Wrinkles and fine lines are an inevitable result of aging. Even people who take meticulous care to avoid skin damage are bound to experience changes to their facial features. Lines around the mouth, nose, and eyes can reveal a person’s age, or even cause them to look older than they really are. Not all individuals who are unhappy with signs of aging are quite ready to undergo a surgical procedure.
Cosmetic surgeon Dr. Joseph Berardi is a leader in performing Scottsdale neural modulator procedures. Dr. Berardi offers a number of minimally invasive facial rejuvenation treatments that can help patients maintain a youthful look without ever stepping foot in an operating room. If you are interested in subtle yet visible enhancement of your facial features, read through the paragraphs below to learn how getting neural modulation in Scottsdale can help.
Who is a good candidate for neural modulation?
Neural modulation is typically administered to patients who are exhibiting signs of aging on the face. neuralmodulation is a minimally invasive procedure that is meant to address mild to moderate wrinkles. More severe wrinkles, sagging skin, or facial folds may require a more extensive procedure such as a brow lift or facelift in Scottsdale. During a comprehensive consultation, Dr. Berardi will evaluate your skin and overall health to determine whether you are a suitable candidate for a neural modulator.
How does a neural modulator work?
When it is injected into a muscle, it blocks the nerve signals that are sent from the muscle to the brain. These are the messages to contract a muscle, for instance. When a neural modulator blocks these messages, the brain never receives them, so it never initiates the contraction, and the muscle stays at rest and relaxed.
Since wrinkles on the upper third of the face are caused by repeated muscle contractions under the skin, a neural modulator stops these muscles from contracting for around four months. This keeps the wrinkles from forming.
You can see how this could have other applications. In fact, neuralmodulation was first approved for the treatment of involuntary eyelid spasms in 1989. Its uses have continued to expand, and a neural modulator is now used for the treatment of temporomandibular joint disorder, migraine headaches, and even excessive underarm sweating and urinary incontinence.
What Can I Expect During My Neural Modulator Treatment?
During your neural modulator appointment, Dr. Berardi may apply ice or a numbing cream to the area that will be treated. He will then inject a neural modulator into predetermined locations where signs of aging are visible. The most common locations for neural modulator injections include near the outer corners of the eyes, between the brows, and on the forehead. You may experience minimal discomfort, but most patients find the procedure to be completely painless. Neural modulator treatment typically lasts about thirty minutes, although it can take even less time in some cases. A neural modulator will start working within 72 hours and will take full effect in two weeks.
How many neural modulator sessions will I need?
Neural modulation requires just a single session that only takes about 15 minutes with Dr. Berardi. For some patients, as they repeat sessions when a neural modulator runs its course in four months, future sessions require less neural modulator to fully relax the muscles. The injected muscles can be less rigid.
What is the recovery like after neuralmodulation?
The beauty of neural modulator treatment is that it requires virtually no recovery or downtime. While you may experience minor redness, swelling, discomfort, or a headache after treatment, you will be able to resume your normal activities immediately. You may resume exercising the next day. This makes it a convenient procedure for individuals who are on the go. In fact, neural modulation and other injectable treatments such as Juvederm have been referred to as “lunchtime facelifts.” Should you have questions concerning your neural modulator experience, you can contact Dr. Berardi around the clock to address any of your concerns.
What results should I expect from my neural modulator treatment?
Neuralmodulation keeps the muscles that are creating your crow’s feet, the dreaded 11s between your eyebrows, and forehead lines relaxed for about four months for most patients. This can vary somewhat based on the patient’s metabolism. These are very satisfying results, and they explain why neural modulator has a huge worldwide following.
After about four months, your body will absorb the now-inert botulinum toxin, the muscles will begin to contract again, and the wrinkles will return. Another neural modulator session with Dr. Berardi at this point will maintain your results.
How long will my results from neural modulation last?
Neural modulation erases or dramatically lessens crow’s feet, frown lines, and forehead lines for about four months.
How is neuralmodulation different from dermal fillers?
