The last time I was in Las Vegas, I went to one of those booths that put my head on someone else’s body and OMG I looked fabulous! Not because I opted for a hot-biker-chick body, (although it helped) but because they cropped my face from my neck and gave me a more defined jawline when they photoshopped me back in. I hadn’t even realized how much my neck and my lower face had become “one.”
It was still my face, same lines, same lips, same cheeks but without my sagging jawline, I looked 10 years younger!
I had put on some weight and my double chin was threatening to triple, my jowls had begun to sag so that I had a dent between my chin and my jowls. It was time to get a grip. I wanted my heart-shaped face back.
These are the options I had before me.
THE DOUBLE CHIN
CoolSculpting® is a fat freezing system that attaches a small hand-piece to the area of fat you want to get rid of, this hand-piece has a strong suction ability and it pulls the fat in and within 5 min begins to freeze it. The skin, muscles, and nerves are left unharmed and the freezing of those fat cells destroys them. I would need two of those 40-minute treatments spaced 8 weeks apart.
Another option was to get injectables. These product is made up of deoxycholic acid, which is a lecithin-type chemical substance and is one of the body’s naturally occurring bile salts. It also has the ability to burn fat cells. Injected in a grid-like pattern under the chin, I would walk away swollen and tender for about 4 days. I went for CoolSculpting and found it very comfortable.
If either of these treatments left me with some loose skin, I would be able to use a radio frequency skin tightening device called Thermage® CPT to stimulate some collagen and elastin in that area.
DERMAL FILLERS
The dent in my jawline was easily filled with a calcium-based dermal filler, which has a stiff consistency and provided an excellent scaffolding beneath my skin. A touch of this product at the corner of the jaw bone itself created a more ’triangular’ effect for my face shape. I also used to have a more prominent chin but tissue loss from aging, on and around my chin, needed to be replenished so carrying on with the filler in that area was a great idea. A hyaluronic acid dermal filler could also have been used.
THE NECK
The final touch was to relax the neck cord muscles that fan out like a neuromodulator. About 24 units injected along these muscles pulled in my neckline making my neck appear thinner and gave me more definition.
All of this was easy and totally comfortable. No surgery, no downtime. No hot-biker-chick-body, but I don’t have the energy for what that might bring with it. Lol!
