Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
How do I prepare for a fat transfer procedure?

Your surgeon will provide with preoperative instructions, answer any questions you may have, take a detailed medical history, and perform a physical exam to determine your fitness for this procedure.

In advance of your procedure, your surgeon will ask you to:

What can I expect on the day of fat transfer?

Mesotherapy treatment is a non-surgical cosmetic solution directed at diminishing problem areas in your body such as cellulite, excess weight, body contouring, and face and neck rejuvenation. It is administered by several injections containing various types of FDA approved medicines, vitamins, and minerals.

-Mesotherapy is introduced into the mesoderm. The mesoderm is the layer of fat and tissue underneath the skin.
-The contents of the injection varies in accordance with each unique case and specific area being treated.
-Mesotherapy can also help in reducing pain, and in replenishing hair loss in both men and women.

Cellulite Reduction: Approximately 3-4 treatments are necessary at intervals of 3-4 weeks. While cellulite treatment is the least effective of the Mesotherapy options, it is successful in dealing with mild degrees of cellulite.

Lower Blepharoplasty: 1 or 2 treatments are recommended at 6 week intervals (sometimes the second treatment is not necessary). For a Lower Eye Blepharoplasty, the patient should take cortisone before the procedure. It is possible to have swelling for up to 6 weeks.

Facial Rejuvenation: 4 treatments are required at 2-3 week intervals. Facial Rejuvenation is one of the most popular Mesotherapy treatments, as patients notice a substantial improvement in their facial appearance.

If anti-perspirant is not keeping you dry this summer, resulting in those not so attractive pit stains, Botox might be the new answer for you.

Botox (Botulinum toxin) is a neurotoxin produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. Although it is one of the most poisonous substances in the world, specialists use it in very small amounts to stop muscle spasms and most commonly to smooth out facial wrinkles by paralyzing the muscles that causes them to form.

Botox also is used to treat:

In the last few years, excessive sweating (hyperhidrosis) has been added to that list. While the body usually sweats to cool itself when it is hot outside or in certain emotional states, people with excessive sweating experience it independent of these factors and sometimes find their condition physically and socially uncomfortable.

Hyperhidrosis affects about 1% of the population, both men and women, most often under the arms and on the palms and feet.

Pill and prescription anti-perspirants are sometimes used to treat excessive sweating by temporarily reducing sweat production. However, these medication can have side effects such as a dry mouth and eyes.

Botox treats hyperhidrosis by blocking a neurotransmitter that stimulates the sweat glands. It does this by essentially paralyzing them. Botox treatment for hyperhidrosis, involves several injections in the armpits and can last for up to eight months.

How is the procedure performed?

Fat transfer works by harvesting fat from one part of your body, washed and purified, and then carefully re-injected into your body with specially designed needles. You may need to repeat the fat grafting procedure several times to achieve your desired result. Fat grafting can be explained as a three stage process: 1) harvesting 2) purification and transfer and 3) placement.

Harvesting: You and your surgeon will select an area for fat removal and will inject the area with a local anesthetic. Your surgeon will then create a small incision in the area for fat removal. The surgeon will then insert a cannula connected to a syringe to carefully extract the fat (liposuction).

Purification and transfer: Once enough fat is retrieved from the donor area, your surgeon will process it to prepare the fat cells for transfer to small syringes.  The syringes will then be used for fat injection. Purification may require the use of a centrifuge to spin the fat (filtration process) to remove impurities.

Placement: The area designated to receive the fat graft will then be prepared. Your surgeon will insert a needle (cannula) into the incision point of the site being augmented. The injection needle is typically passed in and out of the areas being augmented multiple times. Each time the needle (cannula) is withdrawn, a line of fatty tissue parcels is carefully deposited in natural tissue planes. This is repeated until the desired correction has been achieved. Thus, creating a grid of grafted fat. Some surgeons massage the grafted areas to create a satisfactory contour. Other surgeons prefer to rely on the placement technique to create the proper contour.

