What does Dr. Steinsapir think of the “Madonna Lift?”
For the last few years, the “Madonna Lift” — yes, named for the famed pop star — has received attention for purportedly dramatic results akin to an eyelid lift without the surgery. The procedure itself involves fractional CO2 laser resurfacing, with a goal to tighten the periocular skin in the eyelids and adjacent facial regions. Marketing claims for this procedure promise that it will give the effect of an eyelid lift through use of light columns to treat and tighten the skin. Claims include a diminishing of wrinkles, tightening of the skin, reduction of under eye circles, and elevation of the eyebrows. In essence, we are talking about the full benefits of an eyelid lift but without any surgery at all.
Does the Madonna Lift live up to the hype? Reasonably, the Madonna Lift can make a modest difference in your eyes’ brightness, but individuals undergoing the procedure might feel that it didn’t seem worthwhile. To get real results cosmetic procedure must address the root causes of your concerns. The best and most natural results come from addressing actual issues — which may include excess tissue or tissue deficiencies or both; stretched, sagging, and sun-damaged skin; ptosis; a drooping brow; or other concerns. Short cuts may help but they can also be disappointing because the lack the power to make a real difference.
Dr. Steinsapir is a leading advocate of minimally invasive facial cosmetic procedures, including nonsurgical procedures like under eye Restylane, the chemical peel, and Microdroplet BOTOX when indicated. There are many nonsurgical procedures with minimal downtime that can make a huge difference in your appearance. However, the key to satisfactory results is catering to your unique facial structure and goals, while choosing the best procedure to match your needs (whether surgical or not)–rather than setting your heart on a procedure full of promises but that may not be right for you.
The Madonna Lift is not a substitute for surgery if that is what you actually need. This is just another example of a modest procedure with a catchy name. For real results, we strongly encourage you to seek a personal consultation with a physician who is an eyelid specialist and can advise you on a personalized treatment plan. This may or may not include eyelid surgery, but the key is that your treatment will be based on your needs rather than a promise of a one-size-fits-all cure with a catchy name.
Dr. Steinsapir is an international leader in both eyelid surgery and minimally invasive, nonsurgical facial cosmetic procedures. Much of the appeal of the Madonna Lift is the absence of surgery, and it’s of course understandable that you may be hesitant to consider surgery. Dr. Steinsapir’s philosophy is that all treatments should be both individualized and minimally invasive. What does this mean? If surgery is not indicated, he will not recommend it. And when surgery is indicated to address the cause of your concerns, he opts for a treatment that is conservative and preserves as much of your natural tissue and eyelid contour as possible, enhancing your features, speeding up recovery time, and avoiding the “surgical look” famed by gossip magazines. Many people see phenomenal results from an upper eyelid blepharoplasty and related eyelid surgeries, and many also see incredible improvements from nonsurgical procedures like undereye Restylane and an individualized chemical peel. The bottom line is, you may or may not need surgery to get the results you desire — but for an outcome that meets your needs, you should never limit yourself to one procedure just because it was marketed to you. For the best results, consult with a leading oculoplastic surgeon to determine which treatment plan is right for you.
We invite you to consult with Dr. Steinsapir today, a pioneer in minimally invasive cosmetic facial procedures with particular attention to the eyelid and its balance with the rest of the face. Dr. Steinsapir has proven results for both surgical and nonsurgical cosmetic facial procedures; and his friendly, approachable, and honest demeanor will help you feel comfortable asking questions, receiving answers, and planning for the procedure(s) right for you.
About Dr. Steinsapir
Dr. Steinsapir is a board certified eye surgeon and fellowship-trained in oculoplastic surgery and cosmetic surgery in Los Angeles where he specializes in balanced facial cosmetic surgery for natural results, with an emphasis on minimally invasive techniques, fast recovery time, and leadership in medical technology. Dr. Steinsapir has a private practice and also serves as an Associate Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at the Jules Stein Eye Institute, at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Contact us today to learn how Dr. Steinsapir’s experience and training make him an expert in cosmetic surgery, which can be a vital part of your evidence-based treatment plan.
Services described may be “off-label” and lack FDA approval. This article is informational and does not constitute an advertisement for off-label treatment. No services should be provided without a good faith examination by a licensed physician or surgeon and an informed consent with a discussion of risks, benefits, alternatives, and the likelihood of treatment success. Only you and your treating physician or surgeon can determine if a treatment is right for you.
Will photo facial treatments affect my Restylane service?
Minimally invasive procedures have become a very popular way of improving one’s appearance. Several different treatments can be performed at one time minimizing downtime. Photo facial and facial filling with Restylane and Perlane is a very common combination of services. The fillers address volume deficiencies like under eye dark circles, lip lines, loss of facial fullness and Photo facial can improve sun damage, facial redenss to even the complexion. The filler is placed sufficiently deep in or below the skin that it is unaffected by the Photo facial. So there is no reason to be concerned if you are having both services at the same time or if you previously were treated with fillers. Your suitability for either or both of these procedures is best determined at a private consultation with a qualified oculoplastic surgeon or cosmetic surgeon. The good news is that these procedures are compatible, safe, and comfortable.
