Meet Instalift, the facelift with no recovery time
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Your skin is your largest organ -- and one of the quickest to show aging.
At 57 years old, Cynthia Pierson started to see those signs.
"Well, I've always had a concern with my skin, as most women do -- my jawline, a little bit of acne scarring," Pierson explained.
She decided it was time to take control of her appearance.
PHOTOS: Instalift before & after
Pierson already underwent a resurfacing treatment to improve her skin texture and remove freckles, but she still wanted to address the laxity in her skin.
"I thought about getting a facelift, but my concerns would be downtime, price, getting a good doctor, the pain level," Pierson said.
When Dermatologist Tracy Katz of Suzanne Bruce and Associates told her about a facelift that required no anesthesia, no incisions and instant results, she decided to try it.
"An Instalift is a minimally invasive way to lift the deeper tissue layers of the skin to give you a lift," says Katz.
After numbing the face, the Instalift procedure involves inserting special sutures with a series of absorbable cones. It's sort of like sewing the face with a kind of surgical needle and thread.
"When we insert the sutures, we are inserting them at an angle where we want to lift the face upwards. We want to improve the nasolabial fold and the jowl area. So, the suture is literally inserted in that angle, so that as we pull the skin over the cone, it lifts the skin up and leaves it there, almost like we're tacking the skin up on the cone," Katz explained.
The procedure takes less than an hour and, because of the numbing ahead of time, the pain is minimal.
"You could hardly feel it. It was quite relaxing, actually," Pierson remarked.
Katz says this isn't for everyone, though. Those with less aging get the best results.
"This is good for anybody who has laxity in the skin, they're developing a jowl or heavy nasolabial fold, so typically it's for people who are in their mid-40s to mid-60s", Katz explained.
Instalift usually lasts about 18 months. At $3,500, it's also half the price of a surgical face lift, and there are just as many potential side effects, like nerve damage and a lopsided face.
As for the results -- a week later Pierson said they're instant.
"I feel wonderful," she beamed.
