What is the first thing people see when you meet? Your face, of course. And making a great first impression can be very important.
As you age, that youthful impression may fade a bit. So, what should you do to keep your skin as fresh as possible? Some people turn to various types of procedures, which might have you asking, which is better for my situation… skin rejuvenation or cosmetic surgery?
Actually we are talking about two different things here. One is non-invasive; and the other is a minimally-invasive to major-invasive procedure. Many people choose plastic surgery for their cosmetic needs; but, it doesn’t always achieve the results desired.
So let’s take a look at the difference between skin rejuvenation and cosmetic surgery for the face.
Skin Rejuvenation… What is it?
Skin is the largest organ in the body and on the outside, too. Aging, weather and exposure to the sun, along with lifestyle habits, can change not only the texture but also the tone of our skin throughout our lifetime. This can include anything from pigment changes from the sun, wrinkles from aging, blotchiness from taking oral contraceptives to hereditary changes.
Skin rejuvenation works from the inside and on the outside skin itself. The goal is to create healthier skin from the deeper layers and out. Skin rejuvenation involves skin resurfacing in most cases. This is basically controlling the damage to the skin in hopes of creating healthy scar tissue that will reinvigorate the skin and your appearance.
Common types of procedures involved in skin rejuvenation typically include:
- Microdermabrasion
- Chemical Peel (both superficial and deep)
- Microneedling
You may be an ideal candidate for this type of skin procedure if you have:
- Sun damage
- Blotchy skin
- Wrinkles and crow lines around the eyes
- Pitted skin due to acne or chicken pox
- Lipstick bleeds above your lips
- Facial scarring
What is Cosmetic Surgery?
Basically, cosmetic surgery is any number of surgical procedures designed to reshape your face or body in an effort to make it more aesthetically appealing to you, the patient. Depending on the area to be enhanced, there are different risk factors. The procedures typically take longer than non-invasive ones and require a certain amount of anesthetics. This is sometimes done locally in an outpatient operating room setting, but can often be performed in a inpatient hospital setting, too.
A professional plastic surgeon should always examine your skin type first and evaluate your needs to see which procedure (if any) will bring you the best results.
Focusing on the face, as we did with skin rejuvenation, there are a number of procedures available to reduce the appearance of wrinkles.
- Brow lift
- Face lift
- Fat injections
- Eyelid surgery
- Lip augmentation
- Nose job (rhinoplasty)
These are but a few of the cosmetic procedures available that can give your face the toned and youthful look you desire.
Which is best for you?
Depending on the reason for the procedure, both methods can reduce the sign of wrinkles due to aging. Cosmetic surgery lifts and tightens but does nothing for the appearance of the skin as far as blotchiness, age spots, scarring and such. In fact, scarring can actually be a risk when using invasive surgery.
- Surgery is more permanent but nothing is totally guaranteed in either case.
- Skin rejuvenation changes the look of the skin by bringing out a healthier appearance from the inside out. Cosmetic surgery, on the other hand, usually changes the look of the face on the outside only.
