Skinbooster refers to an injectable treatment involving
- Multiple minute punctures on the skin
- Delivery of injectable into the superficial skin
- Intended purpose of improving skin texture, complexion, hydration amongst others
Over the years, the injectable content of skinbooster type treatments has expanded from being purely HA to HA plus various other components (e.g. vitamins, minerals, amino acids), PN (polynucleotides) and PDLLA (biostimulatory).
By classification, skinboosters are considered dermal fillers, although they do not have any filling effect per se. The HA used in skinboosters are also different from the HA used in dermal fillers:
- typically non-crosslinked or minimally crosslinked
- very small particle sized (typically 1/30 the particle size of a dermal filler), with gel consistency being fluid.
- lower degree of structural modification
Hence the HA in a skinbooster is structurally more similar to our naturally occurring HA than to the HA in a dermal filler. It also biodegrades much faster. Filler Induced Vascular Occlusions (FIVO) have not been characterized with skinbooster injections probably because of the very small particle size as well the superficial layer injected.
We offer various forms of HA, PN and PDLLA based skinboosters. Due to current regulations over health products and medical devices, we are unable to name the brands which we use. Kindly call us for more information
It is important to assess what specifically is bothering you about your skin prior to just jumping into a series of skinbooster treatment to “try and improve complexion and glow”.
Skin conditions are very common and ought to be screened for prior to starting skinbooster treatments, as skin conditions benefit from specific treatment which many a times does not involve injections.
From experience, we can divide skin issues into two broad categories:
Inflammation
Complaints here include excessive oil production, frequent pimples, easy flushing and redness, “sensitive” skin.
For middle aged women, many have underlying rosacea, which requires topical treatment with anti-inflammatory creams.
Skinboosters if performed only have a supportive role. The mainstay of treatment is topical treatment.
Pigmentation
A frequent reason for seeking skinbooster treatment is to get rid of pigmentation, although skinbooster treatment is not the primary treatment for any type of pigmentation.
Melasma is a common pigmentation disorder in middle aged women, the mainstay of treatment is topical creams with/without oral tranexamic acid. Other types of pigmentation disorder may require repeated sessions of laser treatments.
Skinboosters when performed in this context is again supportive in nature and is incapable of replacing the main treatment.
Prior to a skinbooster injection, makeup must be thoroughly removed and topical numbing cream applied for at least an hour. This is to ensure sterility and adequate numbing as multiple injections will need to be performed throughout the face.
Most doctors perform skinbooster injections using a hypodermic needle directly (“hand injection”). The typical reason cited is that injection device is inevitably associated with leakage of the injectable.
However, at YVL Medical Aesthetics, we only perform skinboosters using a suction multi-injection device and do not use hand injection technique because of the following:
- A good injection device is much less painful than hand injection
- Each jab of the injection device delivers 9 injections at precise depths and spacing in a split second (perceived by the body as a single jab), whereas hand injection by the best injectors will still vary in spacing and depth
- A typical hand injection will distribute the product over several hundred injection points. This inherently limits the amount of product that can be administered
- An injection device can distribute the product over 3,000 to 6,000 injection points (9 injections each time). The same quantity of product is now a lot more evenly distributed throughout the face. At 3,000 to 6,000 punctures to the face, we believe there may be an independent effect akin to a fractional laser treatment