My goal with creating the Natural Needle Lift, decade by decade, was to create a formula that I could follow for my clients that was still customized to each person’s unique face. People tend to seek similar results around the same age, but everyone is different and ages differently, so the Natural Needle Lift was developed to create a treatment protocol to address the signs of aging at each decade through injectables in the most natural way possible, working with the client’s own face to maintain their natural beauty.
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My goal with creating the Natural Needle Lift, decade by decade, was to create a formula that I could follow for my clients that was still customized to each person’s unique face. People tend to seek similar results around the same age, but everyone is different and ages differently, so the Natural Needle Lift was developed to create a treatment protocol to address the signs of aging at each decade through injectables in the most natural way possible, working with the client’s own face to maintain their natural beauty.
Facial injectables are never one-size-fits all, so this gives me the opportunity to be creative while educating the client on what we are doing and ideally maintaining a more affordable price for treatments.
The Natural Needle Lift 40's & 50's
Many injectables and anti-aging treatments were created for people in their 40's and 50's, although they are now used more often on younger women. Early 40's is the most common age people start to see permanently “negative” messages on their faces, which is what they’re seeking to treat when they come to me for injectables. “Eleven” lines, or eyes that appear sad or tired are what leads people to perceive themselves as unattractive. This is why the goal is to lift the upper face and add lost volume to the lower face to create a fresh and youthful look. We’re addressing the areas that are sloping down, and adding fullness and volume to the face, restoring the patient's radiant, youthful appearance.
Natural Needle Lift 40's: Addressing Negative Messages, Looking Like Yourself
When looking at a face that someone tells me they feel is looking sad or mad, this is often from the messaging created by forehead lines - either “eleven” lines, two small lines between the eyebrows, or “wifi” lines, the horizontal creases across the length of the forehead. To relax eleven lines, or glabellar lines, I’d typically administer neurotoxin in 5-6 points in the forehead surrounding them - right in between the eyebrows, to the left and right and above/at the top of the lines. For wifi lines, I’d lightly administer neurotoxin across the forehead. In both cases, this relaxes the muscles, resulting in a natural look. I prefer to be conservative and stick to the goal of just easing the lines to keep the forehead from expressing anger or sadness without meaning to.
Next, I look to see where the face looks older, tired or “dragged down” due to loss of volume in the cheeks, chin or along the jaw. For this, I use a bio-stimulating filler to add back that fullness and enhance the natural contours of the face. This will naturally stimulate our body to make its own collagen, replenishing some loss of volume.
Depending on how much the face has “fallen”, if I feel like the cheek area needs an overall lift, I’ll add 1-2 mini threads on each side to pull up from the chin/lower cheek area towards the cheekbones. Even if the face is just showing those early signs of a downturn there, adding in a thread can lift the tissue without adding volume. As the thread breaks down it will then regenerate collagen in that area.
To round everything out, I also will do a lip flip and a bit of lip filler to add back any lost volume in the lips. Slightly bigger, poutier lips feel young and sexy, and add to that overall “refreshed” look. The goal is to have a friend look at someone who’s had a natural needle lift and have to ask what they got and why they look so good. They can’t quite put their finger on what’s changed, it just leaves the face looking brighter, tighter and if they were worried about those eyebrow lines or negative messaging, looking neutral or happier.
Natural Needle Lift 50's: Pre-Facelift Updates
When clients get into their 50's, they may have friends who have gotten facelifts or are considering the treatment depending on how they feel about how their face is aging. However, a facelift is an expensive, invasive treatment that not every person is a good fit for, or has the time and resources to get. For some women, depending on how their faces are aging, I may tell them that the results they're looking for will only come from a facelift, but when clients come to me with skin that has been well cared for in their 50's, we can often delay the need for a facelift with a combination of threads and injectables.
For the 50's, I’ll do everything I do for patients in their 40's, but will often use more neurotoxin or filler, or need to add filler to more parts of the face, because of the volume depletion and resultant sagging that occurs in and after this stage of life. I like to lift first with the threads, repositioning the skin and some superficial fat pads upward. This elevation will help with the nasolabial folds, jowls and contour of the jawline. The amount of threads versus filler will depend on the patient. Patients with thinner skin will get less threads and more volume, and the patients with thicker skin will get more threads and less filler. This balance works with the patient's own face and will keep the person looking like themselves. I will also use my fillers to create a smooth, “airbrushed” look and give a more “filtered” appearance. This delicate use of filler will leave the skin looking smoother and brighter.
Using threads in particular are important at this age to create the most natural results possible, and beginning to use them at a younger/preventative age will create the best and most natural results. Lastly, adding some neuromodulators to the jawline, lower face and platysmal bands will additionally help elevate the lower face and slightly sculpt the jawline.
Ultimately, the combination of collagen-stimulating threads and fillers together will maintain the skin, but won’t replace a facelift. The results aren’t as dramatic nor are they permanent. However, the base for any aesthetic treatments should be well taken care of skin, so a Natural Needle Lift 50's will not only delay the need for a facelift, but also support the face and skin even if a client chooses to get plastic surgery later on.
Natural Needle "Eye" Lift & Emerging Products/Treatments
Addressing lines and loss of volume around the eyes is a different and more delicate process than the rest of the face, but it was something my clients were often looking for, so we recently created a version of the Natural Needle Lift just for eyes. Like the rest of the face, the under eye area can lose volume with age, giving patients that tired or sad, negative appearance, especially for people who have always had a darker or more sunken under eye area.
Fillers in this region can be very tricky. Many people are not good candidates for under eye filler, specifically those that are subject to water retention and frequent swelling to this area. Fillers in these patients can make the swelling worse. The tear trough region is commonly an area with very thin, delicate skin. Therefore, some hyaluronic acids can be visible in this region, showing a bluish hue, also called a Tyndall effect. I often prefer starting with a more natural approach, using platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) alone or in combination with PRF gel injected into the tear trough. This natural filler can lessen dark circles and add fullness back under the eyes.
As with most treatments we perform in my clinics, we love combination therapy, utilizing devices with injectables to create a more natural result. High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) or micro-focused ultrasound (MFU) therapy is also performed to the orbital region and above the brow to lift and tighten that area. HIFU/MFU is a non-invasive way to stimulate the body’s own collagen production. This dynamic duo will make for the ultimate collagen response. The icing on the cake will be to add some neurotoxin to the area, softening the dynamic wrinkles and leaving the area looking more rested. Adding this special attention to the eye area in conjunction with any Natural Needle Lift will brighten and “wake up” the eye area. It contributes to the overall goal of not looking “done”, but looking fresh, bright and rested.
