Hands Down: How to keep your hands from betraying your age!
Unfortunately for most women, the hands are the one area of the body that will reveal your age no matter how young your face may look. You have probably always been told, “don’t forget to moisturize your hands.” Thankfully there is an aesthetic solution: hyaluronic acid fillers. Whilst using hyaluronic acid fillers for the face has been a long-standing treatment, the use of those fillers to rejuvenate the hands was a strictly off-label procedure until about 18 months ago when it was officially approved by the FDA, rubber-stamping its safety and efficacy.
As with everywhere else on our bodies, the skin over our hands ages with time. With aging, there’s a loss of collagen, elastin and subcutaneous fat, and the skin gets thinner. When this happens in the hand, you can see the tendons and the veins more prominently, and people associate that with aging. In addition, as one of the most exposed areas of skin the overlying skin can become prone to sun damage. But with the use of dermal fillers we can rejuvenate aged hands and plump the back of the hand to make the tendons and veins less visible. The fundamental idea behind the treatment is that by injecting fillers into the hands you’ll be able to reduce the visibility of wrinkles and sagging skin that might ‘give away’ your age.
Post-procedure some swelling or bruising may occur, but as long as the hand is numbed properly pre-treatment, it shouldn’t be painful or uncomfortable. The effects last on average between six and nine months, so regular touch-ups can help maintain the look.
An even superior procedure is the use of the patient’s own fat as a filler. In fact, fat is the best filler that can be ever used, it gives a more natural feel and is longer lasting (2 to 3 years, if not more). Moreover, the stem cells automatically transferred with the fat cells will help induce more collagen production and, thus, improve on the hands skin quality itself.
As with any aesthetic procedure, it’s crucial to take your time choosing the right plastic surgeon and doing your research before undergoing such a procedure, as the experienced plastic surgeon will understand exactly how much and where to inject the adequate amounts of filler (whether hyaluronic acid or fat) rather than puffing up your hands.