Dr Valérie Philippon
The skin’s appearance reflects a person’s soul, self-esteem and youthful good health. Good skin quality requires a certain daily discipline to take care of it, as well as regular medical aesthetic treatments in order to project an image of health, wellbeing and authenticity.
The story of our lives is reflected in our skin
I have worked on skin quality for 12 years now, as well as on the facial volumes. I noticed early on that, when the volumes and contours are not coupled with skin that looks healthy and radiant, the overall aesthetic result is unsatisfactory and unconvincing. Skin beauty is essential for projecting youthfulness, even at an advanced age, when the complexion’s evenness and radiance soften the facial expressions and help to project an image of serenity connected with positive aging. I am lucky enough to have a certain number of regular patients aged between 80 and 85, or even older, who come to see me to improve their appearance and work on their skin quality, wrinkles, marks, radiance, elasticity and skin comfort. They tell me that taking care of their appearance is important to them, as they want to look good in the eyes of their children, companions, friends and grandchildren.
Over the years, I have developed protocols that I “hone” and adapt to each patient, whether they are male or female, in their forties, fifties, or even older.
As the years pass, the loss of collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid thins the skin and makes it more fragile; this is when skin sagging and a loss of elasticity start to occur, even in thicker Mediterranean skin types. The aim is to regenerate, boost, stimulate and redrape the skin with products that reboot collagen and elastin production while working on the dynamic of the curves and restoring the volumes. With a view to working on the skin quality and redraping the skin, I started using a filler with calcium hydroxyapatite (CaHA) a while ago, and I have noticed that this product has an important role to play, combined with a biorevitalising solution, in my therapeutic arsenal. I like it and use it more and more due to its pulling, lifting, filling and skin regenerating effects on the face and neck.
Precise and reproducible combined protocols
My face protocol has a three-fold aim: to redefine and refine the line of the jawline, fill the nasolabial folds and marionette lines without weighing them down, and correct wrinkles on the cheeks. In this combined protocol, I use Radiesse+® with lidocaine (Merz) along with NCTF® (Fillmed). With a 22g/70mm Softfill® cannula, I define my entry point in the temple and inject 0.7ml on either side, using the retro-tracing fanning technique to reach the nasolabial folds, expression lines and mandibular notch. This “fanning” injection technique also allows me to lift the top of the eyebrow, which opens up the expression.
Along the jawline, I place very small quantities of product (7 x 0.1ml = 0.7ml). Using the same entry point, between the “lines” made with the calcium hydroxyapatite, I use the nappage technique to inject 1.5ml of NCTF per side. In total, I use one syringe of Radiesse+ and a vial of NCTF to cover the whole face (except the forehead). If required, I fill the temple area to soften the curve of the cheekbone in order to avoid the “doorstep” appearance generated by a hollow temple, which makes a person look sad and old. By rounding this curve, we make the face look softer and more harmonious, which has the domino effect of lifting the rest of the face. Since this product has a powerful and immediate lifting and firming effect, I might add 0.3ml of biorevitalising product into the temple and 0.4ml into the cheeks in order to maximise the effect of the CaHA and potentiate the action of both products.
I always see my patients after two months and, in the case of severe creping on the cheeks, I correct with mildly cross-linked and very supple HA, plus a bottle of NCTF using the “nappage” technique. For the neck protocol, I use Radiesse+ diluted with NCTF to a ratio of 1 to 2, to achieve a firming and lifting, hydrating and revitalising effect. With a 25g 50mm cannula, I inject a mixture of both products using the “fanning” technique. The two lateral entry points, one under the jaw and another in the middle of the neck, allow me to inject product all across the surface of the neck in a fan pattern. If the skin sagging and lack of tonicity are only in their early stages, one session will suffice. If they are more advanced, I recommend two to three treatments, spaced 3 months apart, since the product does a lot of work in between the sessions.
The combination of these techniques and the complementary nature of the products allow us to achieve effective and natural-looking results over the long term, without any downtime and with excellent tolerance.
Dr Valérie Philippon: Having graduated from Lyon medical school in 1989, Doctor Philippon helps women and men to recover their self-confidence thanks to anti-aging medicine, aesthetic gynaecology and nutrition. Based in Boulogne-Billancourt and in Paris 8
More informations: vp-esthetique.fr
