Non-invasive, nonsurgical cosmetic procedures, and topical products can help reduce the visible signs of aging. Our services address wrinkles, fine lines, scars, brown spots, spider veins, benign skin lesions, and unwanted body hair—with usually little to no downtime for recovery. Following is the range of our affordable, nonsurgical cosmetic, laser, and skincare services available at our Falls Church Medical center.
Botox
The BOTOX® Cosmetic procedure can minimize dynamic wrinkles, which most often appear as fine lines on the forehead and brow, or at the outer corners of the eyes. BOTOX® Cosmetic is made from botulinum toxin Type A. It’s a naturally occurring protein that relaxes the underlying muscles in the face that cause frown lines and crow’s feet. As a result, the skin stays smooth, and the appearance of wrinkles and lines can be reduced. In short, you could have a more relaxed, younger-looking face.
Treatments consist of a series of gentle, small injections into specific facial muscles, typically at the outer corners of your eyes or on your forehead and brow. The treatment requires no anesthesia or medication, and usually takes less than 30 minutes to complete. The first treatment usually lasts about 3 months, but subsequent treatments yield longer-lasting results.
Some risks include temporary swelling or bruising from the injections, or rarely lid ptosis, which is a sagging of the upper eyelid muscle due to migration of the serum from the injection site. If this occurs, it can be treated with a prescription eye drop. In the event this happens, treatments will slowly wear off over time—permanent complications are not likely.
Soft tissue fillers
Soft tissue fillers help to reduce wrinkles and lines, enhance cheeks, chins, and jawlines, plump thin lips, and lift and smooth scar depressions. The results can last from three months to years, depending on the type of filler used. Available filler types are:
JUVÉDERM® Ultra XC and JUVÉDERM® Ultra Plus XC are recommended for smoothing away deep wrinkles and smile lines. They are gel fillers made of a higher concentration of cross-linked hyaluronic acid, giving them a smooth consistency. JUVÉDERM® is effective in offering volume and hydration to the skin and lips.
JUVÉDERM® VOLUMA® is mainly used for augmenting cheeks, therefore helping to provide a more youthful contour and lift to the face. VOLUMA® is a hyaluronic acid filler made with a proprietary VYCROSS™ technology that helps it last up to 2 years.
JUVÉDERM® VOLBELLA® XC is used for lip augmentation and for correcting perioral lines.
JUVÉDERM VOLLURE™ XC is used for moderate to severe facial lines, wrinkles, and folds, including the nasolabial folds sometimes referred to as parentheses lines around the nose and mouth.
Restylane®, Restylane® Lyft, and Restylane® Silk help restore volume and add fullness to the skin and lips. It is a purified hyaluronic acid and offers a very soft natural look to the skin. Restylane produces visible results that usually last longer than those from collagen. A skin test is not needed.
BELOTERO is another hyaluronic acid gel and is commonly used to fill the very superficial lines of your skin.
Soft tissue fillers are injected below the skin’s surface to add volume and stimulate the skin’s natural collagen growth.
Kaiser Permanente Cosmetic Dermatology offers several types of fillers. You and your doctor can determine which filler best meets your needs during a consultation.
Some risks include temporary swelling, slight redness, itching, tenderness, or bruising from the injections.
Removal of benign skin lesions (skin tags, moles, and milia)
Benign skin lesions are noncancerous bumps or lumps such as skin tags or moles. Although they pose no threat to your health, you may find them unsightly.
The cost of treatment varies depending on the size and depth of the growth, as well as the number of growths to be removed.
A skin tag is a common type of benign growth. It resembles a small, soft balloon suspended on a slender stalk. The number of skin tag growths can range from one to several hundred. They can be cut off, frozen off by liquid nitrogen, or cauterized.
Moles are also common growths on the skin. They are easily visible, and may be removed via shave technique or excision.
Milia are small white bumps that typically appear on face, eyelids, nose and cheeks. Milia are typically removed by manual extraction with a comedone extractor.
Healing and recovery times vary for each procedure.
Sclerotherapy
Spider and varicose veins can develop after childbirth, or after taking certain medications. They can also be caused by genetics, hormone changes, weight gain, or prolonged sitting or standing. Kaiser Permanente Cosmetic Dermatology offers sclerotherapy to help treat these veins.
Sclerotherapy is an effective treatment for spider veins and varicose veins, but some vessels may persist after treatment. It’s also important to understand that sclerotherapy can treat veins that are already visible, but it will not prevent new veins from becoming visible. Talk to your nurse or doctor about your expectations during your consultation.
Treatment involves injecting a series of chemical solutions into a vein using a very fine needle. The injections cause the vein to collapse and disappear. Generally, one injection is necessary for each inch-long segment of the vein.
Each treatment usually takes 15 minutes to 1 hour. Multiple treatments are often necessary to completely collapse the veins. The number of treatments depends on the number of veins to be treated.
Laser brown spot treatments usually take 15 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the size, color, and depth of the spot, and the number of spots to be treated.
When removing red spots, the skin is often reddened or bruised for 7 to 10 days after the treatment and may sting like a sunburn for a few hours. Removing brown spots forms an abrasion and temporarily reddens the skin. After each treatment, you can resume your normal activities immediately, although you should keep the treated area out of the sun for at least six weeks, or as long as your doctor advises. Once the area is healed, you should protect it with sunblock with an SPF of 30 or higher whenever it is exposed to the sun.
Side effects may include hypopigmentation (lightening of the treated skin) or hyperpigmentation (darkening of the treated skin). Laser treatment will not stop new spots from forming. Your doctor will discuss with you all the risks and benefits of treatment during your consultation.
