The Christian Broadcasting Network
Watch Pat, Terry, and Gordon on your iPod as they bring you amazing stories and celebrity interviews.
Have you experienced the presence of God?
Ron DiCianni: Painting the Resurrection?
Become a CBN partner and receive The Transforming Word: Verses to Overcome Fear and Experience Peace, our special DVD/CD gift to you.
CBN Partners are making a difference sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Find out how.
CBN.com – Do you think looking younger means going under the knife? Think again. Dr. Ben Hugo talks with Terry about simple techniques that tap into that fountain of youth.
Terry Meeuwsen: There are things now that are available to people that allow them to improve their looks without surgery. Will you talk about some of the things?
Dr. Ben Hugo: Treatments to improve appearance are becoming increasingly popular. It’s also appealing because often the costs are lower.
Terry: There’s a procedure that I’ve heard about recently called Thermage.
Dr. Hugo: I’m very excited about Thermage and have done a lot of the procedures over the past 18 months. In fact, I’ve done about 280 procedures with great success. It’s a non-invasive radio frequency device, which is used to tighten the skin. It improves the collagen in the skin.
Terry: How is it applied?
Dr. Hugo: The procedure is done over all on the face because we’d like to improve the skin texture overall. That’s what we usually recommend. Also you get little subtle improvements and tightening in places like the eyelids, lips, as well as obviously in the jaw line and neck area. It’s nice to get the overall improvement. The safety aspects have also been refined over the years. It’s an extremely safe procedure and almost a zero complication rate.
Terry: Does Thermage actually cause new collagen to be generated?
Dr. Hugo: It actually does. The new collagen is lasting at least five years ‘cause that’s how long we’ve tested it. We suspect it’s going to last a lifetime.
Terry: Wow.
Dr. Hugo: We are slowing down the aging procedure in the skin.
Terry: When you have Thermage done, do you see the result immediately?
Dr. Hugo: The way I’m doing the procedure at the moment, patients are seeing results often the next day. We’ve had a number of patients call excitedly the next day saying they can already see an improvement. The new collagen being developed comes slowly over the next six months and most of it being in the first three months.
Terry: Talk a little bit about Restylane.
Dr. Hugo: The concept of Restylane is that it’s a dermal filler, which means it fills up the lines and makes them less obvious.
Terry: Is that done with a needle insertion?
Dr. Hugo: It’s done with a little, little needle, and you just fill in the line. It leaves a little bruise sometimes for a day or two.
Terry: But again, no work loss.
Dr. Hugo: No, that’s something that’s easily covered with makeup.
Terry: That’s amazing.
Dr. Hugo: One very positive aspect of Restylane is that after you’ve injected it, we can mold it to some extent and put it exactly where we want it. The other aspect that really appeals to me is that Restylane is so safe. The risk of little red bumps or allergic reactions is less than 1 in 5,000.
Terry: Wow.
Dr. Hugo: You’ll see an immediate result. You may be a little bruised and maybe even a little puffy initially.
Terry: What is the difference then between Restylane and Botox? Does Botox not do some of the same?
Dr. Hugo: Restylane fills the line. Botox actually stops the action of the muscles that are causing the line. For instance, when you’re frowning or squinting. What you do is you get an ingrained line after years of squinting. That line becomes ingrained. The nice aspect of Botox is you can prevent it getting deeper by putting that muscle out of action. You’ll also notice [that] once the Botox takes effect, you want to frown or squint and you can’t. A lot of people do it just because it’s such a pleasant feeling.
Terry: And no problems with it at all?
Dr. Hugo: Very rare. Very safe. It’s actually been in use since 1973, so that’s well over 25 years.
Terry: You talked about Restylane lasting about 9 to 12 months now. What about Botox? How long does the effect of Botox last?
Dr. Hugo: On average about four months. Sometimes five months. I think some patients also learn to change their habits, if they’ve had a habit of squinting, focusing, or frowning. Often Botox helps them break that habit.
Terry: What should a person consider who’s contemplating having something done but they’re not really sure what they want to have done? Where does one begin in all of this?
Dr. Hugo: A good place to start would be with a well-trained cosmetic surgeon who’s certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery and who is interested in skin facial work.
Learn Dr. Hugo's Beautiful Skin Regimen!
A caring friend will be there to pray with you in your time of need.
