The Secrets Behind Sculptra, Threads, CO2 Lasers and More for a Natural Youthful Glow

0:00Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of Spanon. This is your host, Ecta, and today is another episode in the Masterclass series with Dr. Allenby and her team and I'm really excited to be a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit. out what that is and tell us about the treatment and technology to educate our listeners. Wow. You know, Sculptra and Threads are individually each both some of my favorite things to do. So let me just describe what they are. Sculptra is a biostimulatory filler.

0:48And, you know, I will tell you out in the aesthetic world right now, fillers kind of have a bad name. And I'm going to just go off on a little bit of a tangent and educate people. Fillers in the wrong hands can be detrimental as can anything but when they're done well they shine and you don't know that they're done sculptra is a biostimulatory filler it's not a hyaluronic acid it grows your collagen in so it really acts different than the hyaluronic acids and you traditionally do not get puffy and the places are more versatile where we can put them so it is a product that has been around since 2004.

1:24I've been a trainer for years for it. And really what it has shown excellence in is that it grows collagen, it can lift, it can tighten. If you use it like under the skin as a blanket, you can actually get a glow to the skin. We traditionally use the probably more upper lateral face because we want to get a lift and it kind of pulls the whole face up. Especially if I put it under the scalp, you can use it there and you kind of get a nice little lift. You can use it in the face. It can pull wrinkles out for you, but you don't look filled. It's such a cool product. And then you go over to one. Yeah, you put that in the tissue and you want to so that more lift, you can use something called threads, PDO threads.

2:06We use these threads internally in surgery and we've been using them for years, not just in dermatology, but all medicine, as you know, and these absorbable sutures. And we like them because they're not permanent. Many years ago, we had a day with permanent ones that they were pretty horrible. These absorbable sutures have little baby like hooks in them. And I know it sounds gross. We put it in. You don't see them. They just lift the tissue up. And it is like incredible. It's almost looks like a little fishing line. And I know it sounds kind of icky, but it's like a little fishing line with little hooks on it.

2:37And it just pulls the tissue up and it gradually dissolves over time. And it kind of acts like sculpture when it dissolves. It just kind of creates collagen build in its path. So I use them in combination, a tremendous amount in the office. It's still one of my favorite procedures. It is something that when it's done, you look like you get a facelift. It's good and bad because once you see that, you can't unsee it. You know, it's kind of like, I look so good. You know, you get one of those feelings and with time, because the little barbs lose their strengths and, you know, life just keeps happening.

3:09Within a couple of months, you kind of lose that facelift look. You're not baseline, but you lose the facelift look, and you do get addicted to that facelift look. This is literally a 10-minute procedure that gives you a facelift. Kind of call it the Friday facelift because you just, on Friday afternoon, on the way out the door, you whip a thread in, and it literally takes 10, 15 minutes to do, and you don't look bruised, you don't see anything, and you are looking real snatch-jaw-ling there. I'm usually, like, I put threads right in front of the ear, like vertically up and down to pull up. I can use threads in the scalp to pull the eyes up, kind of like a ponytail lift.

3:49So there are so many ways we can do it. We can pick up the nasolabial fold just by putting one kind of angle towards the nose. But I use it with sculpture because the sculpture kind of holds the longevity a little bit better. You mentioned there's, like, no downtime for this, right? Who's the best candidate? You know, it's always going to be a young person because they're the best candidate for everything. You know, if you have a lot of loose hanging skin, the sculpture works great, but sometimes the thread will kind of give a little gathered look and that's not good. Somewhere from 35 to 75 is probably okay.

4:22But once you start getting older, it becomes a little bit not such a great procedure. So, you know, you kind of have to say, okay, you don't want totally wiped out skin. You know, you want somebody who has a little bit of collagen left, a little bit of spring left to their tissue that actually is going to have enough thickness that if the thread grabs the tissue, it's not going to gather up. The candidate is fairly important, but really a wide range of people do very well with these. When you're having the procedure, you know, we've learned to make it much more comfortable. Back in the day when it first started, it was a little more uncomfortable.

4:55When you're putting it, before you put them in, we use a lot of lidocaine mixed with the Sculptra. We do it in the path where we're going to put the thread and it really makes it much more comfortable because as you can think, you have something that has a little bit of a sharp little barbs on it. They do, you can feel it a little bit. It can be kind of uncomfortable and pull a little funny. So that would be kind of the negative is that they can be a little bit uncomfortable, but kind of learn to put a lot of lidocaine in. We use a lot of nitrous oxide, which is laughing gas in the office to really help people who are very pain intolerant.