Understanding the basis for how Restylane and Fotofacial both work will clarify why it is safe to receive both treatments. Photo facial is an intense pulse light treatment (IPL) that improves red spots, small blood vessels, and sun damage. These treatments are the basis for photo facials, and they are generally delivered over the course of four to six sessions at three weeks intervals. This is sufficient time to see improvements in your skin’s appearance, creating a more even tone and skin firming. Fotofacial works by directly treating your skin where the sun damage, pigmentary, and capillaries responsible for redness reside.
Restylane treatment, on the other hand, is carefully placed under the skin to correct deficiencies in facial volume, such as the under eye circle. For example, under eye Restylane is safely placed beneath the skin to address the volume needs, thus improving what we perceive as dark circles under the eyes. Because Restylane works from under the skin while Fotofacial directly targets the skin itself, Restylane treatments are unaffected by IPL treatment, and vice versa.
It is important to always disclose your complete past and current medical history with your physician as you develop your treatment plan. This will ensure that your care is as safe and personalized as possible. Dr. Steinsapir specializes in both Fotofacial and Restylane treatments and is the inventor of of Deepfill Restylane method, the breakthrough approach to correcting under eye hollows. Dr. Steinsapir is friendly and approachable, and will gladly answer your questions and help you feel confident in your treatment choices. Call us today to schedule an individualized consultation and see results.
About Dr. Steinsapir
Dr. Steinsapir is a board certified eye surgeon and fellowship-trained in oculoplastic surgery and cosmetic surgery in Los Angeles where he specializes in balanced facial cosmetic surgery for natural results, with an emphasis on minimally invasive techniques, fast recovery time, and leadership in medical technology. Dr. Steinsapir has a private practice and also serves as an Associate Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at the Jules Stein Eye Institute, at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Contact us
Invisible Eyelid Surgery―Be Careful What You Look For
Throughout Los Angeles and Beverly Hills there is a buzz about a “new and innovative” procedure that promises eyelid surgery without scarring. The promise of no scars following surgery sounds appealing; who doesn’t want to walk away from surgery with all the benefits of a refreshed look without the evidence of surgery? But as the old adage goes, “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
How does invisible eyelid surgery work?
According to the doctor who “invented” this procedure, invisible eyelid surgery involves both “subconjunctival blepharoplasty” (usually called transconjunctival blepharoplasty) and a simultaneous “advanced” laser treatment performed by a dermatologist. Using a micro-fractional CO2 resurfacing laser to treat lower eyelid skin by “tightening” the area following removal of fat through an incision made on the inside of the lower lid (transconjunctival incision), this procedure touts a younger and refreshed appearance of both the upper and lower lids without cutting surgery. And all this has a recovery period of about a week and no one will be able to see any evidence that you’ve had surgery! Now that sounds too good to be true.
Why the skepticism?
When you break down the idea of “invisible eyelid surgery” into its basic parts, all you’re really left with is lower eyelid blepharoplasty and CO2 resurfacing; two procedures that have been offered by cosmetic and oculoplastic surgeons for years. Invisible eyelid surgery isn’t a new idea as the advertising physician would have you believe. It’s simply two existing procedures packaged together and given a brand new name! No surprise this is often how “new” things are invented in Beverly Hills all the time.
The risks of transconjunctival blepharoplasty
The idea behind the transconjunctival blepharoplasty is to remove the lower eyelid fat pads to eliminate puffiness around the lower lid that makes you look tired and aged. But transconjunctival blepharoplasty is not without some serious risks that, if performed without skill or experience can result in permanent damage. This approach of permanently removing eyelid fat is an old approach to lower eyelid surgery. It can be effective for a small number of people. The more current approach is preservation of this fat using a procedure called an arcus marginalis release. Simply throwing away the fat can cause a hollow lower eyelid.
The risks of CO2 laser resurfacing
Deep CO2 laser resurfacing has fallen out of fashion because of the negative experience many have had healing from these treatments. There is a very real risk that your skin will suffer from permanent depigmentation, and that the scarring caused by such treatments will likely affect the texture of your face. This is because the treatment depth needed to improve deep facial lines makes post laser resurfacing scars, particularly skin texture changes, relatively common. In fact these types of skin texture changes and skin depigmentation are so common that many surgeons think that this is the expected outcome of the service!
Micro fractional C02 laser is an effort to reduce this damage. These treatments do provide freshening of the skin but generally are not powerful enough to reduce lower eyelid lines. Chemcial peels, although they require much more training than a laser treatment are still the preferred methods. In some cases, the chemical peel was all that was needed for the lower eyelid contour to be much smoother even without lower eyelid surgery!
What kind of eyelid surgery will work for me?
Dr. Steinsapir says this a lot, so it should come as no surprise: the best lower eyelid surgery is customized for the individual and designed to meet his or her particular features, goals, and medical needs. This means that the lower eyelid surgery ideal for one person may be a specialized type of blepharoplasty while for another it may be a midface lift designed to correct tissue descent and return it to its proper anatomical location in the lower eye area. Once you and your oculoplastic surgeon determine the best procedure, together, you and your surgeon must customize it even further to fit your features and obtain natural results. Dr. Steinsapir observes: “people don’t do well with a one size fits all, cookie cutter approach.”
