As we age, our faces begin to show the effects of gravity, sun exposure and years of facial muscle movement, such as smiling, chewing and squinting. The underlying tissues that keep our skin looking youthful and plumped up begin to break down, often leaving laugh lines, smile lines, crow’s feet or facial creases over the areas where this muscle movement occurs.

The facial rejuvenation using platelets is a new technique to help rejuvenate skin and regenerate the facial tissue, resulting in a smoother, more youthful-looking appearance.

The platelet rejuvenation treatment works by taking a small amount of the patient’s own blood, usually between (30 – 60mls) which is then placed into a centrifuge, and spun for 15 minutes. The blood is then separated into its different components and the platelets concentrated. This platelet concentrate contains up to 9 times more platelets than your regular blood.

Platelets circulate in blood and are important for the natural clotting of blood, but also for tissue regeneration and facial rejuvenation. Platelets contain growth factors, which are released when platelets are being activated. These growth factors play an important regulating role in renewing facial tissue and rejuvenating skin.

The blood platelets activate the natural stem cells that exist in the facial tissue and stimulate your own skin cells to produce collagen and elastin and therefore rejuvenate the skin.

As you arrive for your procedure, you will be asked to apply a topical anaesthetic cream to the facial area to ease any pain during treatment. Once the platelet concentrate is ready, the surgeon will inject the product directly into the facial area, to regenerate the facial skin. The treatment will take approximately 45 minutes, and during that time, the surgeon will make small injections all over the face, concentrating on the most problematic areas.

If you are considering the facial-rejuvenation treatment with platelets, this information will give you a basic understanding of the procedure. It may not answer all of your questions, since it depends on your individual circumstances. Please ask your doctor if there is anything about the procedure you don’t understand.

The facial rejuvenation using platelets is primarily used to improve the appearance of the skin’s texture. It will help to fill out deep facial wrinkles, creases and furrows, and will improve the appearance of “sunken” cheeks, skin depressions and some types of scars. For patients wanting more rejuvenation on their face, this treatment works extremely well along side lipo-fixing, which is: fat injections to the face.

Patients may experience discomfort during this treatment, therefore it is recommended to arrive one hour beforehand and apply a topical anaesthetic cream to ease any pain.   This procedure also can be carried out under a 15 minute sedation with the surgeon and an anaesthetist.

Following treatment the area may feel quite sore and tender, and Ice packs may be applied to relieve any redness or swelling. Patients will experience bruising which may last up to two weeks, and this may be reduced with arnica cream or tablets, available from any leading chemist.

The facial rejuvenation treatment is recommended twice a year to keep up maintenance and can be carried out in conjunction with the fat harvest procedure, for more information & prices on this procedure, please ask at reception.

After treatment, please avoid microdermabrasion, electrolysis, laser treatment and any electrical beauty procedures for up to one week after the injections.

Please make an appointment with the surgeon two weeks post treatment for a review.

If you have any further questions or queries about this procedure, please feel free to call and speak to either Dr Roberto Viel, Dr Maurizio Viel or any of our nurses.