When to Consider Fat Transfer

Considerations

Pros

Cons

Are you a good candidate for a fat transfer?

The purpose of fat transfer is to augment or fill in volume lacking areas. Commonly grafted, or injected areas include the hands, face, depressions in the skin and the breast and buttock (for augmentation). You must have donor sites from which fat can be taken. It is also very important that you do not have any circulation problems, either from a medical condition or smoking.

Botox is injection that is primarily used in the upper face to relax wrinkles and fine lines. It is less famous for its success in treating hyperhidrosis or in other words excessive sweating. The Botox injection is successfully used to decrease sweating and oil production. Botox for sweating is injected into the skin over the area being treated for excessive sweating. It is of crucial importance to have it injected by an experienced provider to minimize the chance for side effects. Botox is mostly used to control sweating on face, armpits, scalp, neck and feet.

It is hard to give the right estimate of how many units one needs to treat excessive sweating of the targeted area, but usually 50 units are used to treat each underarm. Moreover, in average it takes 50 units to treat the scalp, while neck would require little bit more units, around 75. It all depends on the personal case of the patient being treated. The expert performing injections will determine how many units each patient needs.

The cost of Botox for sweating varies depending on a location and experience of the provider. It can be charged in two ways, per area or per unit. In Ethos Spa we charge for Botox treatment per unit. Some people need more units than others for the exact same area. Men usually need more units per area than women.

There are serious side effects associated with Botox injections in certain areas. Those side effects include shortness of breath, difficulty with swallowing or breathing, overall weakness in the muscles, blurred or doubled vision, bladder control, and others. All these side effects may be caused if the botulinum toxin spreads in your body. This can be life threatening, therefore it is important to choose an experienced provider, follow aftercare instructions, and keep in touch with your provider if anything suspicious occurs.

There are many treatments to address submental fat and melt those fat cells on different parts of your body, but then how to treat the sagging skin. Skin laxity is one of the conditions that is harder to treat without surgery. Still, many patients prefer noninvasive treatments. TruSculpt and Ultherapy are treatments that can be used in different areas of the human body to treat different conditions, and among those sagging skin as well.

TruSculpt

Trusculpt is a technology based on the radio frequency that heats up adipose tissue and in that way performs fat reduction, skin tightening, and body sculpting. Right candidates in average have their BMI less than 30 and have unwanted fat in different areas of their body. It can be used for patients of all ages and all skin types. The truSculpt will be applied to your skin and it will deliver targeted pulses of radio frequency energy. Depending on the number of pulses required, one treatment of the targeted area may last from 15 minutes up to an hour. The number of treatments needed depends on every individual case and what are the desired results. Usually, patients have 1 to 2 treatments and those have to be spaced 4 to 8 weeks apart.

The treatment is not painful but some patients describe it as uncomfortable. The truSculpt heats up the layer of your skin and the temperature can be adjusted based on ones’ tolerance of the sensation. The radio frequency energy works on the principle of triggering the immune system to break down fat cells. Patients start seeing noticeable results anywhere from 4 weeks to 90-day mark after the procedure. There are a number of side effects that include redness, sweating, and tenderness of the treated areas but those usually go away within few hours after the procedure.

Ultherapy

Ultherapy is FDA approved treatment for skin laxity, aging skin, smooth lines, and wrinkles. It is used on face, mainly to lift eyebrows, to tighten the skin under the chin, on the neck, and on the chest. It uses ultrasound energy and adequate temperature to stimulate collagen production and regeneration and in that way deliver amazing results. The entire treatment stimulates natural process performed by our bodies, so-called neocollagenesis. It does not involve the injection of foreign substances in your skin. It rather stimulates your skin to rejuvenate itself. After the procedure, you may seem some improvements, but you can expect to see results after 2 to 3 months. How long results last depends on the patient and patient’s lifestyle.