Laser hair removal
This non-invasive laser treatment uses gentle beams of light to get rid of unwanted hair. The hair’s melanin (the part that gives hair its color) absorbs the light, which turns into heat. The heat damages the follicle (but not the surrounding skin or tissue), preventing it from producing more hair. The hair must have pigment — so it will not work on white, blond, or grey hair.
A small hand-held laser device is used to deliver the light beams on the treatment area. You might experience some mild discomfort during the session. A topical anesthetic can be applied 60 minutes before your session, if needed, and some people like to briefly apply an ice pack afterwards. During the procedure, you’ll wear tinted goggles to protect your eyes from the laser light.
Laser hair removal usually requires multiple treatments depending on area, size, hair color, number of hair follicles, etc. Each person responds differently to laser hair removal. Some may require more treatments than others and sometimes laser hair removal can’t eliminate hair completely. If some hair does grow back, it’s usually thinner and finer than before the treatment.
For each treatment, we typically schedule 4 to 6 sessions about 4 to 6 weeks apart. Laser hair removal treatment typically takes 20 minutes to an hour.
No recovery time is necessary, so you can get back to your normal activities immediately. It is best to avoid strong sun exposure while undergoing treatment for laser hair removal.
Laser hair removal is a safe procedure, but there are some risks. Some people may experience redness, swelling, bruising, blistering, or superficial skin erosions that are temporary and heal with time. Another risk is skin discoloration, which can last for several months or may be permanent.
Chemical peels
Chemical peels can improve texture and reveal smoother, clearer, more radiant skin. This procedure uses a chemical solution to remove the outer layers of skin. It’s used to treat:
- Age spots
- Blemishes
- Fine, medium, and coarse wrinkles and lines
- Freckles
- Sun damage
All peels can treat facial areas. Chemical peel is not permanent nor will it slow down the aging process. Though chemical peel may reduce the number of visible wrinkles and fine lines, it should not be looked at as a substitution for facelift surgery.
Chemical peels can treat fine, medium, and course wrinkles and lines, various blemishes, freckles, certain sun damage, and age spots. In some cases, chemical peels may even control acne and soften scars caused by acne.
Chemical peels are uniquely customized for each patient based on skin condition and desired result. A consultation with a doctor will provide more detailed answers to your individual questions. For optimal results, a series of peels is recommended.
Facials
There are a variety of facial treatments available at Kaiser Permanente Cosmetic Dermatology.
Anti-acne facial
This breakthrough treatment for acne, acne scarring, and hyperpigmentation uses state-of-the-art ingredients and healing agents to help alleviate even the most challenging skin conditions.
Anti-aging facial
Our anti-aging facial penetrates deeply to help reverse environmental, hormonal, biological, and stress-induced damage. It fortifies your skin’s natural repair functions, strengthening its protective mechanisms, and rebuilding tissue loss caused by aging.
Customized facial
We also offer customized facials. This procedure may combine treatments to address more than one skin issue.
Microdermabrasion promotes the growth of new, healthy cells by removing the outermost layers of dead cells. The procedure usually takes less than 60 minutes, and there’s no long recovery period. For maximum benefit, you should get monthly treatments over a period of several months.
Possible side effects include windburn-like redness after treatments; however, the redness should diminish within hours. You’ll be able to wear your usual makeup right after the procedure.
VBeam®
The VBeam® is a pulsed dye laser that can be used to treat “red” conditions, such as rosacea. The machine uses a targeted beam of light that seeks out the color red such as hemoglobin in the blood and collapses blood vessels, which are then safely resorbed by the body. This safe, effective procedure can be performed without anesthesia and with limited downtime. It is an excellent choice for treating:
- Angiomas
- Broken blood vessels
- “Cherry” spots
- Port wine stains
- Red spots
- Rosacea
- Vascular birth marks
VBeam® is a minimally invasive laser system. At the laser appointment, your eyes will be protected with special goggles. The laser beam is aimed at the skin, and you’ll feel multiple “zaps” that may feel like rubber band snaps. Most of our patients tolerate this without any problems, but you can ask your practitioner about using a topical anesthetic before the treatment. A mist may also be sprayed on the skin and sometimes cool compresses are applied after the treatment.
You may need several laser treatments for the best outcome. The procedure usually takes 30 to 45 minutes depending on the treatment area, and there is limited downtime. For maximum benefit, maintenance treatments should be repeated every 3 to 12 months.
The most common side effect is mild swelling or redness immediately following the treatment. This effect usually goes away in a few hours. Occasionally, bruising under the skin—called purpura—may occur, but these marks usually disappear in 3 to 5 days.
Microneedling
Microneedling is a painless, minimally invasive procedure that uses small needles to prick the skin. The purpose of treatment is to generate new collagen and skin tissue for smoother, firmer, more toned skin. It enhances your skin’s appearance by minimizing:
- Acne scars
- Age spots
- Fine lines
- Large pores
- Reduced skin elasticity
- Scars
- Stretch marks
- Uneven skin tone
- Wrinkles
Microneedling is a minimally invasive cosmetic procedure that’s used to treat skin concerns via collagen production. The procedure involves tiny pinpricks that cause slight injury to the skin, stimulating the skin to respond by making new collagen-rich tissue. This new skin tissue is more even in tone and texture. Before getting started, your doctor will use a topical anesthetic to reduce the chances of pain. This is done about an hour before your treatment. The procedure usually takes about 30 minutes, and there’s no long recovery period. For maximum benefit, you should get monthly treatments over a period of several months.
The most common side effect is minor skin irritation immediately following the procedure. You may also see redness for a few days, which some people camouflage with makeup during the first few days as the redness dissipates.
You can go back to your regular routine after the procedure if you’re comfortable.
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