Innovation is a process of change or transformation. It can be subtle, obvious, or disruptive, or all 3 in the ever-evolving field of cosmetic dermatology.

The Dermatology Digest asked 2 recognized experts in cosmetic dermatology to share what they believe the most innovative aesthetic treatments are today, how they’ve affected their treatment approaches, and what advice they have for others interested in adding such treatment options to their practice.

Click here to read more about what Dr. Seth L.Matarasso has to say about what he believes to be some of the most high-impact cosmetic innovations today!

Botox

If you’re thinking about trying Botox for the first time, you might have some questions about whether this treatment is right for you. As San Francisco’s leading dermatologists, we’re happy to provide answers.

How Does Botox Work?

First, it’s helpful for you to understand how this product can make such a significant impact on your appearance and self-confidence. Repetitive motions like frowning, squinting, and smiling create what we call dynamic wrinkles. When you’re younger, your skin can bounce back from these, but eventually, these lines will start permanently etching themselves onto your face.

Botox consists of a highly purified form of the botulinum toxin. When we strategically inject it into the muscles around your forehead, eyes, and eyebrows, it blocks the nerve signals that cause those muscles to contract. Once the Botox takes effect, you’ll notice those wrinkles gradually softening and becoming less distinct.

How to Maintain Your Long-Term Botox Results

While Botox can temporarily block muscle contractions, the effects are not permanent. You’ll probably start to notice wrinkles beginning to return around three to four months after your treatment, depending on factors like your lifestyle choices and how many units of Botox your injector used.

After you have a reasonable idea of how long Botox lasts for you, we can help you create a maintenance plan that includes when to return to our San Francisco office for touch-up treatments. Our goal is to ensure your anti-aging results are consistently natural-looking.

However, you should also know that over time, Botox use will help “train” your muscles not to make wrinkle-forming facial expressions. As the product gradually wears off, you’ll be more conscious of habitual movements that create unwanted lines. When that happens, you might be able to wait a little bit longer between maintenance appointments.

What Else Should You Know About Botox Injections?

Botox results don’t immediately appear. If you still see troublesome wrinkles a couple of days after your appointment, that doesn’t mean you need a touch-up right away. Your full results might not be visible until a week or so after your treatment, so we recommend scheduling your appointment strategically if you’re getting Botox in preparation for a specific occasion like a wedding or a class reunion.

When choosing where to get Botox injections, you should understand that your choice in provider matters. This treatment’s enduring popularity has led many underqualified people to advertise their services as Botox injectors, even if they have not specifically trained in facial anatomy and skin health. Therefore, while Botox treatments at a salon or day spa might seem convenient, that doesn’t mean they are safe.

For the best results, only trust a board-certified dermatologist to provide your Botox injections. At Dermatology Medical Group of San Francisco, our physicians perform all injectable treatments. Allergan, which manufactures Botox, has also trained all the dermatologists on our team to understand how the product works to smooth wrinkles by preventing muscle contractions. For your personalized Botox consultation, contact us today.

All safe and effective, the four neuromodulators with cosmetic indications have nuanced differences worth considering. Seth Matarasso, M.D., explains the benefits of these cosmetic neuromodulators, and reveals how to know when to choose the right one.

Botox is one of the most sought-after cosmetic solutions in the world, and a trained physician can use it to help address a variety of common concerns. However, even though Botox has earned FDA approval for a range of aesthetic and medical issues, many people still believe various fallacies that make them hesitant to seek the benefits of this treatment. Let’s break down the reality behind a few of these.

Fiction: It Doesn’t Matter Who Does My Botox Injections

Fact: The popularity of at-home Botox parties might have led you to believe you can get Botox injected by anyone in any setting. The truth is that getting Botox injected outside a clinical setting can lead to unsatisfying and even risky results. You are much better off having an experienced dermatologist such as Dr. Seth Matarasso perform your treatment in the safety of his San Francisco office.