There are some side effects that accompany Ultherapy and those include mild redness right after the procedure. This redness is gone within few u to 24 hours after the procedure. Other side effects include swelling, tenderness, and tingling but those usually go away within few days. Some temporarily bruising and numbness can develop. All side effects easily resolve within one week.

SkinPen® is a microneedling device designed to encourage natural process of skin rejuvenation. It encourages skin to rejuvenate and by doing so it reduces wrinkles, stretch marks and scars, achieving tighter and healthy looking skin. Besides its uses for wrinkles and scars, it is useful for treating dark circles under eyes or tear through.  SkinPen® requires little to no recovery time so it is recommended for individuals from all walks of life, regardless of their age and skin condition. It works by creating a series of microscopic channels into the skin to stimulate the production of new collagen and elastin.

SkinPen® is an excellent treatment for under eye wrinkles and dark circles. Since the skin around eyes is particularly sensitive, the needles used in this area need to be short. It is of crucial importance to have this done by an experienced provider. To deliver great results for under eye circles, it is crucial to use growth factors with SkinPen®. The area around eyes may take a longer time to heal than other areas on your face and body.

The results depend on the age of the patient, their skin, number of treatments and of course the aftercare. Your provider should evaluate your skin before the procedure and offer you treatment and aftercare that suits your individual case in order to obtain desired results. Some people can see their results right away after the first procedure. Still, for the majority of patients, it usually takes few treatments to achieve desired results.

For best results, it is important to stick to the aftercare regimen prescribed by the provider. Besides aftercare products, it is important to avoid using products that induce inflammation and may worsen your healing process, reversing the effect of the SkinPen®. The most important daily skin regimen should always consist of sunscreen and hydrating lotion.

Approved for American consumption by the Food and Drug Administration in 2009, Dysport has been widely available in Europe for many years.  Since its release in the US, the debate has raged:

Botox versus Dysport – which is better for wrinkles?

To answer the question, it’s important that we review the evidence and talk about other factors influencing the effectiveness of both treatments.

Botulinum Type A.

This is the active ingredient in both substances and what makes them effective as tools to prevent and minimize the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.  But there are some key differences in formulation which need to be taken into consideration.

Both therapies are safe and both are effective.  Clinical trials seeking to answer the question are ongoing, but at the time of writing, none of these have rendered a decisive response.

Some key differences.

As we said above, this is still the subject of much study and debate and there’s no conclusive evidence, to date that this is the case.

While this is demonstrably true, with Dysport’s work showing up on your face in about 2 – 5 days, as opposed to 4 to 7, for Botox, the difference is negligible.

This is both an advantage and a drawback, depending on the area in question.

Again, this is what’s being observed by clinicians, but it has yet to be decisively proven that more Dysport is required to achieve the same results as Botox.  Studies into this claim are ongoing.

Clinical competencies.

Ultimately, the single most important factor in the success of either therapeutic response is the skill of the technician injecting Botox or Dysport.

Attending a doctor or technician who has extensive experience in using both these products is key to obtaining the results you’re seeking.

It’s also crucial that prior to committing to either treatment, you discuss your suitability for the therapy.  Botox/Dysport isn’t for everyone.  A competent clinician will discuss this factor with you at length, ensuring that you’re fully aware of the advantages and disadvantages of both these therapeutic agents.

Ethos Spa Skin & Laser Center.

At Ethos Spa, we believe everyone should look stunning and feel incredible.  We’re dedicated to patient education about the therapies and treatments we practice here.  Our Board of Directors is medically-governed, meaning that all our guests receive only the most advanced, effective treatments available.

If you’re considering Botox or Dysport, we strongly recommend that you discuss the way forward with your local expert.  Ethos Spa is a leading-edge cosmetics spa that models conservativism in therapeutic responses.  We advise patients thoroughly with open, clear communication and this post – “Botox versus Dysport – which is better for wrinkles” is part of that effort.

Ethos Spa is a medically-informed aesthetics spa in New Jersey that brings the most advanced treatments to our region.  Contact us for a free consultation.

