I have to say that my own experience it works great. It takes a few days to heal, but as I said previously the difference is subtle, but noticeable. It’s still very early on it. I expect it to become quite popular as there’s very minimal downtime.
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Do they do lidocaine injections into the entire lower face prior to the procedure?
Yes, that was the worst part. I was seriously regretting my life choices for a moment, but once the injections were done it was fine. Regarding the price, I think it varies depending on where you are in the States. I’m in LA so you have to add at least a third onto the price.
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Yes. I paid a little more. I don’t think there are too many clinics with the machines at this point. The technician who did my procedure said there were only six machines at clinics in the entire country. She explained that people were flying in from all over the world to have procedures ‘off label’ on knees and stomach. it is expensive and I’m not sure if it will come down, but it works and a positive is that it’s permanent.
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By applying a 2% retinol (which is actually just the active form of Vitamin A), I accelerated the turnover of the cells on the top layer of my skin, bringing a more youthful layer to the surface. I found it difficult to capture the difference meaningfully on my iPhone camera, but I did take some before & after photos. IRL (that’s “In Real Life” for the less hip crowd) the results were quite obvious. My ‘crow’s feet’ had receded, and the skin around my eyes was visibly less wrinkled. I plan to continue my use of retinol, increasing the concentration of the serum to at least 4%.
^does accelerating turnover accelerate stem cell depletion?
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Hi Jay,
yes and no. it’s a very good question. All these treatments work on the same concept: you create a mild damage to the dermis and you get a rejuvenating effect with the repair process and the production of new collagen, elastin etc.
You can do this with chemical peels, lasers (ablative or not like the Fraxel), mechanical dermabrasion and topicals such as retinoids.
If one year of tretinoin gives you the same result than a deep TCA 20% peel or a few sessions of fraxel but without the risks, what should you do ? It really depends on the practitioner/patient interaction. Personally I would recommend seeing people that specialize in what they do. If you want a Fraxel, go and see someone who specialize in this.
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more diagnostics (if only i knew a clinic with them) - Courage + Khazaka Electronic, Köln - Skin
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Nicotinamide (vitamin B3) has been shown to have protective effects against damage caused by UV radiation and to reduce the rate of new premalignant actinic keratoses.
CONCLUSIONS
Oral nicotinamide was safe and effective in reducing the rates of new nonmelanoma skin cancers and actinic keratoses in high-risk patients.
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I remember in one video he credited three things: resveratrol, cycles of fisetin, and prp. He might have meant microneedling with prp.
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I am a huge fan of sculptra and I have been doing treatments every 4 years or so for awhile now. Extremely natural volumizing and lasts a long time.
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So - help me understand this please. Where do they do this Sculptra injections - is this something they use/do all the face, or neck, etc. to replace fat loss that happens with age, or is it to fill things out to remove wrinkles, or some other reason?
Please provide a little information and context on the benefits. I looked on the sculptura site and it seems all they do is soft focus the “after” image to make it look better (and I’m skeptical of business website that promote these types of things): See Before and After Sculptra® Aesthetic Results
Like I suspect is true for most guys, this is all very confusing and complex to me; there seem to be a million different types of injections, and what we see in the news are recent photos of Madonna and see how bad things can go…
There are a ton of videos on Sculptra on YouTube, but mostly dermatologists (selling their services): https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=sculptra
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Sculptra is a bio stimulator rather than a filler. It is a solution of saline and tiny particles of the material dissolvable sutures are made of. The body reacts to these particles and produces collagen which remains after the particles have dissolved.
Because it is a liquid solution (rather than a gel, like hyaluronic acid fillers) the volume that is created by sculptra is very diffuse. The best use case is to replace general volume loss in the face that comes with age. Generally in the temples and the cheeks. The best technique is to bring in photos from when you were 25 or so with the goal of adding only volume that was lost. It is not possible with sculptra to create new facial shapes or proportions like when people use fillers to get sharper cheekbones or more jawline definition. It’s just very general diffuse volume over an area.
Some doctors also use sculptra as a form of mesotherapy in the dermis, micro needling sculptra into the skin itself which helps generate collagen and smooth fine wrinkles.
Each treatment only generates a very modest amount of collagen so you’d really have to have more than 4 or 5 treatments in a single year before you’d need to worry about getting into scary Madonna face territory. It’s not something that you could accidentally do. It would take a lot of effort and a lot of money spent over 5 or 6 months to get into scary territory.