5:26And I think if you can get through some of the discomfort piece of it, and that's probably the worst part about it, truly it is a 10-minute procedure. Wow. I mean, it sounds like a great option, though, if you're looking for something that's, like, faster and, you know, you don't have that downtime, right? Right. And you rarely bruise from this. You can. You can bruise with anything. But you don't normally see a bruise. You're just seeing the lift. And that is kind of like the winner, winner, chicken dinner situation. them. Now, you mentioned the collagen that, you know, you naturally have more collagen production than after getting these treatments, right?

5:59Yeah. I mean, that's the nature of both products. Internal sutures, when they're closing a wound, when they're in wound healing state, they are meant to cause fibrosis, which is really collagen build. You know, so you're getting some collagen building in the area. Okay. What is Sculptra? Sculptra is polylactic acid. And the way it came about, it was actually suture material that was pulverized into a powder. We put bacteriathetic water and lidocaine in it, and that's what we injected. And, you know, it had its moment of learning curve like everything else. And we've come to the proper dilution.

6:33So people don't have negative things in the past. It was bumps and things that it was because it was not diluted enough to kind of spread in an area. So it really is kind of a suture material that we're putting in there to create this collagen built, but we're spreading it over a zone. And then you have a suture that is more of a, you know, a solid piece that's going to be growing collagen. And so they're really both very similar product lines and they both are meant to build collagen and you're using them to kind of be stays kind of like little bumpers in the area to hold what you're trying to get up.

7:07If you're using as the lifter, if I'm using it to recondition the tissue, I'm using it more like in a blanket form. So it'll grow collagen and kind of pull wrinkles out or maybe acne scars. It kind of effaces or pulls out a wrinkle or an indent of the tissue. It's very interesting, though. I mean, I guess there's multiple uses depending on what you're looking for. You know, I mean, we use it in the rear. I build up rear ends with this. I mean, I've put it in thighs. You can use it in so many ways. It's really a cool product. So what is the maintenance that involved after you get sculptor or threads?

7:40um it's culture you know because back in the day we had some bumps and that's why we ended up putting more fluid into the bottle so you put the fluid in and the fluid looks amazing like you look like you get a facelift because that fluid filled in the space and it's kind of putting a preview of what's going to happen later the fluid absorbs it builds collagen while usually the first couple days during the after phase you're going to massage the area and you just massage it till you don't get bumps. I mean, if you're using just Sculptra, like as a product to fill or to create lift, usually we say you need a vial of your age decade.

8:18So if you're 50 years old, you really need five vials to get you there. But really, we kind of do two and we just see how you do. We give you a couple months between it, give your body some time to grow collagen. And if you really grow in and you look fine, you don't need to do more. But if you are empty, it's like maybe you're a slow grower but everybody grows collagen so everybody really responds to this the kind of results that we can expect i mean it's going to be good because it works pretty much for everybody pretty much yeah i mean i i think i can count on one hand and i probably do close to 1200 a year of vials of sculptra oh wow in my whole career on one hand people that didn't respond well with it wow and it's been around since 2004 so that's a huge track record see i like that i like the treatments that you know they've been proven you know multiple for many many years like i mean honestly they've been proven here because like we're one of the bigger users in the country with this we're pretty inventive and things well we're chasing age ourself you know we all want to look good in here it's not just me it definitely is something that it can be used so safely and it's just so minimal with any risk of side effects you know it's very liquidy because it's really more liquid or water going in with the product.

9:36The product is so minuscule that even if you got a little on a vessel, you're not going to hurt anybody. It just goes through the system and washes away. You know, unlike a hyaluronic acid, you get that in a vessel, you can occlude a vessel and you might have a problem because you're not getting good blood flow to the area. I mean, I think that it's for me, when I look at fillers, you said this in the beginning, for me, fillers, the more and more I look at people who are getting them done, I'm noticing it's just a lot of like question marks you know if you're not going to the right practitioner it becomes like a very much a gray area and i think it's better to do something tried and true i just did a social media piece on it you know you you go to a surgeon for surgery you should really be coming to a dermatologist or dermatology practice for your fillers because that's really our ballpark you know that's what we're proficient in i'm not proficient in surgery and i don't want to do them skin care fillers devices those are all things you should be coming to the dermatology practice for.

