What Is Blepharoplasty?

Blepharoplasty is the surgical altering of the eyelid. This is normally done for cosmetic purposes. Eyelid surgery is designed to remove fat, tighten skin and muscles, and remove loose skin. The skin around the eyes can become loose, can sag, and can dull over time from sun damage, age, and muscle loss. Thankfully, blepharoplasty addresses these issues and restores a more youthful look.

Who Is a Good Candidate?

Determining if you’re right for blepharoplasty can be confusing. However, anyone who is struggling with loose skin, excess fat, or muscle loss around the eye is a good candidate for eyelid surgery. This includes older people, people who lost lots of weight, people with sun-damaged skin, or people with medical conditions that cause weakened facial muscles.

Is Eyelid Surgery Always Cosmetic?

While blepharoplasty is usually a cosmetic procedure, this isn’t always the case. As mentioned before, eyelid surgery is often used to correct sagging skin around the eyes. Sagging skin can eventually obstruct your vision in severe cases. This is especially true when someone is struggling with muscle loss or weakness.

The loss of muscle structures can cause the whole eyelid to sag and make the eye appear “lazy,” and obstruct vision. These are great examples of when blepharoplasty is actually a functional and restorative surgery.

Should I Get Blepharoplasty?

As mentioned before, anyone with loose skin, muscle loss, or sun damage around their eyes would most likely benefit from blepharoplasty. That being said, it’s important to seek consultation from a medical professional. Thankfully Dr. Jennifer Walden is a highly recognized plastic surgeon who understands the value of catering to your needs. Dr. Walden can assess your needs and help you decide if eyelid surgery is right for you. If you’re considering eyelid surgery, then contact Dr. Walden’s office at 512-328-4100 today.

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A brow lift can help patients look younger and more rejuvenated by smoothing wrinkles, fine lines, and creases on the forehead as well as sagging skin on the eyebrows and eyelids. The procedure can also help correct drooping eyelids that might be impeding vision. Brow lifts can be done as a stand-alone procedure or combined with other facial work, such as a facelift.

How a Brow Lift Procedure Is Done

There are two common ways that Dr. Jennifer Walden performs a brow lift. The conventional method includes an incision at the hairline, while a minimally invasive method uses an endoscope and tiny surgical instruments that are interested through a few small incisions around the face. During the procedure, Dr. Walden will strategically reposition underlying muscles and fat pads in the brow area.

During your initial consultation, Dr. Walden will discuss which surgical method is right for you, based on your desired goals and results. Both approaches offer similar results. Surgery typically lasts one to two hours, and most patients head home the same day.

Recovering From Your Brow Lift

While a brow lift is not the most invasive surgery, recovery is still part of your procedure. Clients typically report numbness, discomfort, swelling, and bruising that subsides within a few weeks. You might also experience some itching and minor hair loss around the incision sites.

Your care team will provide specific instructions for you to follow after your procedure. Typically, our patients return to their daily lives rather quickly. Strenuous activities such as exercise should be avoided for at least two weeks after your procedure. Patients are also advised to stop tobacco use during their healing process. 

Brow lift surgery is a minimally invasive procedure that can help restore a youthful gaze and confidence. Call Dr. Walden’s team at 512-328-4100 or visit us online at www.drjenniferwalden.com to request your consultation at our office in Austin, Texas, today.

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For many skin conditions, the treatment that works best for one condition or issue may not work as well for others. However, this has become less of an issue with the continued advancements in aesthetic techniques, cosmetic treatment methods, and systems.

Now, you are able to treat a wide variety of skin conditions on your face without the need for separate visits or intense or painful treatment sessions that also come with a more extended recovery period.

For many years, laser and light energy has been proven very effective at slowing or reversing the signs of aging on your face. By combining different wavelengths and intensities of light energy, the Broadband Light (BBL) System can help reduce the appearance of aesthetic changes from aging, sun exposure, or active lifestyle activities.

During a relatively short in-office appointment, the BBL system will gently heat the top thin layers of damaged skin to reveal healthy skin and boost healing. The light energy can be tailored to precisely match your skin tone and type to provide the best treatment for your specific condition(s).

Although there is no recovery or restrictions after, there may be some additional redness and tenderness of the skin. However, this is normal and will subside within a few hours. Over the few days following the treatment, additional darkening or peeling and flaking of the skin may occur.