Fiction: Botox Is Unhealthy

Fact: While it’s true that Botox derives from a purified version of the botulinum toxin, the amount used for cosmetic purposes is a fraction of the amount that it would take to be toxic to humans. Indeed, Botox has been FDA-approved for cosmetic use since 2002 after undergoing a series of clinical trials to determine its safety and efficacy. Since Dr. Matarasso injects the protein directly into your muscles, there’s no danger of it entering your bloodstream. The most common side effects of Botox are minor bruising and swelling, but other risks include infection, wheezing, dizziness, and faintness. When Dr. Matarasso does your injections, however, these dangers are minimal.

Fiction: Botox and Fillers Serve the Same Purpose

Fact: There is a distinction between Botox and dermal fillers such as Juvéderm. The specific purpose of Botox is to relax the muscles around your eye and eyebrow area, thus minimizing the wrinkles that form from repetitive facial movements such as squinting and frowning. In contrast, fillers create volume in areas that have begun to sag or look hollow. Hyaluronic acid-based fillers can also diminish wrinkles such as the nasolabial folds that bracket your mouth. When used in combination, Botox and fillers help provide an overall non-surgical facial rejuvenation known as a “liquid facelift.”

Fiction: I’m Too Young for Botox to Benefit Me

Fact: You don’t have to have deep-set wrinkles to take advantage of Botox injections. We often work with patients in their 20s or early 30s who choose to get Botox as a preventive measure. When used at an early age, Botox can help keep dynamic wrinkles such as crow’s feet or eyebrow furrows from deepening and causing you to look older than you really are.

Fiction: Botox Will Make Me Look Expressionless

Fact: You might be hesitant to get Botox for fear that it will leave your face looking paralyzed or unnatural. We’ve all seen at least one movie or TV show where someone gets Botox treatments and returns with a frozen, mannequin-esque appearance. However, this stereotype is more of an exaggeration for comedic effect than it is a depiction of what happens in reality. Dr. Matarasso takes care to inject precise amounts of Botox in the exact spots where it will have the optimal results. Once it takes effect, you’ll look natural, never overdone, or mask-like. People who know you well will never guess you had “work done,” unless you choose to share your beauty secrets.

Schedule Your Botox Consultation Today

Despite the persistent myths surrounding Botox, Dr. Matarasso takes pride in his ability to provide consistently natural-looking results that speak for themselves. If you have any questions about discreetly, non-invasively refreshing your appearance with this solution, contact us today. We’re looking forward to hearing from you!

You’ve finally taken the plunge into the world of Botox® injections, fulfilling the goals you’ve been dreaming about for so long. While Botox can be an amazingly effective way to combat wrinkles, as you have probably learned by now, you will require touch-up treatments every so often if you hope to maintain your smooth, wrinkle-free eye and eyebrow region.

If your goal is to look younger for as long as possible, you may be wondering if it’s possible to make the results of your Botox injections last longer, and, if so, how you can do this. Read on to learn all about Botox and ideas for prolonging your refreshed complexion.

How Does Botox Work?

Before we provide advice on how to make the effects of Botox persist further, it may be helpful for you to review a primer on what Botox is and how it works. Though Botox is an injectable anti-aging product, it performs a different function than hyaluronic acid-based dermal fillers like Restylane® and Juvederm®, which minimize wrinkles by providing an intensive moisture boost that fills in hollows in the skin. Instead, the goal of Botox is to create temporary muscle paralysis.

When you make repetitive facial expressions such as frowning or smiling, you eventually develop characteristic, permanent grooves as your skin loses the collagen and elastin that make it resilient and full. Botox works by preventing a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine from sending signals to the small muscles around the eye and eyebrow area, which prevents them from contracting.

The product derives from a purified version of the botulinum toxin and has received FDA approval, proving its safety as a treatment method. That’s because the dosage used for cosmetic treatments never has any chance of reaching the bloodstream, and is a tiny fraction of the amount that it would take to be dangerous to humans.

How Long Does Botox Last?

First-time Botox users can usually expect their results to last around four months. If you continue to keep up with your maintenance appointments, you can look forward to longer-lasting effects as your muscles and nerve endings become conditioned to your regimen over time.