10:29Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. And I hope people take that advice. I want to talk to Amanda now about the Ellicor. Hi there. Hi, Amanda. I want to ask you about Ellicor. Tell us about Ellicor. What is it and what should we know in terms of background? Ellicor is one of the newer devices on the market. We've had it for almost, it'll almost be two years now. It's a little bit different than the lasers or microneedling with radio frequency because there's no heat, there's no energy with this device. It's little needles and they've got a hollow core. So what it's doing is it's leaving little punches to excise or take out the tissue.

11:08So really anybody who's battling with excess tissue, instead of undergoing any surgeries to remove this, this is an option that you can go and do without undergoing surgery. I know that, you know, in the past, people used to directly go to surgery for that, any excess tissue removal. Who is the ideal candidate then for that kind of treatment? It kind of falls into that same age range of you've got to have good skin quality, you've got to have some sort of bounce and collagen to your tissue to actually respond to these devices. So I'd say anybody between the ages of like 30 to 75 with that excess tissue, any of even that free jowling, where they are starting to have a little bit of the hang or wrinkling by the mouth.

11:51You know, that's often an area that people do not like to see or even the upper eyes. We're treating that off label to get rid of some of that excess tissue and hang so that people don't have to go that surgical route. Seeing great results. It's one of my favorite devices. How many treatments does it usually take if you're trying to get a couple of areas, you know, that they want that excess tissue? I mean, do you have to come back and forth? Like you come in once and then you have to come back again? Or how does that work? This one, you know, it takes a little bit of time for your skin to heal from this, you have to set out a minimum of four to five days of downtime where you're a little messy looking, you know, and we have products that help to get you through that healing and expedite that if you have any certain events or anything, but it's something that you do want to plan for a little bit.

12:40Once you go through that healing phase, you know, you have some swelling, some redness, maybe a little bit of pinpoint bleeding to the areas that we treat. That improves usually by day four or five and maybe just a couple little residual swelling and some redness to the area. Then we usually want to wait about 90 days to see the peak results of it and then space it out by doing it a second treatment. I'd say minimum 90 days, usually sometimes even six months apart. Dr. Allenby, we did her two treatments. We did one in February and I think the second one in August. So it was a good four or five months apart that I did her treatments and she responded well to that.

13:24That's very interesting. So in terms of like maintenance between treatments, or even if you say you got one treatment, what is the maintenance that's involved? It's the same with it. You're investing into these procedures. If you're investing into sculpture threads, You're investing into CO2 laser or you're investing into Ellicor. These are all things that you want to keep your investment going. So you want to back it with good medical skin grade products. And you also may want to do like a peel or a laser treatment in between to keep that collagen stimulated and growing. You're removing up to two to three centimeters of tissue.

14:01So when you think of it in that aspect, you know, compare that to what you can achieve with a lift without undergoing surgery. This is really fascinating, actually, because whenever I think of excess tissue removal, I think of like back in the day, you know, when people used to lose a ton of weight and then they would go through those excessive surgeries to try to get that, you know, like the excess skin off. And it was a big deal in terms of results. I mean, what are realistically what can people expect? That's what I do love about this device. One of the big things like Dr. A was mentioning on social media, everybody is going the more natural route.

14:35You know, they don't want this fake look. They don't want this tacked back look that you get when you undergo surgery. You can get good results of a lift of treating that excess skin or wrinkles around the mouth, around the eyes. You know, the excess hang, get that tighter and lifted without that tacked back fake look. I know right now, I mean, for this past year, Ozempic has been such a buzz, right? I mean, everyone's been talking about it. And I'm wondering, people who've been on Ozempic, they've experienced obviously the weight loss within any sagging skin or whatnot. Would they be good candidates for something like this?

15:13Absolutely. Yeah. As you know, you have fat and you have bone structure that helps hold up skin. As you lose some of that fat, you have that excess skin laxity. So that is a huge area and seeing really good results for those patients. Thank you so much, Amanda. I love learning about that. Thank you. Hi, Dani. How are you? I'm good. How are you? I'm good. I would love to understand cool peels and CO2 from you, Dani. If you could explain to us what is cool peel and the CO2 techniques that are utilized in your clinic. Cool peel is the specific CO2 device that we have here in office. CO2 has been around for years and years and years.