Protecting this fresh and healthy skin from the sun is important, as it will be more susceptible to burning and other damage.

Dr. Walden and her team in Austin, TX, can provide comprehensive consultation and develop the perfect treatment plan to help you best meet your aesthetic goals. Call 512-328-4100 or visit www.drjenniferwalden.com to schedule an appointment today.

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However, others may require more-invasive or surgical procedures to address these aesthetic changes. Once these effects set in or are not treated early enough, the less invasive procedures and treatment options may not be enough.

Although surgery can cause concern for many people, the specific recovery plan and procedure results vary, depending on the procedure. Advancements in procedures and techniques have made recoveries easier and give even better results. Here are a few tips that can help you through the process, ease the recovery and help you achieve the best results.

• Plan ahead. Especially for more complex invasive procedures, early planning and preparation are key to an easier and more successful recovery. Before leaving for your surgery, set up a room in your house that allows the most rest while being close to normal necessities.
• Do not rush recovery. After deciding to undergo surgery for aesthetic improvements or enhancements, it may be tempting to rush to see the final results. Although the results from many procedures can be seen soon after the procedures, it is important to allow your body to heal fully. Your surgeon will outline a specific recovery plan before your surgery.
• Have a realistic understanding of the results. Cosmetic surgery has become increasingly successful while the risks of complications decreased. However, it is important to have a realistic expectation of the results and when they will fully appear. In most cases, they are quicker to appear and more permanent than other, less-invasive options.

To learn more about cosmetic surgery, the benefits it can provide, and how to achieve the best results, contact the office of Dr. Jennifer Walden in Austin, TX, at 512-328-4100 or visit www.drjenniferwalden.com to schedule a consultation today.

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Many people may spend hours of moderate exercise and try to lose weight, thinking the cellulite will disappear. Although there may be some reduction in appearance, cellulite is not necessarily linked with excessive weight, and losing stubborn or unwanted body fat may not have any impact on appearance.

The dimples associated with the appearance of cellulite are formed by bands of connective tissue between your skin and the layer of fat and muscle below. These tissues are not as elastic as surrounding tissues, so they unevenly pull on your skin, creating dimples, lines, or wrinkles.

The only way to truly and permanently reduce the appearance of cellulite is to sever these connective tissues to allow the layer of skin to move freely over the layers of fat and muscle blow. Aveli is a minimally-invasive treatment that safely and effectively reduces the appearance of cellulite.

After numbing the area with a local anesthetic, your doctor will insert the tiny probe of the Aveli system through specifically located incisions. These incisions are small enough that scarring is rarely a concern. The procedure, including time for preparation, takes around an hour.

Since the connective tissues have to be physically severed during the procedure, some bruising and soreness around the treatment area are expected. However, this is generally very mild and, with over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medication and ice packs, will subside within a few days.

There are no other restrictions or recovery needed after the procedure, and you can continue with your normal activities right away.

Don’t wait to see the benefit of the FDA-approved Aveli and reduce the appearance of cellulite. With the short procedure time and no recovery, the treatment can fit in with your daily life with little interruption. Call Dr. Jennifer Walden in Austin, TX, at 512-328-4100 or visit www.drjenniferwalden.com to schedule an Aveli consultation.

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While many at-home creams and medications can help stimulate hair growth and regrow lost hair follicles, these are not always successful and not only request frequency application, some of the products can be messy.

There have also been advancements in internal medications that have been proven to address some causes of hair loss. However, these only treat a specific condition and are not used for general hair loss. Also, some people may have serious side effects from the medication.

A non-invasive treatment option that has been shown to provide some success at addressing hair loss is microneedling. Using tiny needles, the microneedling device makes a small hole in the topmost layer of the skin. This is painless, and most people do not feel any discomfort.

However, this stimulates your body’s healing process, and in areas where hair is thinning or lost, it has been shown to promote the regrowth of hair follicles.

Another non-invasive treatment method involves separating platelet-rich plasma (PRP) from your blood. When injected below the skin, PRP, like microneedling, helps your body’s healing and repair processes and has also been shown to potentially provide great results when used to treat hair loss.

By combining these two non-invasive procedures into one treatment session, you can treat thinning hair or hair loss above and below the surface. And since PRP helps stimulate the same healing processes microneedling creates, some people report more success when performed together rather than separately.

