new year determined to make more of an investment in yourself? Rewarding as that will ultimately be, it can be difficult trying to figure out exactly where and how to begin. A positive return on those first few steps will likely give you all the momentum you’ll need to stick with it. But stumble just a bit and you may fall back to your old ways.
Worth your consideration is a small but effective act that’s come to be described as a “tweakment.” It’s a new category of quick, minimally-invasive cosmetic procedures that are meant to provide a dramatic refresher and stave off the early phases of the aging process. Think injectables, microneedling, and lasers. Here’s a closer look at a couple of the most popular tweakment procedures.
Concern: Double Chin
You may have heard about the growing wave of body-contouring technology that’s capable of removing unwanted fat without a single incision or any downtime. Lesser known is just how versatile many of those treatments are. CoolSculpting, the best-known brand among the fat-freezing devices, has a treatment head that can be used under the chin to tackle jowls, for example.
Through a process called cryolipolysis, the fatty tissue in the treated area is cooled and up to 25% of the affected fat cells are ultimately destroyed. And because the body only produces a certain number of them, those particular fat cells are never coming back. Basically, as long as you maintain a healthy lifestyle, you can expect to never again be plagued by that pocket of stubborn fat.
Concern: Dark Circles
Dark circles really have more to do with genetics than anything else, but they will become more prominent if you’re not staying sufficiently hydrated or getting enough sleep. They also worsen with age. The upside: A well-placed, subtle hyaluronic acid filler can have a pretty dramatic effect simply by creating a plumper under-eye.
Hyaluronic acid is a natural part of the skin’s dermis, but we store less of it as we age, which causes the undesired hollowing effect under the eyes. The hyaluronic acid in fillers helps pull water to the site of the injection, stimulating the appearance of thicker fat pads under the skin.
Another tweakment option is platelet-rich plasma injections, which have the same effect. A small amount of blood will be drawn from your arm (about two to four tablespoons). Then, it’ll be placed into a centrifuge, which separates the blood into layers. The layer with the highest concentration of platelets will then be injected into your under-eye areas.
Each of the procedures outlined here takes less than an hour and requires little to not downtime. In other words, it’s a fairly minimal investment, time-wise, but you’re likely to reap the sort of rewards that’ll inspire you to make this your best year yet.