15:50This is newer technology that allows us to safely treat a broader range of skin types and also achieve better results with less downtime. CO2 lasers and cool peels are highly customizable. So we can go as light or as intense as a patient wants, depending on their skin goals and willingness for downtime. Really good for skin resurfacing, collagen stimulation, getting rid of unwanted pigment, whether it's from acne scarring, post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, sunspots it's really great at treating that it's also really good at achieving a lifting and tightening of the tissue depending on the intensity of the laser as well who are the ideal candidates for this i think a better question who's not an ideal candidate i would say anyone with skin that has again concerns for any type of unwanted pigment textural concerns or wanting lifting, tightening, or just an overall collagen-stimulating anti-aging treatment are really great candidates for a cool peel or a deeper CO2 laser.

16:54There are some considerations that we like to discuss in consultations with the highest risk being for pigment for darker skin types. Okay, great. Yeah, I was going to actually ask you about that. If you have melanin-rich skin, you want to definitely do a deeper dive into understanding how this works. the skin type, the more you have for the pigment. So up to a certain degree, we can pre-treat these darker skin types with a melanin suppressant, usually some sort of hydroquinone. We would follow post-treatment with those products well to decrease your risk for hyperpigmentation. What's the downtime like for treatment?

17:27That really depends on the type of laser that you're getting. So our lighter lasers, which we call the cool peel, they're more superficial. You're going to have about a day of swelling with some pink skin for maybe one to two days with potentially some residual for dry flaky skin just from cellular turnover and healing. Then for our deeper lasers, we usually say it's about two to three days of, as Dr. Allenby would say, not wanting to go to Publix. You're going to have some more intense swelling. You're going to have some more intense redness. And then your skin's just going to look icky for about those two to three days.

18:03we see a big turnaround in the swelling and ickiness of the skin. On day three, that's really when you can cover things with makeup, go back out in public and just continue your daily living activities. Oh, so it's not too bad. Dawn are the days that we're wiping out people with downtime for seven to 10 days. A lot of us just don't have that time anymore. But so in terms of like side effects, are there any side effects we should be aware of? I would say the biggest ones are, of course, the redness and swelling. Big one, again, is hyperpigmentation, depending on the tone of the skin. Ones to consider are potentially if you're acne prone, you might potentially have some purging.

18:37If you are prone to cold sores, you might have some of those surface. So we like to pre-treat with Valtrex. It's generally a very safe treatment, well tolerated by all of our patients. Is there certain maintenance that you recommend right after getting the peel done? Or I mean, how does that work? Yes. So we like to tell our patients that your maintenance and aftercare for your laser actually starts before your treatment. So really prepping the skin with something that's really hydrating. We love using Plated Intense because it's full of growth factors and exosomes just to prep the skin for in-office procedures.

19:11And we recommend proceeding to use this after the treatment because it helps expedite your healing process. It enhances your treatment results and it helps with extra collagen stimulation because that's what those growth factors and exosomes are really great at. We have tons of tools in office for recovery as well. Something else we really love is a CO2 after kit by Elastin. It comes with a gentle cleanser, sunscreen, moisturizer and Elastin nectar just to keep the skin super moisturized while you're healing. I love Elastin. It's like one of my favorite. Yeah, they're amazing. So in terms of the results, what can we realistically expect?

19:46That's a good question. So again, this is depending on the type of laser you're getting. Our lasers, you can expect an immediate improvement in texture, complexion, and pigment pretty soon after you heal. Our deeper lasers that require more downtime. Again, you'll have a pretty immediate improvement in texture, pigment, and complexion, but the tightening of the tissue really takes about six to eight weeks to begin to see because it takes our body's time to stimulate collagen. With it taking up to three months to of fully see the benefits of that lifting and tightening from that one laser. Wow, that's pretty solid though.

20:20I think when you're investing in anything that has to do with aesthetics, I mean, you have to go for things that are going to last for a little bit. So I think that's important to understand. If you're tuning in and you're looking to get something new done, definitely, again, like Dr. Allenby was saying, you want to go to an actually trained dermatologist practice. It's also really incredible because these types of lasers, there are studies that show that they have proven reduction of future skin cancers. That's huge. I didn't know that. Yeah, that's really cool. It's a great treatment. We like to incorporate into pretty much everyone's annual treatment plans.

20:53Well, thank you so much, Dani. That was really educational. I enjoyed learning about that. No problem. It was good talking with you. Yeah, likewise. Thank you guys so much. Thank you. Hey guys. So I hope you loved that episode. Please make sure to hit subscribe if you're tuning in to us on any podcast platform. We are available on so many different platforms. So wherever it is that you're tuning in, just go hit subscribe. You will be immediately notified when we publish new episodes. This way you're able to tune in to amazing insights from experts, brand founders, industry leaders, authors, all the wonderful people that we host.

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