Mesotherapy

First the problem: why does skin age?

Skin ageing is affected both by internal factors (genetically determined) and by external ones. The breakdown of collagen and elastin fibres and the fall in the quality of the body's own hyaluronic acid are largely genetically coded.

But part of it can be controlled: smoking and alcohol, excessive exposure to the sun and stress can speed up the biological clock. Among these, sun damage caused by ultraviolet rays is the greatest threat.

Why does collagen matter so much?

• It is the body's most important structural protein and is found most in the skin. In young, healthy skin, 75% of the body's total collagen is located there.
• It provides the firmness, resilience and integrity of the skin, and allows it to hold firmly to the tissues beneath.
• After the twenties its production slows while its breakdown begins to increase.
• After the thirties and forties there is a loss of 1–1.5% of collagen each year.
• In women this process speeds up with menopause.

What changes in the skin?

With the loss of collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid, the skin becomes weaker and less resilient, drier, less elastic and thinner. The middle layer of the skin (the reticular dermis) thins because of the loss of collagen.

Ageing of the face is not only about the skin; it is the combined result of changes in the skin, the fat tissue beneath it, the muscles, the deep fat pads, the connective tissue joining these layers, and the bone. The superficial fat pads melt away, causing a loss of volume; the deep fat pads sag and shift with gravity. With age there is also marked loss in the bone of the face; this reduces the structural support for the tissues above.

Where does mesotherapy stand?

The source lists the medical aesthetic methods used to stimulate collagen production as follows:

• Microneedling
• Chemical peels
• Energy-based device treatments (needle radiofrequency, HIFU, fractional lasers (which deliver energy to spot areas), radiofrequency methods, intense pulsed light treatments)
• Mesotherapy treatments
• Hyaluronic acid injections
• Biostimulant agents, nucleotides, collagen injections
• Thread treatments

Mesotherapy is one option on this list; the source contains no statement that it is superior to the others. Which method, or which combination, is appropriate is assessed according to the state of the skin and the aim.

What is biostimulation?

The name of the approach mesotherapy belongs to is biostimulation. Its definition is this: a regenerative treatment carried out with biocompatible substances that stimulates the fibroblasts (the cells that produce collagen) and the other producing cellular structures responsible for the production of collagen and elastin in the skin and the tissues beneath it — particularly in the dermis — to increase in number and in their capacity to produce.

Its aims include natural-looking rejuvenation of the face and body, improvement of the texture of the skin, addressing losses of volume and sagging, and the treatment of cellulite.

The properties of biostimulants

• Biocompatible — compatible with the tissue.
• Biologically degradable and absorbable — their end products are water and carbon dioxide.
• They are targeted product groups: they act by increasing the number and the productive capacity of particular cells in the tissue.

How much depends on the treatment and how much on you?

Because some of the external factors that speed up ageing can be controlled, daily habits determine the result as much as the treatment does: protection from the sun (the single greatest factor), stopping smoking, reducing alcohol and managing stress.