A new product just came to the market for restoring the lips! It is called Juvederm Volbella XC and it is unlike any other product I have used for enhancing the lips.
Vobella contains an advanced formula of hyaluronic acid. It is a smooth gel that has been specifically made to give the lips a soft, natural, hydrated feel while smoothing the lines in the body of the lip. The fill can last up to a year and contains lidocaine as an ingredient making treatment more comfortable.
My personal experience with Vobella:
I have naturally fuller lips and did not want to add more volume to them. However, I do have etched lines in my lips that peel and crack even with numerous application of lip balms. I injected Vobella into both my upper and lower lips. I was very impressed with the outcome. My lips do not look bigger or pouty, they look smoother and restored. I was very happy to notice when I wore lip color it did not gather in my lip lines! In addition, I did not have swelling the first day as I have seen in my clients with the other lip fillers! (Please keep in mind every person’s inflammation response if different).
I am very excited about this product! It is FDA approved to last up to a year and can also be used in the lines around the lip.
If you want a subtle smoothing of lip lines and softer more hydrated lips, this is the product for you! Make an appointment to come see me and together we can take a look and see if Vobella would be a good option for you!
According to a survey conducted by the America Society for Dermatologic Surgery in 2014:
“68% of people say they are bothered by submental fullness “chin fat”.
Sometimes, no matter how much you diet or exercise, a double chin or jowls may not go away, and can make you look older and heavier than you actually are.
We have a non-surgical solution for you – LipoSculpture!
What is LipoSculpture?
LipoSculpture is a soy formulation of phosphatidyl choline and deoxycholic acid, a naturally-occurring molecule in the body that aids in the breakdown and absorption of fat.
When injected is causes the destruction of fat cells. Once destroyed, those cells cannot store or accumulate fat.
Is LipoSculpture right for me?
LipoSculpture may be right for you if:
You’re bothered by fullness in your lower face and chin area
You prefer not to have a surgical treatment
You eat well and exercise, but the jowls and neck fat do not go away
How is LipoSculpture Administered?
LipoSculpture is typically a 30 minute in-office treatment. After a soothing ultrasound treatment to the area to improve the liquefaction of the fat cells, our nurse injector gives a series of injections into the fat under your chin and/or in the jowling areas. Most of our patients only need 1 treatment to achieve desired results.
Is There Downtime?
There is a significant amount of swelling that occurs the first few days after the treatment and some tenderness. Often, patients have the treatment on a Wednesday or Thursday and return to work by Monday. After the swelling subsides, the fat gradually breaks down and is excreted out of your body creating a smoother jawline, a slimmer chin and more youthful look. Patients frequently tell us that their friends and family keep asking them if they have lost weight. Patients return to our clinic 10-12 weeks later to review the slimming results.
For more information about LipoSculpture and how you can schedule your appointment, call our office at (952)922-2345 or email info@idinhealth.com.
You have choices when it comes to smoothing out your skin. Twin Cities Live TV Reporter, Kelli Hanson, investigates Bellafill, a promising treatment on the market. Find out why, Innovative Directions in Health’s Injector, Jill Porter says Bellafill offers permanent results lasting over 5 years and how it provides the most natural looking results on the market for wrinkles and replacing volume.
Could Bellafill be the “fountain of youth” for the face?
Bellafill is unique – not only does it immediately fill out your skin, but it’s specially formulated to ensure the injections don’t disappear through absorption into your body. Instead, it is a dual-acting filler and its microspheres vitalize your own skin to produce more collagen, which continue to lift up the skin to its natural height, fading lines and wrinkles and restoring skin texture. This is the key to Bellafill’s long-lasting results – new collagen that is yours to keep.
Watch the news report video:
Jill Porter is a trainer for Bellafill providers and is one of the top Bellafill injectors in the Nation. Schedule a complimentary consultation to see how your appearance could benefit with Bellafill.
Bellafill is the newest revolutionary dermal filler that grows your own collagen naturally replacing volume, treating smile lines, wrinkles and acne scars.
Jill Porter, RN is a bella Diamond injector. She is 1 of 30 providers across the Nation to achieve this elite status.
