“Prejuvenation” Treatments: A Guide to The Latest Trend in Anti-Aging

"Prejuvenation" is a trending skincare term, used to describe a proactive approach to anti-aging facial rejuvenation.

Rather than waiting for visible signs of aging like wrinkles and fine lines to appear, prejuvenation involves initiating skincare routines and treatments consistently, in order to prevent or delay these signs from becoming more prominent.

Due to social media, a rise in videoconferencing, aka the "zoom boom," and camera phones that store hundreds to thousands of photos, and serve as a constant reminder to what we look like, it's no surprise that prejuvenation has become increasingly popular in this digital age.

With the modern advances in skincare technology, there has been a dramatic shift from correction and reversal treatments, towards taking more preventive measures. I find this topic both fascinating and valuable, as we see more and more people looking to take proactive steps in their anti-aging journey, which also means we need to have more knowledge and consideration around the methods and treatments we use to get there.

Amidst the abundance of information, it can be challenging to discern the most effective strategies for your anti-aging needs--so I wanted to take some time today to give you my opinion on some of the popular prejuvenation practices; what they are, how they work, and potential risks.

I hope this guide can help you make educated decisions for yourself if you decide to go down this road.

I need to start by saying, the reality is, that aging isn't about just one factor; it's a blend of various elements unique to each individual at various stages of life. 

Skin condition + facial shape are two distinct aspects of aging.

They are two sides of the same coin, but we need to address the division between skin and shape realistically. 

Skin aging encompasses concerns like lines, wrinkles, discoloration, dryness, and firmness.

Facial shape refers to laxity issues like sagging jowls, loose neck skin, and drooping brows.

Maintaining healthy, young-looking skin is entirely within your control. By committing to a lifelong skincare routine, you can maintain a bright, supple, healthy complexion, significantly enhancing your confidence and overall well-being.

Sagging tissue, which contributes to changes in facial shape, is largely inevitable due to hormonal shifts, and genetic predisposition. Unfortunately, stopping your face from changing shape is just not biologically possible. 

Understanding that facial sagging is inevitable, while skin aging is preventable, sets the right expectations as you navigate your anti-aging journey. 

If prejuvenation has piqued your interest, I want to provide you with the knowledge needed to make informed decisions for yourself moving forward.

I'll break down the entire spectrum of prejuvenation simply and clearly: from my go-to foundational basics of skincare and sun protection, to the high-risk treatments I don’t necessarily recommend.

I want to give you a comprehensive guide to these anti-aging treatments so you can navigate your skin care journey with confidence.

No matter where you are on your skincare journey, these are two of the most accessible and proactive anti-aging practices you can take to preserve your skin's youthfulness and health over time.

Sun protection stands at the forefront of skincare, and the earlier you start prioritizing sunscreen, the better off you’ll be. This preventative measure is absolutely crucial because 70% - 80% of skin changes are accelerated by sun exposure. 

Being vigilant about sun exposure is a paramount prejuvenation practice.

This includes applying sunblock as part of your daily routine, even on cloudy days, and wearing protective clothing, hats, and sunglasses during prolonged outdoor activities. 

Even if sun protection is your sole anti-aging strategy, you're already taking significant steps to safeguard your skin's health and appearance.

Active ingredients in skincare play a crucial role in preventing signs of aging. Retinol, Vitamin C, Hyaluronic acid, Peptides, and Niacinamide are just a few examples of essential ingredients that can be used to target specific skin concerns, help retain youthful-looking skin, and prevent future signs of aging.

Incorporating active ingredients into your skincare routine not only combats signs of aging, but it improves your overall skin health, which may help to reduce the need for other intervening prejuvenation treatments.

Don’t underestimate the transformative potential of long-term dedication to skincare as your front-line defense against aging.

Look for products like Trifecta, which contains everything you need to promote collagen production, improve skin texture, reduce fine lines and wrinkles, even skin tone, and enhance overall skin vitality. 

There is an array of in-office prejuvenation treatments, from subtle enhancements to advanced skincare procedures, these interventions offer options to those seeking a heavier hand in combating signs of aging. Here are a few of the most popular:

Dynamic wrinkles are facial lines and wrinkles that appear when facial muscles contract during expressions such as smiling, frowning, or squinting. When we are younger, due to higher collagen and elasticity, these dynamic wrinkles are temporary and typically disappear when the facial muscles relax and the skin bounces back.

However, as our collagen decreases with age, these repeated muscle contractions can lead to the formation of permanent lines and wrinkles, known as static wrinkles, which are visible even when the face is at rest. 

Botox, and other similar injectables, improve facial lines by temporarily freezing, and thus relaxing the underlying muscles. This helps reduce overuse of facial expressions that eventually lead to wrinkles.

These injections have long been utilized for preventive effects, helping to minimize the development of static lines by addressing dynamic wrinkles early on.

As facial volume tends to diminish, many turn to fillers to restore lost volume, smooth fine lines and wrinkles, and enhance facial features.

