Sculptra is becoming increasingly popular as a non-surgical option for buttocks enhancement. Results can last between two and three years, although some have reported that Sculptra can continue to enhance collagen production for as long as five years, or even longer.

Is Sculptra a filler?

Unlike hyaluronic acid fillers, which provide immediate results by immediate lifting the skin, Sculptra effect is gradual and works by stimulating collagen production in the injected area over the course of several months. Sculptra is a poly-L-lactic acid injectable filler that has typically been used in the face to smooth out deep creases and wrinkles.

An immediate increase in size can be noticed after the Sculptra injections have been performed, but that’s only because they also contain a biological saline-based solution. The skin returns to its normal state a few days later. It’s only then that the medicine starts to work, as the Sculptra microspheres are absorbed into the treated area and the body is coaxed into reproducing lost collagen.

Suitability for Sculptra butt lift?

Although I have been using Sculptra for facial augmentation since 2003, Sculptra buttocks augmentation are more and more popular part of my treatment repertoire over the last three years.

Enhanced buttocks are viewed as a modern beauty ideal. A decade ago, people wanted to be thin, with the smallest bum projection. Nowadays curvaceous buttocks are viewed as a more appealing body shape.

Sculptra butt lift can enhance the appearance of patients looking for a modest increase in buttock volume and a defined profile. For those who want to greater changes, the Brazilian Butt Lift is still the ideal procedure. During the BBL excess fat is removed from areas like the stomach or thighs by VASER liposuction and lipofilled into the buttocks. However, petite athletic people may not have enough fat to harvest and inject in the first place. That’s why they are considered ideal candidate for the Sculptra butt enhancement.

Flat Bum

Women can develop certain changes to their bodies, some are age-related, and others are mechanical or hormonal. The perky contour of the buttocks may loses its firmness and becomes flat. Changes that cause this flattening of the buttocks include weigh loss, pregnancy and hormonal changes which cause loosening of the ligaments that support and hold up the buttocks in younger people. This leads to a flat bum which loses its curvy shape. The problem can be remedied by injecting Sculptra into the fatty layer over the gluteal muscles.

What is the procedure like?

The procedure begins with me getting a clear understanding of your expectations and what type of change you wants. I’ll assess wither your needs can be met with Sculptra injections or you’re better off getting a BBL, I’ll also assess the approximate total amount needed in your case. Sculptra is more of a planned sculpting skill. Some patients want round butt, another person may want a C-shaped bum while others desire a more side contoured buttocks, or a combination of both.

After marking the areas that need enhancement, through an
interactive process to targeting safe anatomical vectors of lift and placed avoiding
important nerves and vessels. The patient then lies face down on the treatment
couch and the injections are administered pain free using a long cannula under
strict sterile environment.

Is there any downtime?

After the injections there may be some aching sensation for
a couple days, like a hard workout. To encourage the Sculptra to spread evenly,
I recommend that patients massage their bottoms for five minutes, five times a
day for five days. Patients can return to their regular activities right away.

How long does a Sculptra butt lift last?

In my practice I agree with experts around the world that results last between two and three years, although some have reported that Sculptra can continue to enhance collagen production for as long as five years, or even longer. However, I recommend that touch-up session is required after two years to maintain the effects of your treatment.

What do you think? Did you find this article blog helpful? I’d love to hear your comments comments@castleknockcosmetics.ie or tweet me @dr_h_kahlout. If you found this blog article helpful I’d appreciate a positive review on our Facebook page.

Retinol from back in the day has really come a long way. In the past you used to get a prescription for Retin-A and call it a day. You’ll be flaky all the time and have sensitive skin and irritated. You stopped and started between loving the effect and hating the side effects. Hate love relationship with retinol plagued people for such a long time. Over the counter retinols were either too weak and didn’t cut the mustard or too harsh and caused as much sensitivity as prescription Retin-A.

What is Retinol

Retinol is over the counter medication while Retin-A is by prescription only. The two compounds are forms of retinoids, which are a form of vitamin A. They promote skin cell renewal and enhances collagen production in your skin. They are the only skin compounds that are proven as the gold standard for skin cell renewal and collagen production.

Collagen is what makes your skin plump and youthful. As we age collagen production is slowed down and we also lose collagen in our skin on day to day. The replenishment of fresh collagen cannot catch up with attrition and our skin thins out becomes dull and sags.