What does bella Diamond mean for you? It means Jill is a recognized Bellafill leader among physicians and other Bellafill providers. She performs significant volume of Bellafill treatments so has the experience to deliver beautiful, natural and long lasting results.
Jill is also a Bellafill Trainer and trains physicians as well as other injectors on the best placement of Bellafill to help to avoid complications and achieve optimal results.
Unique Collagen Filler with Immediate Results lasting for up to 5 Years
Bellafill is made up of 80% purified Bovine Collagen gel which gives immediate lifting and filling results and 20% PMMA microspheres which provides structural support for collagen growth and smoother-looking skin. The results can last up to 5 years.
Long Safety Record
The microspheres are made of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), a biocompatible material that has been used in medical implants for 65 years. Bellafill has been proven safe through 5 years in the largest and longest dermal filler study ever conducted.
FDA-Approved for Acne Scars
Acne scars are very difficult to treat. Bellafill stimulates collagen at the site of scars, filling them in. Small scars can also be released using our subcision technique. This helps free the root of the scar allowing the depressed area to be released. We often recommend combining the treatment with MicroNeedling to restore the skin’s texture from the inside and out.
Finally a Beautiful Option for Difficult Areas (under the eyes and lip lines)
One of the most difficult areas to treat is under the eyes and the vertical lip lines above the mouth. With Bellafill, we are able to inject in those areas and grow your own collagen. The results are smooth and natural! The new layer of collagen not only gives you volume but improves your skin tone, firmness and texture brightening complexion. Discover the benefits of Bellafill, attend one of our informational sessions or call (952)922-2345 to schedule a consultation with Jill.
Before your first Bellafill treatment, you will receive a skin test.
A very small amount of Bellafill will be injected into the skin of your forearm with very minimal discomfort. This test is to confirm that you are not sensitive to lidocaine or the collagen in Bellafill. If you see any redness, swelling, hardness and or itching to the injection site, you should contact your Injector. If it is negative and you do not notice any reaction symptoms, you may receive your Bellafill treatment. Risk is less than 1% for possible reactions. This video shows how simple a Bellafill skin test injection / treatment is.
Innovative Directions in Health offers a free Bellafill skin test injection to all patients interested in receiving a Bellafill treatment. Our Injector, Jill Porter, is very experienced in injecting a wide variety of dermal fillers. She is a national Bellafill Trainer. Innovative Directions in health is a Bella Diamond Bellafill Provider which is awarded to the top 1% of Bellafill providers in the USA.
To schedule with Jill, call (952)922-2345 or visit us at www.idinhealth.com.
Women often tell us this when they come in for a consultation looking for a non-surgical lift. Our goal is to provide a natural looking result, not an overdone look you see quite frequently in the tabloids or on tv. We like to call it a refresher. You still look like “you” but refreshed, confident and with something different about you that your friends and family notice but can’t quite put their finger on it – just that you look good.
We hear this story a lot actually and it is such a compliment and testament to a job well done. We recently held a Bellafill seminar. Bellafill is the newest filler on the market that lasts 5 years and grows your own collagen. The collagen structure it lays down is uniform to your own. It naturally creates volume in your dermis and stimulates circulation which improves your skin-tone. The new collagen growing changes your skin to thinking it’s younger and improves texture, pores, fine lines and wrinkles.
Our Injector Jill Porter, injected a model during our seminar. Guests were able to watch how easy injections were and learn how and why Jill placed the Bellafill where she did. We recommend a Bellafill Kit for those looking for a natural look that will help fight gravity and help hold the face in place as we age. Placement is key with any filler, however there are areas where your dermis thins and fat pads spread apart and migrate downwards. This is where we like to create a framework with collagen for a longer lasting youthful look.
This picture of our model was taken immediately after injecting a Bellafill kit. She looks great! Stay tuned for more pictures as her collagen starts to grow and she continues to radiate youth and natural looks.
Request a consultation with Jill, our Bellafill Injector and Certified Bellafill Trainer.
The term “bioidentical hormones” refers to hormones that are exactly the same in structure and function as those produced by the human body. Substances derived from plant or animal tissues are modified on a molecular level in a laboratory until they precisely match and mimic natural human hormones.
