The New Girl

Being new to the office I didn't quite know how to feel about injections and laser treatments. All I had ever truly known about treatments like Botox were falsities that SNL would spew about wide-eyed emotionless women with permanent half-smiles that were incapable of producing tears. I was happy to find out and witness first hand that this is absolutely not the case in terms of procedures here at Timeless. So I got to go through the new patient process, not only to learn how to better take care of my skin but to also address some of the things about myself I'm less than confident about. If you've read this blog or have been to our office before I'm sure you've heard or read Dr. Carol's tag "look like yourself only better" this can not be more true in my case.

First I had my consultation with Allyson (our PA-C) and not only did I feel comfortable talking about what I see as physical short-comings (which is a pretty big deal for me, outgoing on the surface, but in all honesty a fairly closed off person underneath) but she was honest about what I could and couldn't do to fix things I was concerned about. We figured out a skin care regimen to get rid of some moderate acne (yay Obagi!) and started to delve into actual procedure options. For me this was not only foreign in my world but incredibly scary. What if I don't look like me when we're done? You can't reverse Botox, you just have to wait it out. IPL? You think we should laser my face?! Why would you want to laser my face?!

After she explained how the procedures she recommended and the ones I was interested in worked it was time to move on to some of the actual treatments. I was still a little skeptical about how a laser would feel on my face and how I was going to handle injections in my forehead considering my needle phobia. The IPL was going to refresh my face take away some of my dead skin just to give me more of a fresh start. It was a warm feeling and just made me a little jumpy every time I was "zapped". After we were done with that I had just a slight redness but it was nothing compared to some of the epic sunburns I've had on my fair skin. And the redness disappeared within a half an hour.

Next, the big one, Botox. I'm a person that has a lot of movement and expression in my eyebrows. Only being 24 I had already accepted the fact that as I age I was probably going to be cursed with deep wrinkles in my forehead and between my eyebrows (or the "elevens" as I learned they were called). I laid down and when I was told how many units were being injected I was pretty shocked to know how much I needed. In reality though the number of units is actually more than the number of needles actually needed for the injections. A small relief for the needle-phobic. All I could really feel was gloved fingers on my forehead, 95% of the time I had no idea needles were going into my skin unless I could see it right above my eyes. It was an amazing learning experience that I'm incredibly thankful for.

Bottom line for all of the readers: you don't need to be afraid of needles, consultations or procedures here at Timeless. There were even some procedures that I was interested in that in my initial consultation Allyson told me were completely unnecessary. In addition to loving my new job it's nice to know that there are still businesses that are more interested in the best interest of their employees and patients and not the extra stuff they can slap on.

Looking forward to meeting all of you as you come into the office!

Pump up the volume!

As the number of days shortened before my 47th birthday I noticed what many people notice as they age – the loss of volume in my face!

It is a simple fact that as we age we lose facial volume. This loss of volume tends to be the most noticeable around our mouths, eyes and lips. Although Dr. Carol has injected filler into my nasolabial folds, which run from the side of the nose to the corner of the mouth, as well as under my eyes, I had not yet tried filler in my lips. To be honest the thought of having filler injected into my lips was scary! I was fearful that I would look like either Lisa Rinna or Daffy Duck – neither of which was very appealing to me.

Even with the thoughts of Lisa Rinna rolling around in my head, every time I looked in the mirror I was very aware of my disappearing lips and I really wanted to do something about it.

The plan … I decided to trust Dr. Carol, as I have so many times before, and have my lips injected. Dr Carol injected 2 ml of filler into my lips and around my mouth. Was I scared? Yes, but I knew I was in good hands with Dr. Carol as she is a top injector of filler in the area.

The result … I could not be happier! My lips look fantastic! It’s just as the Timeless tagline reads: “Look like yourself only better”. Perfectly stated. My lips don’t look crazy, actually they look perfectly natural. I followed both the pre and post procedure instructions and had minimal bruising and swelling. As soon as I get someone in the office to take an after photo I will post my photos. Feel free to stop in the office and check out my new lips!

If you have any questions feel free to call our office or you can contact me directly at kristy@timelessskinsolutions.com.