Benefits of Reinoids:

Acne prone skin with acne breakouts. Retinol clears your pores and strengthen your collagen matrix in the skin firming and plumping the collagen layer of your skin.

Retinol is brilliant for anti-ageing and that’s why many people opt to use it on regular basis

Retinol is good for hyperpigmentation as it helps to clear damaged dark blemishes.

Drawbacks of Retinol:

Increased sensitivity to the sun

Dry out your skin and can give you flaky skin and shedding

You can’t use it while you’re pregnant (at all)

Skin may look worse before it gets better especially when using high strength retinol without acclimatising the skin properly.

When to use retinol:

Ageing prevention from as young as in your twenties and you don’t stop, ever. You just increase your usage of it.

It you’re an acne sufferer you should start as a teenager

Which Retinol:

You can start with a low strength retinol like Demani Recover which contains 0.5% Retinyl which can be gentle and compounded with active calming ingredients. Start using it twice a week building up to every second day. Acclimatising your skin and getting used to it. When your skin can tolerate it every day, then you can move on to a stronger formulation like the Demani R+ 1% which is a serum rather than cream.

If you jump into the stronger retinols, you’ll get flaky, irritated especially in the T-Zone area. It almost feels like a contact dermatitis and could deter you from continuing to use it.

How to use Retinol:

Use retinol preparations only at night. Use retinoids after cleansing your skin preferably with a calming cleanser like Demani Prepare which is a soothing cleanser. Use it every second night to start with and increase the frequency according to your skin’s tolerance.

Do’s and Don’ts of Retinol:

Use only at night time as the sun does two things to retinol. First it deactivates the active retinoid and second it causes sensitivity to retinol covered skin.

Use with good SPF during the day, the higher the better. Demani do Protect SPF 50 which is moisturising and tinted.

Use gradually to find your sweet balance between benefit and irritation. Some use it every second night, others three nights on three nights off! Find what’s best for you!

Use a good oil free moisturiser to keep the skin calm and aid hydration potential. Demani Hydrate is super hydrating non oily hyaluronic acid moisturising serum.

What do you think? Did you find this article blog helpful? I’d love to hear your comments comments@castleknockcosmetics.ie or tweet me @dr_h_kahlout. If you found this blog article helpful I’d appreciate a positive review on our Facebook page.

We know that our hands and our face can show signs of ageing but sometimes we forget to look at our neck. The neck is an area of concern to many patients and this blog will help you if you’re looking for a no-scalpel solution for that sagging skin around the neck.

In this blog I’ll be discussing non-invasive skin tightening treatments. There are more invasive ways to deal with loose skin around the neck like neck lift surgery, VASER lipo, and fat melting lipodissolve which are fat dissolving injections. These alternative methods are available at Castleknock Cosmetic Clinic Dublin to deal with excessive laxity and fat deposits around the neck.

The waddle or your turkey neck has to do with genetics, how fast does fat deposits in your neck and how your skin sag over time. There is something for everyone depending on your existing skin laxity, your desired tightness level and also how invasive you want to go. The radiofrequency skin tightening is a multipolar radiofrequency (MPRF) energy and not invasive. It utilises the power of electromagnetic energy. During the treatment a wand is passed repeatedly over the neck area causing thermal remodelling.

You can get a course of six treatments, one a week that will actually melt the fat in the skin and tighten the loose neck. As well as dissolving the fat away the skin tightening treatment increases production of new collagen and stimulates local vascularity for improved circulation. Being non-invasive it’s suitable for people on the go who want to come to the clinic in Castleknock for 30 minutes and relax, get the painless treatment and go back to their daily routine. 

With a surgical you’re going to get a very definitive, dramatic and long lasting results, but at a high cost with long downtime and not to mention scars. With the multipolar radiofrequency skin tightening you get subtle long lasting results without the downtime.

What do you think? Did you find this article blog helpful? I’d love to hear your comments comments@castleknockcosmetics.ie or tweet me @dr_h_kahlout. If you found this blog article helpful I’d appreciate a positive review on our Facebook page.

Sculptra Butt Lift

So, you heard about the hottest topic in cosmetic surgery – the non-invasive Sculptra buttock augmentation, also known as the Sculptra Butt Lift.

If you are not happy with your behind and feel you want to enhance your silhouette and curvature, then you may not be alone. In fact, you are one of the many people seeking this increasingly popular procedure. A recent study by the American Association of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) found buttock augmentation to be by far the fastest growing cosmetic procedure.

