These days, aging has definitely met its match as we continue to find new ways to be younger — at least in terms of the visible signs of aging. One of the standouts, cosmetic injectables, has revolutionized the way we address aging, which explains why nearly 20 million injectable treatments transpired in the United States in 2024.
Evidenced by our next-generation filler alternatives, science is improving by delivering longer-lasting results through collagen stimulation.
Dr. Tiffany Su and the Skin Shop MedSpa team have done our research, and we offer three great options for collagen stimulation: Sculptra®, Radiesse®, and Rejuran®.
The critical role of collagen in your skin
To understand why these next-gen dermal filler alternatives are so effective, it’s best to learn about the critical role that collagen plays in keeping your skin fresh and youthful.
Collagen is a protein — the most plentiful protein in the human body — and is in most of your soft tissues, including your skin and connective tissues like muscles and tendons.
This protein is what gives these tissues structure, strength, and support, literally giving them shape.
As you age, your production of collagen naturally declines, and exposure to the sun furthers this loss by damaging existing collagen fibers. As a result, with each passing year, your skin can wrinkle, droop, sag, and lose volume.
Fighting back with collagen stimulation
The first-generation dermal fillers feature hyaluronic acid (HA), which is beneficial for adding youthful volume to your face. The problem is that HA gets reabsorbed into your body, and you need to come back for more within 9-12 months.
With our collagen-stimulating injectables, our goal is to kickstart lagging collagen production for more sustainable results as your skin regains support. While you may not directly see the total effect of the product initially, results improve with time and often beyond 1 year. We offer three different collagen stimulators that do this, and each is slightly different:
1. Radiesse
Let’s first look at Radiesse, which is a great anti-aging tool for the forehead, cheeks, lower half of your face, around your jawline, neck, buttocks, and your hands.
The key ingredient in Radiesse is calcium hydroxylapatite, or CaHA, particles that create a sort of scaffold upon which new collagen can form. These particles stimulate fibroblasts, which produce collagen and elastin to lift and tighten your skin.
Results from Radiesse are both immediate and can last for up to a year or more as new collagen comes online.
2. Sculptra
Next in our collagen stimulator line-up is Sculptra, which relies on poly-L-lactic acid to jumpstart your collagen production. Like Radiesse, the active ingredient in Sculptra acts as a framework upon which new collagen and elastin can form.
After your Sculptra treatment, you start to see improvements at about the one-month mark, and these improvements continue over the following months and up to two years.
3. Rejuran
This cosmetic polydeoxyribonucleotide takes a different path to increasing support in your skin. Rejuran contains c-PDRN®, or polydeoxyribonucleotide, which comes from hydrolyzed salmon sperm DNA—yes, salmon.
As it turns out, salmon and human DNA are remarkably similar, so your body readily accepts the c-PDRN and acts on it. By that, we mean that Rejuran helps repair and improve your skin through increased collagen and elastin.
To give you an idea of efficacy, we have used this treatment for clinical wound healing for years, so imagine what it can do for older skin.
As you can see, we’re ready to help you get back to that more youthful version of yourself through our suite of collagen-stimulating agents.
To figure out which one is best for your goals and skin, we invite you to contact our office in Houston, Texas, at 713-701-1717. You can also schedule an appointment online by clicking the book online button at the top of the page.