Synthetic hormones, in contrast, are not identical in structure and function to those produced by the human body. Synthetic hormones are made to be completely different…and done so on purpose. Drug companies aren’t allowed to patent a bio-identical structure, so they invent synthetic hormones that are patentable.
Up until 2002, women going to conventional doctors were prescribed Premarin, an FDA-approved synthetic hormone derived from the urine of pregnant horses. Premarin was the best selling drug in the U.S. and generated $2 billion dollars a year for the pharmaceutical company that produced it.
In 1994 a study called the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) was started with the plan to establish that Premarin would not only relive symptoms of menopause, but would also protect aging women from heart attacks, strokes and cancer. But that study was abruptly stopped because overwhelming evidence was found that the drugs were unsafe, and increased the risk of heart attacks, strokes and breast cancer. That of course led doctors to systematically take millions of women off of hormones overnight.
Because Bioidentical Hormones precisely match the hormones produced by the human body there are few undesirable side effects and the therapy is effective for both men and women. However the delivery method of taking bioidentical hormones is also important and should be administered in a natural way and monitored by a qualified hormone replacement physician.
Restoring hormone balance has been shown to have a beneficial effect on quality of life for both men and women. For women, estrogen and progesterone therapies are believed to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, significantly protect from heart attack, and reduce the bone loss associated with osteoporosis. For men, testosterone therapy can reduce risk for chronic diseases. Low testosterone has and has been linked to diabetes, heart disease, stroke, osteoporosis, and prostate cancer.
To be clear, most doctors dedicate their lives to their profession and certainly want to do right by their patients. That is why millions of women were taken off Premarin when the study came out announcing it as a dangerous choice. The problem is doctors must rely on the research of pharmaceutical companies to guide them through the complicated issues of prescribing medications.
Pharmaceutical companies have created amazing drugs and solutions that have helped and even saved millions of lives. However, those companies also are driven by profit, and in order to create revenue for their company, they need to be able to patent the drug they create. Because they cannot patent a substance that exists in nature, they have to make a substitute…and that is what they have to do when creating hormones. Although these patented synthetic substitutes mimic the activity of natural hormones, they frequently have side effects…as was the case with Premarin.
Confusion, ignorance and misinformation about hormone replacement continues. Unfortunately, the hormone debate can be summed up in three words—confusion, ignorance and misinformation. This misunderstanding is not only from the patients standpoint, but also the doctors. Millions and millions of women are being helped by bioidentical hormones. But the medical community is slowly seeing the light, and more and more physicians are prescribing bio-identical hormones every day!
Hormone balance is a critical factor in our health and happiness. The same hormones that keep us healthy and growing in our earlier years, can be the cause of emotional and physical distress as we grow older. People with a healthy hormone balance tend to be healthier and enjoy a higher quality of life…free of many of the major diseases like stroke, thyroid problems and heart disease.
But people with long-term hormone imbalances have to endure many of the symptoms we mentioned early, including weight gain, fatigue, poor libido, memory loss and a host of others symptoms. To replenish your hormones and help avoid these health issues, you now have an amazing alternative — BioIdentical Hormone Replacement Therapy.
Although the symptoms of a hormonal imbalance can be similar in both women and men, there are some significant differences.
The only way to know for sure is to meet with a board certified physician, one who is experienced with hormone replacement. You then should go through a comprehensive and specific testing procedure to determine if your hormones are imbalanced.
For Women
Loss of energy
Hot flashes
Bloating
Menopause
Perimenopause
Premenstrual Syndrome
Night Sweats
Low Libido
Brain fog
Weight gain
Insomnia
Bone loss (osteoporsis)
For Men
Loss of strength and muscle mass
Loss of energy and motivation
Weight gain, especially in the abdominal area
Andropause
Heart disease
Erectile Dysfunction
Depression/irritablity
Insomnia
Low sex drive
To put it bluntly, aging is not supposed to be good for us! Aging is a pre-programmed and genetic process to get us out of the picture, and the reduction of hormones is one of those processes. The truth is, in this day and age, we outlive our hormone supply.
Eating right and exercising helps maintain better levels of some hormones, but it cannot stop age-related hormone loss. Our productions of essential hormones starts to diminish as early as the age 25, and by 80 we have lost 50%-80%. By the age of 50 we have had over 20 years of hormone deficiencies.