Botox prevents muscle contractions, which means it can only reduce and prevent the dynamic wrinkles that form from frowning and smiling. Botox does not provide volume, elasticity, or skin firmness, which is why you can see even more dramatic anti-aging results by combining your regular Botox injections with fillers such as Juvederm and Restylane, or by choosing to combine your injections with other minimally-invasive treatments like Fraxel laser skin resurfacing, microdermabrasion, Ultherapy®, and intense pulsed light treatments.

Enjoy Your Wrinkle-Free Skin for Longer

After you get Botox injections, your full results will reveal themselves five to seven days later. Though the injections can last several months, you may notice that your wrinkles begin to reappear as the treatment “wears off.” If you want to make the time between your treatments last as long as possible, here are three tips you can follow.

1. Go to an Experienced Injector 

Effective, natural-looking Botox injections require the correct dosage and strategically appropriate injection sites for the best results. A qualified, expert injector can not only explain all the specifics of what to expect before, during, and after getting Botox, but will also create a personalized treatment regimen that ultimately results in longer-lasting Botox effects.

2. Flex Those Muscles

After your injections, do a mini facial workout by moving the muscles around the injection sites. Making a range of different expressions such as raising your eyebrows can help distribute the Botox more efficiently throughout your upper face, causing your results to take effect more quickly. Once the Botox kicks in, these expressions won’t make any lasting impact on your skin.

3. Shun the Sun

This note of advice applies to all people who wish to avoid the effects of aging, whether you decide to get Botox or not. Sun damage is the top reason we experience the signs of early aging, and Botox doesn’t turn back the clock on these wrinkles, since they do not involve the underlying muscles. It’s a best practice to apply sunscreen with an SPF of at least 30 on your face and any other exposed body parts every day, even if it’s cloudy.

Enjoy Long-Lasting Anti-Aging Effects

If you are interested in Botox injections or other transformative anti-aging procedures in San Francisco, Dr. Seth Matarasso and his talented team are eager to help you. Contact us today to learn more about the benefits of Botox and how to achieve long-lasting results through expert injections.

You’ve worked tirelessly at the gym, putting in time on the treadmill and with the weight equipment. You’ve also diligently followed a balanced diet and kept a close eye on your calorie intake. And, while all your hard work and discipline have paid off in some areas, you may still have a trouble spot or two that remains stubbornly unresponsive to all your attempts to achieve a toned physique.

As we get older, most of us naturally develop pockets of body fat that are resistant to diet and exercise. Common problem areas include the upper arms, thighs, buttocks, abdominal region, back, and the chin and neck. If you have unwanted fat that has accumulated in one or more of these spots, despite being at an otherwise healthy body weight, it can feel like a frustrating setback to all the progress you’ve made toward your fitness goals.

When you haven’t been able to achieve your desired results through fitness and nutrition alone, a non-surgical option called CoolSculpting® can help you get the shape you’ve been striving for, all with no need for stitches, incisions, or a lengthy recovery process.

What Is CoolSculpting?

Sometimes, scientific breakthroughs come from the most surprising sources. That’s the story behind CoolSculpting, which owes its inspiration to a summer favorite.

Years ago, scientists at Harvard University observed some children had dimples in their cheeks after eating popsicles. The scientists determined the intense cold from the sweet treat was freezing and eliminating small pockets of fat cells in the children’s faces.

Realizing that carefully directed cooling can target and remove fat cells without harming the skin or surrounding tissue led to the development of Cryolipolysis®, the scientific principle that forms the basis for CoolSculpting.

Key Benefits of CoolSculpting

• CoolSculpting technology uses controlled cooling to precisely target and destroy fat cells only in specific areas of your body.
• After the treatment, your body naturally processes and eliminates the dead fat cells.
• CoolSculpting results are long-term because the treated fat cells cannot regenerate.
• CoolSculpting is a non-invasive, FDA-approved way to address areas of body fat and requires no recovery time.
• Around the world, aesthetic medical professionals have performed more than a million CoolSculpting procedures.