Patients often clump neuralmodulation in with dermal fillers such as Juvéderm and Radiesse (that we also offer at Berardi Aesthetics), but they are different in how they work and even the type of wrinkles that they erase.
As mentioned above, a neuromodulator is made primarily from botulinum toxin type A. When a neural modulator is injected into a muscle, it temporarily stops that muscle from contracting. It does this by blocking the nerve messages that are sent from the muscle to the brain. The brain doesn’t receive the message to contract the muscle, so the muscle remains at rest.
This is important for treating wrinkles and lines on the upper third of the face, the expressive area. Wrinkles form in this area due to muscle contractions under the skin when we make common expressions such as frowning, squinting, showing surprise, and others. Go ahead, make a frown, and you can feel the muscles around your eyes, between your brows, and on your forehead engage. Over time, and after hundreds of thousands of these contractions, wrinkles start to form on the surface skin when we make these expressions. These are known as “dynamic” wrinkles. When a neural modulator is injected into a muscle that forms, say, crow’s feet at the outside of your eyes, the botulinum toxin keeps the muscle from contracting, so the wrinkles that form on the skin above the muscle are erased.
Dermal fillers are completely different. Fillers, as their name implies, are injected and simply “fill” in the space under a wrinkle or area of volume loss. The skin is then pushed up and the wrinkle is erased. The most popular dermal fillers, such as the Juvéderm and Restylane lines, are made from hyaluronic acid. Hyaluronic acid is a naturally occurring substance in our bodies that is responsible for hydrating, plumping, and firming the skin. When injected beneath a crease or line, the hyaluronic acid in these fillers binds with nearby water molecules, hydrating and plumping the area, and pushing the skin back up.
Dermal fillers only work on what are known as ‘static’ wrinkles. These are wrinkles that form due to sun damage, declining collagen production, personal habits such as smoking, and other causes. Unlike dynamic wrinkles, static wrinkles appear at all times and have no relationship with muscle contractions.
A neuralmodulator has no effect on static wrinkles, and dermal fillers have no effect on dynamic wrinkles.
What are the potential risks of neural modulation?
Ever since it was approved for aesthetic use by the FDA in 2002, neural modulator injections have been the most popular cosmetic procedure, surgical and non-surgical, around the world every year. That’s quite a run, and it shows the popularity and effectiveness of neural modulation.
Neural modulation has been injected tens of millions of times around the world with very few reactions. The main possible problem arises if a neural modulator is injected by an inexperienced injector. If a neural modulator is injected into an incorrect muscle, it can cause issues such as a droopy eyelid. That’s why it’s very important to have a neural modulator injected by an expert in facial anatomy who has extensive experience with neural modulators, such as Dr. Berardi.
Otherwise, the main issues after neural modulator injections are slight swelling and redness at the injection sites. These usually resolve within a day.
It is important for patients to refrain from rubbing their injection sites for the first 24 hours after their injections. Rubbing the sites can cause the neural modulator to move to an unintended muscle.
See What Our Patients Are Saying
(Google Review)
“I came in to Dr. Berardi’s for an appointment with their Nurse Injector Teresa. She was absolutely amazing! I received neuralmodulation, and lip filler and the outcome was amazing! She is the sweetest person and is so amazing at what she does!” – Taylor B. (Google Review)
“This is the only place I trust for neuralmodulation! I’ve had bad experiences at other types of places like med-spas, but never here. Dr Berardi always does the injections himself and takes the time to go over what I want and do not want, and I always end with perfect results. I love this place.” – Katie B.
Schedule Your Consultation At Our Scottsdale Office Today
Neural modulator injections are an ideal treatment for patients who are seeking cosmetic enhancement but are not quite ready for, or do not yet need, a surgical procedure. If fine lines and wrinkles are beginning to take a toll on your appearance, we encourage you to contact our practice at 480.397.0711 to learn more about what a neuralmodulator can do for you. During your consultation, Dr. Berardi can also discuss the other facial treatments that he offers, including Scottsdale nose surgery, eyelid surgery, or fat injections.
