With winter breaks, celebratory parties and holiday pictures around the corner, many people are heading to med spas to get photo-ready without the downtime or recovery period that comes with surgical procedures.
In recent years, as the technology used in medical spas has rapidly advanced, doctors and aestheticians have been able to accomplish liposuction- and facelift-like results without the hassle of—and possible negative or dangerous consequences of—surgery.
“Anything with less downtime is preferred, which is why things are turning more to the non-invasive treatments than surgical,” says Dawn Swartz, spa and front office manager at Mia Bella Donna MedSpa in Overland Park. “Everybody’s social schedules get so busy and they want something that gives them corrections without having the downtime—the sutures, the bruising and all of the follow-up appointments. There are a lot more laser-tightening devices coming out for collagen elasticity. Everybody wants to create the mini facelift without actually having a mini facelift.”
Dr. Dan Margolin of Physician Aesthetic Specialists in Lenexa is one specialist leading the trend of non-invasive treatments at med spas. Margolin practiced general surgery at Saint Luke’s for twenty years before creating his medical spa focused on patient education and holistic care.
Margolin thinks that tabloids with “plastic surgery gone wrong” headlines and popular shows like Botched have altered peoples’ perceptions of plastic surgery and cosmetic procedures in recent years.
Recent technology has gone from quick fixes to a more holistic approach that starts at the health of the skin. “I’m hearing more and more from people that want to still look like themselves, they don’t want drastic changes,” Margolin says. “It’s all about reversing skin age, and that starts with rebuilding collagen and elastin. If you have a facelift, regardless of how extreme or subtle it is, all they’ve done is cut and tighten, but it hasn’t done anything to reverse your skin age. It’s not restoring your youth. It’s just pulling things tight. There’s so much more to it than that—it’s about the health of the skin.”
Radiofrequency microneedling devices are a popular non-invasive method. For something like under eye bags, the devices make it so that patients no longer need to go under anesthesia and get incisions; instead, they can get a numbing injection and simply melt the fat away. Radiofrequency energy cannot only melt away unwanted fat, but also stimulates the local production of collagen and elastin. Patients will see some immediate results, but the results continue to improve over the next several months.
For fat loss, Margolin has ditched fads like “cool sculpting,” which used liquid nitrogen to try to freeze the fat cell, and turned to a device called the Emsculpt Neo, which uses radiofrequency energy.
“This uses radiofrequency energy to evenly disperse and destroy the fat by allowing the fatty acids to leak out of the cells,” Margolin says. “We see a 30 percent increase in muscle mass and 30 percent decrease in fat in the treated area. For example, in the abdomen area, we use electromagnetic stimulation to stimulate muscle contraction. Each 30-minute session is the equivalent of doing 20,000 crunches and this can be done on any body part.”