By addressing volume loss early on, facial fillers can help maintain a youthful appearance and prevent the formation of deeper wrinkles.

While fillers can work to temporarily provide lost volume for a few months, fillers, which are foreign bodies being injected into the face, can also trigger an immune response and lead to inflammation.

Repetitive use over the years can lead to long-term tissue damage, causing distorted facial features. 

Although there are enzymes that can break down fillers, reversing the damage is challenging, and you may not achieve your original, natural look.

Therefore, it's vital to use fillers sparingly to avoid irreversible consequences.

Laser treatments utilize concentrated light to address various skin concerns such as wrinkles, acne scars, pigmentation irregularities, or uneven texture. Different types of lasers are used based on individual needs, with varying wavelengths and intensities tailored to specific skin concerns.

The laser energy penetrates the skin's surface, either ablating or heating targeted tissue, prompting the skin's natural healing process, stimulating collagen production and promoting cell turnover.

These methods are useful for refining skin texture, reducing dullness, and smoothing fine lines, but they also come with side effects like redness, swelling, risk of burns and scarring, and may not achieve dramatic results you're hoping for.

While some laser treatments can be beneficial, excessive use can damage the skin. Repeated heating of the skin can cause negative remodeling, like adverse changes in the skin's structure and texture. Overly aggressive intervention could lead to pigmentation issues and leave your skin worse off than it was originally. Therefore, it's important to approach laser therapies cautiously and avoid overuse to ensure optimal skin health and appearance.

Chemical peels involve applying a chemical solution to the skin to induce controlled injury, triggering the body's natural healing response and prompting the synthesis of new collagen fibers to repair the skin. 

By exfoliating the outer layer of the skin, chemical peels remove dead cells and stimulate the growth of new, healthier skin cells, which can prevent visible signs of aging and result in a more radiant and rejuvenated complexion over time.

As a result, the skin becomes smoother, firmer, and more even-toned, with a reduction in the appearance of wrinkles, fine lines, acne scars, and hyperpigmentation. 

However, excessive use of chemical peels can compromise the skin barrier and lead to adverse reactions like irritation, redness, inflammation, sensitivity, and even thinning of the skin over time, making it more prone to damage and accelerating the visible signs of aging. 

Therefore, it's crucial to use chemical peels judiciously and under the guidance of a qualified skincare professional to avoid overdoing them and causing harm to the skin.

Microneedling uses tiny needles to create micro-injuries in the skin, triggering the body's natural healing response. This is a beneficial prejuvenation treatment as it stimulates collagen production and enhances skin elasticity. 

By promoting collagen synthesis, microneedling helps to minimize the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and improves skin texture and tone. Over time, regular microneedling treatments can contribute to a more youthful and radiant appearance, helping to delay the onset of visible signs of aging and promoting long-term skin health.

There are different microneedling treatments available: standard microneedling, PRP (Platelet-Rich Plasma) microneedling, and RF (radiofrequency) microneedling. These variations combine traditional microneedling with enhancements.

In PRP microneedling, practitioners apply Platelet-Rich Plasma (which is found in the patient's blood) to the skin immediately after microneedling. This speeds recovery time and boosts results to due nutrients and growth factors found in the plasma.

Radiofrequency (RF) microneedling uses energy, which is emitted into deeper layers of the skin, heating the tissue and further boosting collagen production. RF microneedling is often preferred for more advanced skin concerns like crepey skin, deeper wrinkles, or those experiencing early stages of laxity.

Consistent microneedling, no matter which variation you choose, is a valuable tool in your anti-aging toolbox for preventing advanced aging.

Threads are dissolvable strings placed under your skin using tiny needles, aimed to pull and tighten areas of sagging skin.

Once inserted, they act like a support system for drooping skin and will lift areas of your face and neck, helping to smooth out wrinkles and fine lines, making your skin look lifter and more youthful. 

However, threads are not permanent and need to be kept up every 12-24 months. With that, you are continuously putting yourself at risk for infection, bruising, swelling, discomfort, thread migration, nerve damage, and allergic reactions. 

When making your decision, look at whether your treatment options provide only short-term results and necessitate ongoing maintenance, or whether there is potential for dissatisfaction and long-term damage to facial aesthetics.

Some procedures carry substantial risks, requiring careful consideration between risk and reward, while other facial rejuvenation treatments offer significant benefits that far outweigh the risks.

And, while prejuvenation treatments may offer immediate benefits in terms of preventing visible signs of aging, the long-term consequences are not yet fully understood.

When contemplating these minimally-invasive facial rejuvenation treatments, it's crucial to consider not only the known, physical risks but also the potential risks that are not yet apparent. The long-term safety of prejuvenation treatments remains uncertain, as the adverse effects on younger populations have not been thoroughly studied.

Psychologically, the pursuit of eternal youth can trigger constant scrutiny of one's appearance and diminish confidence as aging inevitably progresses. Unmet expectations may lead to disappointment, driving individuals to obsessively pursue further treatments.