Don’t wait to lose more hair to get started on treatment. With the safety, convenience, and nearly no risk, microneedling with PRP is a great way to get started. Contact the office of Dr. Jennifer Walden in Austin, TX, at 512-328-4100 or visit www.drjenniferwalden.com for a consultation.

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Along with skin resurfacing treatments such as laser therapy and chemical peels, dermal injectables can help regain your youthful look while working from the inside. Within this type of treatment, there are various types of aesthetic procedures that each work in a different way.

BOTOX® is one of the most common dermal injectables. Since BOTOX® works by preventing the contraction of facial muscles that cause fine lines and wrinkles, other treatments also work from under the skin by using molecules and formulas naturally created by your body.

Your body’s creation of these molecules, such as collagen and hyaluronic acid (HA), slowly decreases with age. By having a specific amount of HA injected in certain areas on the face, you can regain lost volume to create a tighter look on your skin.

Juvederm® takes the benefits of HA and improves how it is injected beneath the skin to create even better and more natural-looking results. Like other injectables that use HA, Juvederm® works by drawing in water molecules from nearby tissue, adding volume to sunken areas.

The HA in the Juvederm® formula is contained in a thicker yet still fluid gel that keeps the HA in the targeted areas. This gives your doctor and aesthetician more control over how much volume is added and creates a more proportional enhancement to your look.

Don’t wait to start a treatment routine to reverse the signs of aging in your face. Contact the office of Dr. Jennifer Walden in Austin, TX, at 512-328-4100 or visit www.drjenniferwalden.com to see if Juvederm® might be a great option for you.

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While dermal injectables are very effective, convenient, and minimally invasive, there are still certain risks that come with their use. Although it is rare to experience severe side effects, a few things to watch out for may require a doctor’s intervention.

As will any injection, there is a certain infection risk around the injection sites. Although this is extremely rare, this can cause additional swelling, pain, discoloration, or scarring. Generally, good hygiene and vigilance in keeping the treatment site clean after the procedure are enough to keep infections at bay.

Another concern is when injectables, especially fillers, are used over wide or large areas. While fillers such as hyaluronic acid are very effective at restoring lost volume in sections of the face, there is also a limit on how much can be restored in a single visit. If too much filler is used, severe swelling and pain can occur and a disproportional look to your face.

Although recovery after each treatment session is relatively minimal and without restrictions, each person’s body metabolizes and accepts the treatments differently. Patients have reported various levels of swelling, bruising, and minor pain. These common side effects fade over time, but their severity and duration vary with each patient.

If you are interested in adding dermal injectables to your aesthetic treatment plan but are concerned about the potential risks and side effects, call the office in Austin, TX at 512-325-4100, or visit www.drjenniferwalden.com to speak with one of the expert doctors or aestheticians. They will be able to answer your questions and concerns and make a customized treatment plan.

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There are several products on the market that help reduce this build-up by the exfoliation of the outer layer of skin. These exfoliation products commonly are creams with tiny abrasive materials or specific sponges or scrubs. They are quite effective for at home-treatments and are safe and easy to use.

For some people, however, these at-home treatments are not aggressive enough to remove all of the build-ups to fully reveal the glowing and healthy new skin below. Dermaplaning can bridge the gap between at-home exfoliation treatments and radiant, youthful-looking skin.

Although very similar to another in-office skin treatment of dermabrasion, dermaplaning works by removing the top layer of dead skin cells with a small tool called a dermatome. The dermatome looks similar to an electric razor and is moved across the skin by the aesthetician. This can remove almost 21 days of the build-up of dead skin cells.

For some patients, the removal of the skin layer with the dermatome rather than abrasively scrubbing through dermabrasion may also soften the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Depending on your skin type and history of skin conditions, dermaplaning may also be effective at treating deep acne scars.

Dermaplaning treatments are performed in the office by skilled aestheticians. Each session takes about 30 minutes, and there is little to no recovery needed. Most patients may experience some soreness, redness, or tingling around the treatment areas. However, reactions or irritations worse than that are extremely rare.

Along with dermaplaning, Dr. Jennifer Walden and her team of expert aestheticians have the experience needed to provide you with the best treatment plan that meets or exceeds your aesthetic goals. Whether interested in dermaplaning or any other treatment option available, contact Dr. Walden and the team in Austin, TX, at 512-328-4100 or visit www.drjenniferwalden.com to schedule an appointment today.

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