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From RapAdmin
“Nicotinamide (vitamin B3) has been shown to have protective effects against damage caused by UV radiation and to reduce the rate of new premalignant actinic keratoses.” (article)
I would like to point out that topical application of commonly found antioxidants listed in skin care products dramatically increases levels in skin versus taking orally. These include absorbic acid (vit c), vitamin e, nicotinamide (niacinamide), and hyaluronic acid. Most of these are easy and cheap to make using distilled water and possibly superior to commercial products.
I personally have found a topical serum of niacinimide to act as a suitable sun screen during the summer. I don’t seem to burn anymore with sun exposure.
The following source: Chapter 8 - Prevention and Treatment of Aging Skin with Topical Antioxidants in Skin Aging Handbook: An Integrated Approach to Biochemistry and Product Development: Personal Care & Cosmetic Technology, really influenced my thinking and approach to my own regimen. (Publisher’s summary given below)
“This chapter describes some of the most effective, scientifically proven formulations to revitalize aging skin. There are two great advantages to applying an active formulation of topical antioxidants to the skin. First, the skin attains far higher levels of each antioxidant than can be achieved by only taking these supplements orally. For example, the level of [vitamin C] attained in the skin by [topical application] is 20–40 times the level achievable with oral vitamin C. With topical application, the concentration of [vitamin E and selenium, by a factor of 1.7. While [sunscreens] are still mainstay for protecting skin from photodamage, they are not enough. Because most of us actually apply only about one-fourth of the amount of sunscreen needed to give the designated SPF. Frequent application is absolutely necessary even for “highly water-resistant” formulations because sunscreen is washed off not only by swimming and sweating, but also by imperceptible perspiration. Furthermore, while sunscreens reduce UV-induced erythema and the DNA damage of 8-OHdG and [thymine] dimer, they only block about 55 percent of the [free radical] production. This protection over time not only protects the skin by diminishing the ongoing free radical insult and inflammation, but also reverses the unattractive appearance of previous photodamage by directly enhancing [collagen synthesis] repair.”
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Niacinamide powder is surprisingly cheap and I plan to add it to my skin formula.
I have been using tretinoin 0.1% cream also. It was initially used as a preventative treatment for actinic keratosis, but it lost favor with dermatologists who seemed to have favored treating actinic keratosis after the fact. It and rapamycin dramatically reduced the number that I usually get to almost zero. I do a fair amount of research on Pub Med, etc. I don’t know how I missed the niacinamide as a preventative.
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How do you make your skin preparation with this powder? What do you mix?
I am going to try the tretinoin given your results. I will be curious if you find the topical niacinamide works for you as a sun screen to some degree.
I worked as a librarian at a college - often closely with the science departments. So I do use a range of databases. A powerful one is ScienceDirect https://www.sciencedirect.com/ which allows full-text searching of the Elsevier publishing universe. I find this valuable for Science/Medical reference works not typically covered in Medline. Another is Scopus https://www.scopus.com/home.uri, another Elsevier product. This covers Medline and Embase as well as other “ranked” journals. Embase is a cousin to Medline but European based.
Both of the above are behind a paywall though you can see some nice previews in ScienceDirect. If you happen to be close to a University or Medical library, you will generally find they have a public login for guests and access to the materials.
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thanks for the search references.
I haven’t tried the niacinamide yet, but I find the tretinoin so much more effective than any other skin treatment at making your skin look younger. It definitely will reduce small wrinkles and make your skin smoother and more even-looking. Fortunately, I was able to get my primary care doctor to prescribe it. If I didn’t have a prescription I would get it from India where it is much more affordable.
I haven’t used it yet, but here is their recommendation:
Mix a quarter scoop of the spoon provided with a water-based treatment in the palm of your hand and apply to the face in the morning and/or evening. Avoid contact with eyes, if contact occurs rinse thoroughly with water. Wash hands after handling. Do not mix with formulations with a pH of 5 or lower.
“Mixing Guide: In its truest form, Niacinamide is readily water-soluble and dissolves in water-based products, such as serums and creams, with ease. The Ordinary’s 100% Niacinamide Powder can be mixed into any non-conflicting, water-based treatment, provided that the pH of the base is between 5.1 and 7.0. When it comes to the choice of a water-based base to mix with this formula, there are several options available within The Ordinary brand.”
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I suggest you do some searches on Google. Use keywords like: niacinamide, topical, serum, skin, homemade, etc
But for me, I simply take the powder and mix it in distilled water shooting for a 5% solution ratio. But that is me and in no way meant as a recommendation for anyone else. It is a common ingredient in skin products but there are reports of negative reactions in some individuals. The following article gives a report Can Using Niacinamide in Your Skin-Care Routine Cause Redness? | Allure
My tendency is to dumb down the typical homemade recipes for these topical antioxidants. I am sure there are advantages to being more diligent than I! 
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