Who Is Qualified for CoolSculpting?

The CoolSculpting procedure is best for patients who want to remove unwanted fat from targeted areas. The CoolSculpting procedure is not the same as a surgery such as a lap band, which helps obese people lose a dramatic amount of weight throughout their bodies.

The best candidates for the CoolSculpting procedure have already reached a healthy body weight, but are dissatisfied with noticeable flab or bulges of fat in specific spots. CoolSculpting is also ideal for anyone who does not want to undergo a more invasive procedure such as liposuction.

CoolSculpting Side Effects and Results

During the first few minutes of treatment, most patients report feeling intense cold; however, the area being treated generally goes numb within five to 10 minutes. You’ll also feel some pulling or pinching as a result of the suction from the device.

Because CoolSculpting is non-invasive, many of our patients read, catch up on work, or even doze off while their treatment is taking place. You can resume normal activities immediately following your treatment.

Typical side effects of CoolSculpting include temporary redness, swelling, bruising, tenderness, tingling, and heightened skin sensitivity. These effects generally resolve within the first week or so afterward.

You may start to see improvements as quickly as three weeks after your treatment and will notice the most remarkable results after two months. Your body will still continue to flush out fat cells for up to six months after treatment.

How CoolSculpting Can Help You Achieve Your Goals

After completing CoolSculpting treatments, you won’t have to make any significant lifestyle changes to maintain your great results. However, many patients do feel increased motivation to live a healthy, fit way of life after seeing how well their CoolSculpting treatments have worked for them. When your clothes fit better, and you have improved self-confidence, it often pushes you to pursue an even healthier diet and workout regimen in the future.

If you’ve been exercising regularly and following a healthy diet plan, yet still struggle with problem areas, CoolSculpting may be just the spark you need to jumpstart your goals at the beginning of a new calendar year. Take the next step and schedule your consultation today to achieve the best possible version of yourself in 2019.

When it comes to making a healthy skin care routine, your face takes priority. Not only is it the most visible and prominent area of your skin, it also develops wrinkles more quickly than other areas of your body due to the amount of fine muscle movement eroding its elasticity, so clearly, it needs the most attention.

Unfortunately, for many, their face is the beginning and end of skin care planning. However, since your skin is your largest organ and your first line of protection against the risks of the world around you, plenty of other places on your body need just as much attention to detail as your face.

Hands

Your hands are one of the most incredible parts of your body, and over your life, you will use them for hundreds of everyday tasks. However, we often take the skin on our hands for granted. When it gets dry, we often forget to moisturize until skin becomes painful and cracked. Many of us overlook the need to apply sunscreen to the backs of our hands as well, which means they could suffer more sun damage than the rest of your body.

If your hands are showing wrinkles, volume loss, age spots, and other signs of premature aging, don’t fret – you have options. For example, Fraxel is a laser treatment that can turn back the clock on your hands, erasing discoloration, uneven skin tone, and scarring. It will also stimulate your body’s natural collagen production, encouraging your skin to make more of this structural protein that is so essential to healthy skin.

Cosmetic fillers like those in the Juvéderm family can also help improve the appearance of the backs of hands that have become sunken or bony due to age-related tissue loss. With nearly immediate results, minimal risks and side effects, and no downtime for recovery, Juvéderm is undoubtedly a skin care tool to add to your arsenal.

Décolleté

It’s all too easy to overlook skin care for the chest, but it’s certainly an area that deserves protection and treating since it often gets just as much damaging UV exposure as your face. Décolleté, meaning “lower neck” in French, is a term that describes the skin stretching from your cleavage to your collarbone. Even people who have diligently followed a skin care regimen may have a dramatic difference in the degree of aging between their face and décolleté.

Some of this is because most people’s skincare routine doesn’t extend beyond their faces – but beyond that, this area often ages more rapidly than any other part of the body, even for those who take good care of the skin on their chest.