About Dr. Steinsapir
Dr. Steinsapir is a board certified eye surgeon and fellowship-trained in oculoplastic surgery and cosmetic surgery in Los Angeles where he specializes in balanced facial cosmetic surgery for natural results, with an emphasis on minimally invasive techniques, fast recovery time, and leadership in medical technology. Dr. Steinsapir has a private practice and also serves as an Associate Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at the Jules Stein Eye Institute, at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Contact us today to learn how Dr. Steinsapir’s experience and training make him an expert in cosmetic surgery, which can be a vital part of your evidence-based treatment plan.
Services described may be “off-label” and lack FDA approval. This article is informational and does not constitute an advertisement for off-label treatment. No services should be provided without a good faith examination by a licensed physician and an informed consent with a discussion of risks, benefits, alternatives, and the likelihood of treatment success. Only you and your treating physician or surgeon can determine if a treatment is right for you.
Should I get laser resurfacing?
As we often say, the key to receiving excellent results from cosmetic treatments is making sure that the treatment is customized to your needs and powerful without being over aggressive. For a procedure to be beneficial, flexibility is essential. If your doctor cannot tailor the procedure to your needs, it is likely to be either relatively ineffective or cause problems.
Forms of laser resurfacing are appealing to many doctors because they are easy to learn the public’s infatuation with lasers make the services easy to market. In fact, surgeons can be trained in a two-day course on how to use a laser while it can take two years of intense fellowship to understand the art and versatility of the chemical peel. The chemical peel is complex and adaptable, but after spending $150,000 on a laser, a doctor will want to recoup these costs and will have little incentive to offer laser resurfacing alternatives.
Superficial Improvements
There are several facial laser treatment problems, one being that you may pay a lot for an expensive technology that doesn’t make a meaningful difference in your appearance.
The cost of this expensive technology is passed onto you, the client, which is fair, but it can mean that results are disappointing when you consider the price you pay. For example, Fraxel laser treatments are considered very mild. They do freshen up your complexion but will you be disappointed with the results if you don’t make enough progress in tightening the skin or providing dramatic improvements?
Laser peels are also usually performed with an erbium laser, and they are considered so mild that the treatment is rendered superficial, producing results comparable to microdermabrasion. While this provides minimal improvement, the machine is still very costly, and you will have to pay a lot for this type of service. Fractional C02 laser resurfacing achieves results that are similar to light chemical peels and certainly much more effective than microdermabrasion. Again how you feel about the improvement has to be balanced against what you have had to pay for the service.
Side Effects from Overagressive Treatments
Deep CO2 laser resurfacing has fallen out of fashion because of the negative experience many have had healing from these treatments. Before considering such a treatment it’s important to understand the real risk that your skin will suffer from permanent depigmentation, and that the scarring caused by such treatments will likely affect the texture of your face. This is because the treatment depth needed to improve deep facial lines makes post laser resurfacing scars, particularly skin texture changes, relatively common. In fact these types of skin texture changes and skin depigmentation are so common that many surgeons think that this is the expected outcome of the service! This creates a permanent unnatural color change in the skin. Will this type of change be worth living with? For many younger individuals, the answer is no. However, some older women who rely on foundation to improve the tone of the complexion may find that it is not a problem to continue the use of foundation to add color to the face after deep CO2 laser and appreciate the improvement in facial lines.
Facial laser procedures began as a promising technology that some even believed would replace the time tested and reliable chemical peel, but now we are seeing that the technology has ultimately been a disappointment. In order to achieve line improvement with laser resurfacing, the unwanted treatment side effects are unavoidable. With other kinds of laser, we see that the laser peel is so mild that the improvements, for many, are not worth the financial costs. These problems can be traced back to the inflexibility of laser treatments making them suitable for treating a narrow range of complexion issues.
Laser Resurfacing vs. Chemical Peel
A chemical peel has the ability to rejuvenate your skin and restore your face’s youthful appearance through a carefully designed treatment plan. Chemical peels are truly an art form with many options that make your treatment customizable and safe, and they’ve been the preferred facial resurfacing method for much longer than laser treatments have been available. There is still a very small chance of change in pigmentation, but when we look at the chemical peel vs. laser treatment we see that the chemical peel is less likely to produce unwanted skin color and texture problems. However, due to the experience and level of skill needed to perform this procedure, only a very limited number of surgeons are truly qualified to perform these procedures
You need an expert in chemical peels.
Dr. Steinsapir is a considered a master chemical peeler who is able to custom-tailor a peel to your unique needs. He specializes in achieving natural results with little down time by using minimally invasive procedures like the chemical peel. It is his philosophy to approach your needs on an individual basis and then carefully plan your treatment. Because Dr. Steinsapir never standardizes cosmetic treatments into a cookie-cutter, assembly-line approach, he can help you achieve benefits that work just right for you. Please contact us today to learn more about how a chemical peel or another option can achieve your personal goals.