What is PRP Hair Treatment?

PRP was first developed in the 1970s and has since then been used for various medical applications for years. PRP involves having your blood drawn as though you were getting lab tests performed. The blood is then treated with a centrifuge to separate the red blood cells from the plasma. Plasma is the portion of your own blood that contains a high platelet concentration. Platelets stops bleeding by clotting and clumping the blood. Doctors then separate the plasma along with the platelets and activates the platelets. The Doctor then injects the serum into the area of your body that is being treated. Doctors have been using this technique for years to stimulate wound healing and improve the appearance of skin.

Recently, researchers have found that PRP can also help stimulate hair growth. Evidence from different studies has supported the idea that PRP is a positive new form of hair growth treatment. So how does PRP work? The growth factors that are released from the activated platelets stimulate cells in your hair follicle to grow. This is great for inactive or implanted hair follicles..

Potential PRP Side Effects

You should not have a reaction to PRP because it uses your own blood. Studies have shown that PRP has been found to have a good effect on male and female pattern hair loss without major side effects. You may experience minimal pain, pinpoint bleeding, and redness when the injections are being delivered. Some patients often complain about a “full” or “tight” feeling in their scalp immediately after injections. This can last up to 1 day. Rarely, some patients will complain of a mild headache the next day.

Who Shouldn’t Get PRP Treatment for Hair Loss

Though major side effects have not been found in prospective patients, not everyone is suitable for PRP therapy. If you have a history of heavy drug, alcohol and smoking, you should not receive PRP hair treatment. You may also not qualify for PRP treatment if you have been diagnosed with any of the following treatments:

PRP may be a great hair growth solution for you if you’re not ready for surgery yet or can’t undergo a hair transplant. If you’d like to learn whether PRP would be a good option for you, feel free to contact us today!

What is Micro-Needling, and how does it permanently reduces acne scars?
A Micro-Needling treatment using the appropriate model is ideal for treatment of acne scars. We use sterile, ultra-fine, surgical strength micro-needles. The micro-needles cause new collagen and elastin to be collagenesis (deposited), new capillaries to be formed (angiogenesis) and new skin cells to be created.

How many Micro-Needling treatments will I need?
Depending on your skin condition, skin abundtly resurfaces after 1-3 Micro-Needling procedures. To allow skin cell regeneration, you should wait at minimum of 6-8 weeks between procedures. As aging continues, we recommend one refresher treatment every year.
It is best to avoid sun tanning and prolonged exposure to direct sunlight. When exposed to sun, always use sun screen that is SPF30 or above.

How do I care for my skin after Micro-Needling treatment?
Immediately after your Micro-Needling procedure, do not take any anti-inflammatory medications such as ibuprofen, Motrin or Advil. These medicines will interfere with the natural inflammatory process. This process is critical and responsible for skin rejuvenation. Please follow these simple steps:

Day of procedure: Do not use any lotions, makeup or other topical products on your face before your procedure. After your procedure your physician may apply a lipopeptide booster, skin moisturizer, and sun screen. Before bed you may clean your face with a gentle cleanser.

Day 1: On the following day, you may clean your face as usual and apply makeup, lotions and other topical products. Stay away from exfoliates or glycolic acids that are present is cleaners as these can make your skin very dry. Be sure to use an approved SPF30 or greater sunscreen.

Days 2-7: Within two days following your Micro-Needling procedure, you will notice skin dryness and flaking. This is from the increased turnover of skin cells. During this time, you may apply your regular skin moisturizer. Please follow the instructions given to you by your physician.

If your physician treated you around the eyes, you may have a little micro bruising that may exist for three or four days. You can easily cover this up with makeup.

A few days later, your skin will start shedding. These are skin layers that would regularly shed a week later however, the Micro-Needling brings this skin to the surface sooner. During this temporary process, your skin will shed and be dry.

Days 7: A week after your Micro-Needling procedure, you may notice that your skin is smoother and more radiant.

Top