While these treatments may promise temporary rejuvenation, they can also result in a perpetual cycle of enhancement and chasing an elusive fountain of youth.

Committing to regular prejuvenation treatments can also get costly, and dependence on these treatments may also develop, leading individuals to feel they cannot maintain their appearance without constant intervention.

While a Vertical Restore may seem out of your budget right now, remember that doing all of these smaller facial rejuvenation treatments can add up over time, especially if you are starting as young as your 20s or 30s.

Additionally, societal norms and beauty standards evolve, leading to shifts in aesthetic preferences. Trends are fleeting, but some of these treatments can have long-lasting, irreversible effects. Prejuvenation procedures for younger demographics have also raised ethical concerns about self-acceptance, body image, and healthy beauty standards.

While prejuvenation can indeed aid in aging gracefully, it's essential to recognize that aging is a natural part of life.

Nonetheless, when used responsibly and in moderation, staying consistent with anti-aging rejuvenation treatments can serve as a valuable asset in helping you to achieve a more youthful look so you can feel confident and aligned with your inner self.

Now that we have covered all the options, here are my advice to help you navigate the world of prejuvenation treatments effectively, to achieve the best results in your anti-aging skincare journey.

Taking care of your skin is essential. If you aren’t adamant about skincare, then you’re wasting time and money with other rejuvenation treatments.

Find a clinically-tested routine with proven active ingredients that change your skin on a cellular level, like Retinol, Vitamin C, and Niacinamide.

Retinol, a hero ingredient which can found in Illuminate Anti-Aging Cream, has been shown to boost collagen production, accelerate skin cell turnover, and diminish the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, resulting in smoother and firmer skin texture. 

Vitamin C, a potent antioxidant found in Quench Vitamin C Serum, protects the skin from free radical damage caused by environmental stressors like UV radiation and pollution, while also brightening the complexion and reducing hyperpigmentation.

Niacinamide supports the skin barrier, regulates oil production, refines pores, and improves skin texture, contributing to a more even and radiant complexion.

The idea behind prejuvenation is what inspired Trifecta. It was created to streamline all of the most powerful active skincare ingredients into a unified anti-aging routine. Trifecta makes it easier than ever to stay committed to healthy, youthful skin, with noticeable improvements month after month. 

Consistency is key–and that also goes for sun protection. Sun protection is essential, regardless of your age. Even those in their 50s and 60s are seeing benefits from starting sun protection. But, if you’re in you 20s and 30s, this is the best thing you can do for your skin.

If you are not protecting your skin from the sun, none of the above will work at all - not skincare, not Botox, not fillers. None of it. The sun is the number one contributor to aging.

Eating well helps maintain natural collagen, which is essential for youthful skin. Prioritize a nourishing diet rich in antioxidants, whole foods, and healthy fats, while steering clear of processed foods and excess sugar.

Exercise also helps maintain natural collagen and muscle longevity. It is important to remain active, get quality sleep, stay hydrated, and cut habits like smoking and excessive drinking which contribute negatively to aging.

It is counterproductive to pay for prejuvenation treatments if you are not focused on maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

-Start slowly with Botox when you start to see static lines. While I do advocate for Botox, nurturing healthy skin with an effective routine will help to reduce dependency and frequency of these treatments. 

-I don't recommend filler more than once a year in the same spot and don't put filler where it does not belong. Cautious use of filler for subtle enhancements, such as lips or under-eye areas, is acceptable if spaced out over time. However, avoid overfilling cheeks or jawlines, as they don't naturally lose volume with age, and won’t offer rejuvenating effects.

-Don't risk using treatments you don't need. As mentioned, some can have adverse effects and cause irreversible damage. Do your research and use the right treatments for your needs, your age, and your skin. 

-Before going for a chemical peel, make sure you have incorporated a regular exfoliation practice into your skincare routine, and keep up with it in between treatments. Polish Exfoliating Powder is going to help to remove dead skin cells and promote a refreshed complexion by using more mild acids like Azelaic Acid, in contrast to the stronger acids used in chemical peels.

-Follow a post-treatment skincare regimen to make sure your skin heals beautifully. It is important to maintain hydration and use products that will assist in the skin repair process. Enrich Breathable Barrier Balm and Rinse Daily Cleanser are both safe to use post-treatment. They are formulated with scientifically-proven natural ingredients to soothe and nurture healing skin.

-Remember, while sagging is inevitable, you have time to plan and prepare for it. By addressing it with a procedure when the time comes, you avoid the constant chase of treatments, allowing for a simpler, more enjoyable life.

This approach of minimal intervention, committed skincare, and a single surgery in your 50s or 60s, would be my ideal recommendation.

In essence, prejuvenation is about adopting a proactive approach to skincare and lifestyle choices to preserve the youthful appearance and skin vitality, to potentially delay the need for more invasive anti-aging treatments later in life.