Dermal Fillers for Your Hands
- Posted on: Mar 24 2016
Cosmetic treatments for the hands are nothing new. At age 74, the novelist and political theorist Rose Wilder Lane decided to seek rejuvenation treatments for her face, arms and hands. The latter was most important to her, she wrote in a letter to a Miami doctor. After all, as a writer (and co-author of her mother Laura Ingalls Wilder’s classic Little House on the Prairie series), Lane often paid more attention to her hands than her face: “I see my hands — I can hardly avoid seeing them most of the time prancing over the typewriter keys — and they make me… damn annoyed.”
Who doesn’t spend a lot of time in front of a keyboard these days? No matter how often you moisturize or whether you’re using humectants, emollients or occlusive agents, chances are you’ve glanced down and noticed the veins, tendons and bone structure that didn’t seem as visible five or ten years ago. Drug store lotions and creams rarely penetrate past the top layers of skin. Even medical-grade moisturizers and treatments (like dermabrasion) can only do so much… though they’ve improved greatly in the six decades since Lane expressed her frustration. Hand rejuvenation in 1960 was limited to a chemical acid peel procedure that most professionals at the time warned against. We’ve come a long way since — today women have a range of options for preserving and restoring smooth, firm skin. Azul offers skin resurfacing and dermal filler treatments to keep your hands looking show-ready for the most important audience — yourself.
Radiesse is an FDA-approved injectable gel containing calcium hydroxyapatite microspheres (whew!) — essentially synthetic bone. It is designed specifically for use on moderate-to-deep wrinkles, such as those between the nose and mouth, and is also popular for correcting the loss of fat tissue (called lipoatrophy) on the backs of the hands. As you lose tissue volume over time, the skin does not shrink accordingly, causing the “shriveled” appearance of age. The microspheres suspended in Radiesse’s water-based gel restores the plumped-up, smooth appearance of your hands, so that you never have to worry that they’re making you look older than you really are.
In some cases, patients receiving Radiesse treatment may experience bruising, swelling and unevenness that usually lasts a day or two; ice or a cold pack will easily relieve these reactions. After that, you can expect to enjoy more youthful-looking hands for as long as a full year before returning for your next treatment. Protect your new-and-improved hands with an SPF lotion to ward off damage from UV rays, and visit your board-certified plastic surgeon for touch-ups as needed.
Rose Wilder Lane enjoyed her smoother, younger hands for years afterward; no doubt she’d be amazed at the range of twenty-first century options for preserving and rediscovering the beauty of clear, firm skin. Dr. Flaharty and his team at Azul are ready to answer your questions about hand fillers, or any other rejuvenation procedures you may be considering. Contact our offices in Fort Meyers or Bonita Springs to schedule your free consultation, and take your beauty goals into your own hands.
Posted in: Procedures