Sculptra is made of an FDA approved compound, which in fact was approved back in the early 2000’s as a dermal filler for facial aesthetics. Nearly two decades later, we at Castleknock Cosmetic Clinic Dublin along with innovative procedure developers worldwide started to think outside the box.

The Sculptra Butt Lift has gained popularity in petite athletic people who don’t require the large volume enhancement seen in some of the A-list celebs. They work hard and feel fit, but they are unhappy about their behind and want to feel feminine and curvaceous.

Sculptra Butt lift is an alternative to the Brazilian Butt Lift. The Brazilian Buttock augmentation is a surgical procedure where fat is liposuctioned from one area of the body and then injected into the buttocks.

You are an ideal candidate for the Sculptra Butt Lift if you (like many people) are not suitable for the Brazilian Butt Lift or find the procedure too invasive for your liking. The Sculptra Butt lift is a quick in-and-out office-based procedure where a special blend of PLLA Sculptra mixed with a few other ingredients is painlessly administered into specific areas of the buttock. The procedure takes less than half an hour. You can resume normal activities and strenuous exercise if you wish. The treated area should start to gradually enhance over the next few weeks. A month to six weeks later you will come back in for an assessment and a second session. The number of sessions required depends on your desired level of bum projection and your satisfaction with the visual results as seen on your before and after images. The total number of treatments is highly individual and dependent upon your metabolism, age, health, gender and above all, your baseline physique and overall expectation.

What do you think? Did you find this article blog helpful? I’d love to hear your comments comments@castleknockcosmetics.ie or tweet me @dr_h_kahlout. If you found this blog article helpful I’d appreciate a positive review on our Facebook page.

Jawline Sculpting with BOTOX!

Gone are the days where we only perform facial plastic surgery in order to produce aesthetically pleasing appearance. Read on this informative blog about reduction of the masseter muscle with botox, an advanced aesthetic injection treatment called the V-Line Procedure. It’s called the v-line procedure because the goal of the procedure in terms of the aesthetic effect is to create a more slim sculpted effect to the jaw line. The way the v-line procedure works is that it relies on the botox to relax the masseter muscle. You may have heard of the famous anti-wrinkle injection being used in eye area to reduce wrinkles like frown lines and crows feet. The same medicine can be used in the jaw area to help to slim the jawline. The candidate for this procedure is someone who has fullness in the jawline making it appear more square. The ideal patient is someone who has prominent jaw muscles making the jawline to appear less square and more oval and v-line tapered..

Botox is a neuromodulator neurotoxin. But that’s a fancy way of saying its something that creates a relaxation of the target muscle. So in the case of botox for masseter muscle reduction the target muscle is the masseter muscle. So what’s the masseter muscle? The masseter muscle is a retainer shaped muscle that sits on the side of the jaw both sides. From a functional point of view the masseter muscle is one of four muscles involved in chewing. From an aesthetic point, the masseter muscle gives volume and fullness to the sides and angles of the mandible at the sides of the jaw. If I relax the masseter muscles the volume of that muscle decreases.

Just like any other muscle in your body, when it’s relaxed its unable to “work-out” and develop. In cases of enlarged masseter muscle it will atrophy and shrink down in size after being injected with botox. It takes 4 to 6 weeks to notice and the results of the botox . For the next 4 months after botox injection to the masseter muscles the botox will work to slim down the jawline and create a more tapered appearance. The long term results are semi-permanent as it takes a long time for those atrophied muscles to gain bulk once more.

Because the masseter muscle is one of four muscles involved in mastication (chewing), the overall strength of chewing and bite will be reduced. But that reduction in strength is not enough to stop you from eating or chewing. You’re not going to notice a big difference in every day to day chewing or eating. But if you eat a big meal (like a 24 ounce steak) then towards the end of it you will notice fatigue setting in sooner.

Other side effects include pin point bruising at the site of injection in 1 in  100 patients and temporary soreness for a couple of hours up to a few days after the treatment in the muscle. It’s important to seek a doctor experienced in treating masseter muscle reduction as misadministration can result in asymmetry of your face as well as changes to your facial expression, your smile or even your speech.

What do you think? Did you find this article blog helpful? I’d love to hear your comments comments@castleknockcosmetics.ie or tweet me @dr_h_kahlout. If you found this blog article helpful I’d appreciate a positive review on our Facebook page.