What’s the reason for this difference? The skin covering the décolleté is thinner and has fewer oil glands than most other parts of your body, making it more sensitive to irritation and sun damage. The thin skin on your décolleté is even more sensitive than your facial skin, so it requires at least as much attention. For patients who are concerned about premature aging on their décolleté, we recommend non-invasive procedures such as microdermabrasion and Ultherapy to smooth out skin and jumpstart collagen production.

Neck

Most of us know about the benefits of cleansing, moisturizing, exfoliating, and applying sunscreen to our faces, but unfortunately, many people’s skincare regimen stops at their jawline. As a result, neck skin is often one of the first areas where the obvious signs of aging like sagging and wrinkling become evident. Unless you are a fan of turtleneck sweaters, most clothing doesn’t do much to cover up your neck, which exposes it to sun damage year-round. If you aren’t diligent about protecting the skin on your neck, you may wake up one morning to realize your neck looks several years older than your face.

In addition to making sure to start including your neck in your daily efforts to keep your skin clean, hydrated, and free of impurities, you can get laser treatments such as IPL to enhance the look of your neck and bring it in line with the appearance of your face.

Love the Look of Your Hands, Décolleté, and Neck

Are you ready to improve the quality of your skin without committing to surgery? Contact our San Francisco office today to schedule a consultation with the board-certified dermatologist, Dr. Seth L. Matarasso.

If you’re interested in Botox, contact us today.

Botox is one of the safest, easiest, and most popular cosmetic solutions on the market today, and can address a wide range of issues when a trained physician administers it. However, despite its revolutionary success, the many misconceptions persistently surrounding this treatment have tarnished its reputation. Today, we are putting on our myth-busting hats to debunk these common fallacies.

1. Botox will “freeze” your face and make you look like a mannequin.

It’s a common movie and TV trope for characters to become expressionless after too many Botox treatments. While it’s true that Botox causes temporary muscle paralysis, a skilled practitioner will know exactly the right dosage to administer and where to place it so fewer wrinkles form in your face – not to the point that you can’t make normal facial expressions. “Frozen face” is the result of inexperienced practitioners administering too many units of Botox, and you can easily avoid this issue if you seek a provider who has the proper expertise and training.

2. Botox is purely cosmetic.

The benefits of Botox are far-reaching, and it can address several unfortunate real-life medical complaints. In fact, the FDA originally approved Botox to treat eye twitches and muscle spasms, and it did not become an aesthetic treatment until several years later. Since then, it has seen a wide range of uses, and today’s doctors now prescribe Botox injections to patients who suffer from issues like migraine headaches, hyperhidrosis, and acne.

3. Botox is poisonous.

While it is true Botox is based on botulinum toxin, it gets purified under laboratory conditions to the point where it becomes largely nontoxic. In addition, because your physician will inject the protein directly into your muscles to help relax them, it won’t get absorbed into your bloodstream. The dosage for cosmetic treatments is so small that it would take hundreds of times the amount of the protein to be toxic.

4. You can become addicted to Botox.

There is nothing physically or chemically addictive about Botox, though most people who receive it as a cosmetic treatment are so pleased with their anti-aging results that they wish to maintain them by getting follow-up injections a few times per year.

5. It will be too obvious that you had Botox treatments.

You may have read or heard overly dramatic “horror stories” that make it seem as if Botox injections will result in a massive change in your facial appearance. In reality, it has very subtle effects and gradual results. Botox will help you look younger and more relaxed, but it will not create a drastic change in how you look.

6. Botox injections are painful.

Because Botox is an injectable product, many patients worry about discomfort, but a mild local anesthetic numbs the injection sites and minimizes pain. In addition, the needles are small enough that you will barely even notice the treatment taking place. You may experience mild tenderness or slight bruising in the injection areas for a short time, but generally, Botox injections are a fast, easy, and virtually painless treatment that requires no recovery time.

7. Botox is only for one kind of person.

There is no such thing as an “ideal Botox patient.” Botox injections benefit younger patients and older patients equally well since preventative Botox for patients in their 20s and early 30s can stop lines from forming and reduce the need for future treatments. Men are also choosing to get Botox more today, often to maintain a youthful appearance as they re-enter the job market or dating scene.

