Top Questions Answered

Dermal fillers are most often used to help return the volume to areas of the face. The loss of volume in the face can contribute to facial features that look saggy, sad, and/or tired. Many dermal fillers are formulated using a substance found naturally occurring in our skin called Hyaluronic Acid. Hyaluronic Acid attracts and holds up to 1000 times its weight in water, which is one of the reasons it’s naturally in our skin, to help keep our skin well hydrated.

Neuromodulators are products that help reduce the appearance of facial wrinkles by disrupting the communication between a motor neuron and a muscle, helping the muscle to relax. The most common areas on the face treated with neuromodulators are laugh/smile lines around the eyes (also called crow’s feet); forehead lines; and, glabellar lines (commonly known as the 11 lines between our eyebrows, or frown lines). The presence of these lines can contribute to making an individual appear to look angry.

While you may only need a dermal filler or a neuromodulator to help resolve a concern you have, many patients may require the use of both dermal fillers and a neuromodulator when undergoing treatment to help them achieve their medical aesthetic goal. These products work in different ways and can be complementary to each other. As mentioned in the previous question, neuromodulators are used to relax the muscle in which it is injected. This can have the effect of reducing wrinkles & lines on the face that are caused by muscles. However, some issues on the face are caused by a loss of volume underneath the skin, and in these situations, a neuromodulator may have limited or no effect. In these cases, you may need the use of a dermal filler in order to help replace the lost volume. By replacing the lost volume below the skin, the skin can become “plumped” and the lines/wrinkles can disappear. This is why these two products can work in a complementary manner with each other.

As we age, lines and wrinkles that we were once able to resolve with a neuromodulator may no longer respond as well to a neuromodulator, because they may be partially the result of a loss of volume beneath the skin. Thus, you may need both a dermal filler and a neuromodulator to help treat them.

Because of the complex anatomy of the face, something we see that bothers us on the surface of the skin might be a consequence of something underneath the skin in a different part of the face. Oftentimes, the area that is bothering a patient is not actually the area that needs to be treated. For example, you may be annoyed by the presence of a double-chin. But did you know it might be possible to reduce or eliminate the double-chin by adding specific dermal fillers around the temples, cheek bones, jawline, and chin area, without requiring any surgery, and leaving you with incredibly natural looking results?

COOLSCULPTING^® systems are controlled cooling devices designed with built-in safety measures. If sensors detect that the skin is getting too cold, the system will shut down automatically.

The COOLSCULPTING^®® fat-freezing procedure destroys fat cells in different areas around the body.

COOLSCULPTING^® is a leading non-surgical fat-reduction treatment that can help you meet your body goals. It uses controlled cooling to eliminate the stubborn fat that’s difficult to shift, even with diet and exercise. It has proven results that really last and can help you achieve your ideal look.

COOLSCULPTING^® technology delivers precisely controlled cooling to target the fat cells underneath the skin, whilst leaving the skin itself unaffected. It doesn’t use needles, and there is minimal downtime after treatment.

At Wave Skin Care, our goal is to give you results that you will love. The mini-lip procedure usually involves injecting ¼ to ½ of a millilitre of dermal filler into the lips. Unfortunately, that is not much product, when spread over the lips. Often, patients like the immediate effect of the treatment, which can be a result of swelling from the procedure versus the effect of the dermal filler. Once that swelling goes down, they barely notice the results and can be left unhappy.

Our goal at Wave Skin Care is to understand what your concerns and desires are so that we can present you with a treatment solution that will help you achieve your goals.

In most situations, there are very minimal known risks associated with receiving medical aesthetic treatments. However, that doesn’t mean there are minimal risks for everyone equally. Some patients may be at a higher level of risk for side-effects or complications, depending on their personal health, medical history, unique anatomy, and/or genetics.

During your consultation, we will spend the time to go through the individual risks that may be involved in your specific treatment, so that you can make an informed decision. through the individual risks that may be involved in your specific treatment, so that you can make an informed decision.

Treatments can last various lengths of time and will depend on the specific treatment provided. For example:

COOLSCULPTING^® treatments kill fat cells, which the evidence currently indicates is permanent. However, because fat cells can grow/shrink depending on the caloric situation for an individual, it is possible for the remaining fat cells to become bigger. This is why COOLSCULPTING^® should not be viewed as a weight-loss treatment, but more like a sculpting treatment. By killing specific fat cells in a certain area, your clothes may fit better, and you may look better, even though your weight may or may not have changed.

Neuromodulators can last 3 to 6 months, but, are dependent on various factors. Research tends to show that the higher the dose, the longer it lasts. As well, when a patient is treated repeatedly over time, the length of duration can increase.

Dermal fillers have durations that may vary by individual product; from 9 to 24+ months.

The best way to think about treatment is to use an analogy about going to the gym and eating well. If you work out and eat healthy for 2 years and then stop, you will maintain the benefits for a while, but will eventually lose them. Just because you put in all that effort for 2 years doesn’t mean you get to keep it for the rest of your life. Medical aesthetic treatments can be similar.

The most common age restrictions for medical aesthetic treatments is that they are designed for people between the ages of 18 and 65 years of age. In certain cases, where the treatments may be needed for medical reasons (versus aesthetic reasons) and are performed under the supervision of a licensed physician, these age restrictions may not apply.

In some cases, the upper limit on the age restrictions of 65 years old, or older, may not be due to patients not being allowed to be treated at those ages, only that the products used may not have data supporting their use in individuals in those age groups.

As part of Wave Skin Care’s consultation process, we will explain any risks associated with the treatment plan put together for your needs and goals.

Our consultation process is designed to help understand which areas you may have concerns about. As part of this consultation, we may agree that the areas you’ve identified should be treated. However, there may be ways to address the concerns you have by treating another area as well. As mentioned previously, concerns we see may be the result of something else somewhere else. For example, prominent nasolabial folds are often the result of a loss of volume in the upper part of the face. Because there is a ligament that attaches the skin to the bone where we see our nasolabial folds when we lose volume in the upper face, the skin can sag down and make the nasolabial fold look more prominent. Simply by treating the nasolabial fold with a dermal filler, we may make it look less prominent, but indirectly make the patient look less natural. Instead, if we were to treat specific locations in the upper face, we may prevent the skin from sagging the way it is sagging, resulting in the nasolabial fold being less prominent. The patient achieves their aesthetic goal, a less prominent nasolabial fold, but with a more natural-looking result.

In other situations, a feature that concerns you may be a result of an imbalance of various features together (for example, the lips, nose, eyes, chin, and cheeks). By bringing a certain feature into balance, it can make the feature that concerns you, look proportionate and natural. During your consultation, we will help explain situations like this to you, as it may be that our treatment recommendation will differ from your initial thoughts because our goal is to give you incredible naturally looking results.

• Discomfort, pain, stinging or aching at the treatment site
• Redness, swelling, bruising, and skin sensitivity
• Bleeding, headache, nausea
• Hives, rashes, or itching
• Dry mouth
• Flu-like symptoms

• Tugging sensation at the treatment site
• Temporary skin numbness at the treatment site
• Paradoxical adipose hyperplasia

• Reactions for patients with known/unknown immunological issues/conditions
• Vascular occlusions

• Dropping of the eyelid or brow (ptosis)
• Weakness or paralysis of nearby muscles