Vampire Facelift [dermtv Epi #502]

You may have first heard of "Vampire Face Lifts" when Kim Kardashian tweeted photos of her own not long ago. And recently, one of my favorite YouTubers, Jan, of Beauty Over 60, which you can find at YouTube.com / User / Catalina031 asked me to cover the topic in an episode. So Jan, this one's for you. Today, I'm going to discuss Vampire Face Lifts, what they are, and whether or not they actually do anything. Hello, I'm Dr. Neal Schultz [pause] And welcome to DermTV. Fillers as facial treatments to help wrinkles, creases and sagging have finally gone full circle. They first started with injecting your own fat, and since then, we've used many different substances including medical grade silicone, bovine collagen, plexiglass, many others, and now finally are back to filler from you. Well, from your blood. And the treatment is called a Vampire Face Lift. Just can't make this stuff up! The treatment is based on the science of platelet rich plasma, which we've known about for over five years, and is used in a platelet rich fibrin matrix, which is injected into and under your skin just like other fillers. For the procedure, a doctor removes two to four vials of blood from your arm. Then, a centrifuge is used to separate the platelets and other parts of your blood, which are mixed with a special chemical that activates the plasma fibrin and platelets to form the platelet rich fibrin matrix. That matrix is put into a syringe and injected just like any fillers. It fills in two ways: the volume from the injected matrix and also over a period of time it causes the formation of your own collagen. Often two or three treatments are needed and while improvement is apparent in just a few days, it takes a few months for the complete results to develop as you make your own collagen. One of the advantages of this filler is since it's made from your own blood, you can't be allergic to it. And it can be priced more competitively than many other fillers. One of the first medical reports of this procedure was from 2010 and involved 15 patients in whom the matrix was injected in the nasolabial folds with good results. It has been extended to other areas of the face just like conventional fillers and is currently one of the hottest anti-aging treatments in Hollywood. But before you rush out with your garlic and stake, you may want to continue conventional fillers for another year or two until we get a little more experience, which is my approach to any newly developed cosmetic filler.