The Latest Minimally Invasive Beauty Treatments – The Hollywood Reporter

In Hollywood, innovative, minimally invasive procedures, combined with a “less is more” approach to facial fillers, offer a more natural alternative to cut-and-sew procedures, dermatologists tell stars.

“People aren’t looking for the fast look; they’re looking for a slow, gradual upkeep,” says Dr. Harold Lancer of Beverly Hills’ Launch Dermatology (whose clientele for her global practice has included Margot Robbie, Jennifer Lopez, Beyoncé and Kim Kardashian West).

“It’s like slowly cooking the soufflé instead of just putting it in the microwave. A few years ago Madonna’s overly toxic and overly plump cheek look was all the rage. None of this is popular now. What is popular are the subtle, almost imperceptible mini-mini-mini procedures.

Beverly Hills Plastic Surgeryis Dr. Gabriel Chiu (who is married to empire bling star and producer Christine Chiu) adds, “The decrease in the use of hyaluronic acid fillers has been the trend, as Hollywood types seek more natural-looking rejuvenation and try to avoid filler fatigue. “

PlasmaSculpt

Lancer says “the newest thing in volumizing is PlasmaSculpt [from $3,000 a treatment], where you mix bulking agents with your own blood plasma.

He explains that he injects the custom cocktails into faces, necks, arms, buttocks, and thighs to “improve skin texture, pore size, and radiance as well as reduce certain fine lines and bumps. We can subtly firm up the arms without surgery, so arm lift days will quickly fade away because scarring is a problem. The technique, he explains, is to “fan some of this mixture to underlay the skin”.

Stem Cell Lift

Another trendy word-of-mouth treatment is a new patented stem cell lift that the dermatologist Simon Ourian quietly played on customers at his Spa Epione in Beverly Hills for two years, he tells exclusively THR.

The treatment removes less than two ounces of fatty tissue from the patient’s hip, knee or abdomen and reinjects the stem cells into the face, neck and chest to restore flexibility and add volume.

Starting at $10,000, the procedure is customized for each client, often combined with a Coolaser treatment (for discoloration and fine lines) or an ultrasound (to reduce excess fat under the neck or eyes). It takes two or three months to see results as the body regenerates.

“It has very similar results to a facelift, but without the downtime,” says Ourian, adding that clients in their 30s can go 10 years between treatments. “Stem cells force your skin to think that something new needs to be created, and your body builds new structures. Bones and muscles become denser, skin quality improves. There is a huge window of opportunity to make the face as young as before.

Wire lifts

Available since the 1990s, thread lifts are now in high demand, having made a comeback with a much more effective fourth generation of dissolvable barbed sutures that are sewn under the skin to lift fat pads and restore a youthful look. . Polydioxanone (PDO) threads are absorbed by the body within months, but results last up to two years. At the end of 2020, Eva Mendes shared a photo on Instagram with pink needles in her neck while having the wire lifted at Beauty Villa Vergara, the Beverly Hills clinic-spa-salon opened by Dr. Mariana Vergara, cousin of Sofia Vergara. “The beauty of PDO threads is that you can start doing them at an early age to stimulate collagen production,” says Vergara.

Doctor Mariano Busso, which caters to Miami and Beverly Hills actresses, has specialized in face and body lifts for nearly 20 years and helped develop AOP yarns. For better lift, her body threads have 70 hooks, while others average around 50 per thread. The Bussolyft technique (starting at $1,000 per area treated) uses threads to lift the cheeks, jowls, neck, even abdominals, knees and armpits. He notes that men tend to age more in the neck, but since scarring is difficult to hide, the technique has become a welcome option to surgery.

“We try to stay away from the fillers, what we call the F-word, because we don’t want to turn people too much into what they’re not,” Busso says of the process. “Threads reposition the fat pads on the face to their original location. This is a concept that appeals to most people because we also use your own fat to create volume. Lancer performs two to three thread lifts per day and even uses them to create an “auxiliary lift” on the breasts or on the tail of the eyebrows.

Radio Frequency Energy Devices

As technology advances, radio frequency energy devices — which stimulate collagen production by heating tissue at a deep level — continue to be a staple for stars. Morpheus 8 and Forma machines firm skin, while Emsculpt Neo and Evolve by InMode stimulate muscle contractions to tone bodies. (Prices range from $600 for Forma to $1,300 for Morpheus 8.)

Euphoria teammates Sydney Sweeney, Maude Apatow and Lukas Gage recently received radiofrequency treatments at The Pretty Medi Spa in West Hollywood, and Britney Spears posted a video on Instagram featuring Chiu showing herself getting Forma on her arms and Emsculpt on her abs. Chiu refers to the “Forma lift”, citing its “powerful ability to tighten and lift the skin” and also uses it to target the neck, “under the buttocks”, knees, backs of the hands, stomach and buttocks. low-cut.

Chiu says the Morpheus8 device has a new body attachment that “enables deeper treatments to reduce fat and cellulite, treat stretch marks and thickened scars, while tightening and rejuvenating the skin.” It also combines treatment with platelet-rich plasma extracted from a patient’s blood. “Some have likened the improvements to a mini-facelift, but it will actually treat and improve certain types of laxity and signs of aging that a facelift cannot, especially around the mouth and nasolabial folds,” says Chiu. .

Vergara explains that Emsculpt replaced CoolSculpting in her practice. “People are so afraid to do CoolSculpting because of the rare side effect called paradoxical adiposity,” Vergara says, pointing to Linda Evangelista’s $50 million lawsuit against Zeltiq Aesthetics in 2021, claiming the procedure had her. left “permanently distorted”. (The company filed a motion to dismiss the complaint, arguing that the model had been warned of the risks.)

Dr. Ava Shamban of Ava MD in Santa Monica and Beverly Hills offers a combination treatment that combines radio frequency with micro-needling to improve skin texture and LED light to stimulate healing. “We augment this even further with the application of stem cells and growth factors for better absorption when the micro-channels are open,” says Shamban, who also uses a Sofwave ultrasound device to tighten lower facial skin. and jaw. than hard-to-treat areas like the backs of the arms.

“Emsculpt is like doing a three-hour workout in under 15 minutes, and the results can last for months or years,” says Ourian. “InMode is my favorite muscle stimulation product because it’s more aggressive. If you’re lean enough, abdominal and gluteal muscles grow in two or three sessions, and that’s the equivalent of doing maybe three months in the gym. Everyone can’t wait to get out there and show off their body like they’re working out.

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A version of this story first appeared in the January 19 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.