Cosmetic Acupuncture: Bye Bye Botox

After a brief moment of panic which may or may not have involved me trying to scrub my wrinkles away, I realized that no matter what I did, I would continue to age. You can take care of yourself, take all the right vitamins, eat right and exercise, but still the body ages.

But that's not to say you can't keep it from aging faster than it needs to! In Chinese medicine, aging is the result of declining Kidney energy or qi. Essentially you have a fire inside you that dwindles as you age (you're born hot, you die cold). The moment your fire goes out, it's time to move beyond this big blue marble. You can also see signs of aging when the blood isn't of good quality or is stagnated. With regular acupuncture visits and Chinese herbal medicine you can keep your Kidney fire stoked and your blood healthy, which will slow the aging process.

Age tends to show it's terrifying face first on our, well, face! Between sun damage, dehydration, and diets filled with inflammatory foods and toxins, our skin takes a hit. The fine lines we start to notice in our 20s and 30s deepen and settle in as we approach our 40s and 50s. This is because of two major factors. The first is that we repetitively use the same facial muscles over and over throughout the day. Like an old mattress, once you lay in it for the 298th time, there's a body sized divet you can't undo. Someone who's always smiling tends to have more crows feet and nasolabial lines, and a worrier often has two vertical lines between their brows, affectionately known as eleven lines. Your friend who's always surprised at the gossip you spill probably has forehead lines like waves in the ocean. The second reason we start to form wrinkles is that as we age, our bodies don't produce collagen and elastin as readily. Collagen and elastin are two proteins that form the connective tissue in our skin. From repeated muscle use, the collagen and elastin start to break down, and this is where a wrinkle forms.

So what can we do about this? Let me introduce to you my good friend facial rejuvenation acupuncture, otherwise known as cosmetic acupuncture! We've been great friends since that fateful day at 27. Facial rejuvenation combines acupuncture with facial cupping (don't worry, I won't leave purple marks on your face) and facial gua sha, which is basically a facial massage with a jade tool. Facial rejuvenation acupuncture has a two-fold approach. First, we're treating the body to restore your Kidney qi, boost your blood, detoxify, and send energy to the skin. Next, we directly treat your problem areas with acupuncture needles. By placing very fine needles superficially under your wrinkles, we're basically telling the skin to WAKE UP and start making that collagen and elastin again. We also place needles in muscles around your ears to give you a natural face lift. Once the needles are out, we can do facial cupping and gua sha. These tools are used to plump up the skin, bring blood flow to the surface, reduce inflammation, and boost your collagen and elastin. It can also help relax the facial muscles that got you here in the first place.

Unlike procedures such as Botox that work against your body, acupuncture works with it, and treats the rest of your body at the same time. For this reason, facial rejuvenation takes time. I typically recommend cosmetic acupuncture once a week for fourteen weeks. It takes about 60 days for the body to start building up collagen again in problem areas so lasting results in wrinkle reduction are typically seen after week 7. But before then, patients can look forward to increased tone, brightening of the face, and smoothness and plumpness of the skin. My patients tell me all the time how many complements they get on their skin once they start!

On a final note, I just want to say that aging is beautiful. Wrinkles are beautiful. It's all part of the process of being human, and therefore inherently beautiful. We all want to live to a ripe old age feeling and looking our best, so why not age in a natural and healthy way? If you're interested in Facial Rejuvenation Acupuncture, learn more here! Have questions about Chinese medicine and aging or cosmetic acupuncture? Leave a comment below!