DHEA is produced from cholesterol by the adrenal glands. This hormone plays an important role in the creating of the sex hormones estrogen and testosterone, as well as helps the transformation of the body as it grows and matures.
Why DHEA gets so much attention, is because beginning in your late twenties DHEA starts to decline which contributes to the aging process in both men and women. By the age of 70 you have lost over 80% of your DHEA. Balancing your DHEA levels can help with obesity, brain fog, dementia, osteoporosis, loss of energy and chronic fatigue.
Known as the male hormone, testosterone imbalances can wreak havoc with both men and women as they age. Testosterone is the principle hormone in a group of hormones called androgens and decreases with age. Men with Low-T can experience a range of symptoms including: Low sex drive, erectile dysfunction, hair loss, fatigue, loss of muscle mass, decrease in bone mass, mood changes, etc. Women need to keep testosterone balances in check as well. Testosterone in women plays a key role in energy, weight gain, sex drive and mood. Without testosterone, keeping a lean body can be difficult.
Having trouble sleeping? It could be your progesterone levels. Progesterone is vital for regulating sleep for both men and women, as well as boosting the immune system and increasing brain function.
Many women will experience a fluctuation of progesterone levels and these changes lead to the classic aging symptoms, including insomnia, mood swings, and brain fog.
An imbalance of progesterone and estrogen versus a deficiency could be the problem. Progesterone, like estrogen, causes multiple effects throughout the body. Many of the effects of progesterone can be credited to its ability to counter-balance the action of estrogen. Multiple physical and psychological problems at midlife are often caused by an imbalance between progesterone and estrogen, rather than a specific deficiency.
Changes in estrogen levels, even as early as peri-menopause causes a disruption in chemicals in our brain. These chemicals include Serotonin, Dopamine and Gaba and are all diminished when estrogen levels decline. These chemicals are critical in maintaining mood, energy levels, sexual function, improving sleep…and decrease stress.
Estrogen’s effect on mood is due to its ability to decrease serotonin levels and endorphins when levels are low. When estrogen levels are balanced women experience a dramatic improvement in mood. Estrogen protects nerves in your brain and encourages the formation of new communications between nerves.
The primary role of estrogen for women is to stimulate growth, sexual characteristics and reproduction. Estrogen is responsible for hundreds of functions in a women’s body, including the very critical role of protecting them from heart disease, colon cancer and strokes. It also is involved with bone growth and cholesterol.
In Men, estrogen is also important, not only is it responsible for changes in puberty, including facial and chest hair, but also muscle development…and as men age it helps protect their bones and brain.
Transform and Protect Your Skin with our Medical Grade Skincare Products
Proper skincare begins at home. The skin is the body’s largest organ. If we don’t take care of our health it shows through in the condition of our skin. In addition to proper exercise, a healthy diet and lifestyle, balanced hormones, a high quality skin care regimen will help your skin stay young and healthy looking.
One of the most affordable, effective and newest laser treatments available for improved skin texture, firmness, hydration and a brightened complexion with minimal downtime.
Dermal Fillers offer immediate results to restore volume and improve texture, fine lines and wrinkles. Loss of tissue volume due to aging allows the skin to gradually sag, forming jowls, hollows, creases and wrinkles. When volume is restored through injectables, a more youthful and natural looking appearance can be immediately noticed.
INFINI Genius + LaseMD = Treat Every Layer of the Skin.
With INFINI Genius + LaseMD combination treatment we are able to intelligently treat all layers of the skin, all skin types at any time of the year. Genius naturally stimulates collagen and elastin production that will tighten and improve wrinkling and acne scarring over time. LaseMD removes pigment, brightens skin and improves texture, giving visible results within days.
Defy Aging and Say, “Goodbye Wrinkles!” with a Botox or Dysport Treatment
It’s time to start looking as youthful as you feel. Botox and Dysport injections are one of the most popular non-invasive ways to get rid of wrinkles. They work wonders on frown lines between the eyes, (a.k.a. 11’s), forehead creases and crow’s feet (wrinkles around the eyes).