Seek a Skilled Botox Practitioner in San Francisco

Unfortunately, misconceptions surrounding Botox injections are extremely persistent. That’s why Dr. Seth Matarasso works hard to provide results that speak for themselves. If you have any lingering doubts about the benefits of Botox as a natural-looking anti-aging treatment, contact Dr. Matarasso’s office for a personalized consultation.

Despite our diligent efforts to follow healthy lifestyle habits, many of us still struggle with stubborn areas of body fat. Heredity largely determines how you accumulate fat on your body, which is why it can be so challenging to lose fat from an area where you are genetically predisposed to store it.

If you are frustrated with visible fat bulges, but do not want to commit to invasive liposuction, you may want to consider CoolSculpting® – a groundbreaking technique for permanently removing fat cells from specific areas of the body without surgery.

What Is CoolSculpting?

You never know when inspiration might strike, and that’s certainly the case with CoolSculpting, which originated with a summertime favorite.

Several years ago, researchers at Harvard University noticed some children had dimples in their cheeks after eating popsicles. The scientists figured out the cold from the dessert was freezing and eliminating small pockets of fat cells in the children’s faces.

The understanding that strategically applied cold can target and remove fat cells without damaging the skin or surrounding tissue is the scientific foundation of CoolSculpting.

Benefits of CoolSculpting

• CoolSculpting technology uses controlled cooling to remove fat cells from targeted areas of your body.
• Following your treatment, your body will eliminate the dead fat cells via natural processes.
• CoolSculpting produces long-term results, because the treated fat cells are gone for good.
• CoolSculpting is a safe and non-invasive way to address areas of body fat and requires no recovery time.
• More than a million CoolSculpting procedures have been performed worldwide.

Here are some of the most frequent questions our patients have asked us about CoolSculpting.

Q: Who is a good candidate for CoolSculpting?

A: CoolSculpting is an effective procedure for anyone who wants to remove unwanted fat from targeted areas and prefers a non-surgical alternative to liposuction. The best candidates for this treatment are within a healthy weight range, but have pockets of fat that resist diet and exercise.

Q: How many treatment sessions will I need?

A: During your in-person consultation, we will work with you to create an individualized treatment plan tailored to your problem areas. The number of CoolSculpting sessions you will need will vary depending on what you want to achieve.

Q: Is CoolSculpting safe?

In the U.S., the CoolSculpting procedure is FDA-approved for the treatment of visible fat bulges in areas like the thighs, sides, buttocks, abdomen, back, bra line, neck, and upper arms. Because CoolSculpting is the No. 1 non-surgical fat reduction procedure in the world, you can feel confident it is a safe and effective treatment.

Q: Does CoolSculpting hurt?

A: During the first few minutes of treatment, most patients report a pulling sensation, along with intense cold; however, the area being treated generally goes numb within the first 10 minutes.

Because CoolSculpting is totally non-invasive, many of our patients catch up on emails, listen to music, or even fall asleep during treatment. Patients can return to normal activities, including work, immediately following their appointment. There are no diet or activity restrictions for people who have undergone CoolSculpting.

Q: Are there any side effects of CoolSculpting?

A: Following the procedure, typical side effects include temporary redness, numbness, swelling, bruising, tenderness, and sensitive skin. These effects generally resolve within the first week or so afterward.

Q: When will I see results?

A: You may start to see changes as early as three weeks after your treatment and will notice the most outstanding results after two months. Your body will continue to flush out fat cells for as long as six months after treatment.

Q: What should I do to maintain a healthy body weight after CoolSculpting?

A: People who undergo CoolSculpting don’t need to make any substantial lifestyle changes. However, many patients do feel increased motivation to stick to a diet and exercise regimen after enjoying the results from their CoolSculpting treatments.

Call Our Clinic Today

If you’re considering CoolSculpting as an alternative to liposuction, contact our San Francisco office to schedule a consultation. Our friendly staff is looking forward to hearing from you and helping you meet your aesthetic goals.