Cosmetic physicians have recently become increasingly aware of the role that volume loss plays in the way a face ages. Whereas once the only answer to loose and sagging skin on the face was to cut and remove skin in a face lift, it has since been realised that an excess of skin is not the only problem abd that a loss of facial tissue volume also contributes to the wrinkled appearance of maturity.

For twenty years collagen injections have been used to add volume to depleted faces, but collagen doesn't last long, and the aesthetic result depends critically on the skill of the injector, time after time.

There was a need, then, to find a way to improve facial volume in a more long-lasting manner whilst still inducing some tightening of skin.

Enter Agent S. Agent S is a suspension of natural sugar-like particles, and stimulates your own fibroblasts to produce your own collagen under the skin, leading to skin tightening and thickening, thus improving volume deficiencies.

How does it work?

You will remember that when you exercise a lot you build up lactic acid in your muscles. It's a natural part of your biochemistry, and breaks down very rapidly, but is a bit irritating to your muscles which is why they burn with excessive exertion.
Lactic acid molecules can be strung together to form  the active ingredient in Agent S. Once Agent S is injected under your skin, the particles in Agent S will stimulate your collagen-producing cells, the fibroblasts, to make collagen.
 As this collagen is produced it will thicken your skin, and as it later contracts it will tighten your skin. 
The thickening effect produces better volume in the face, and the tightening effect will smooth out lines.

What's a treatment like?

It's important to remember that Agent S is not a filler in the same way that Agent R or Agent A are fillers. These latter two work simply by the volume of their presence under the skin (and we love them for it). 
Agent S, though, acts on skin to make the skin thicken itself. 
But we want this to happen smoothly and evenly.
Therefore we have to ensure the Agent S is widely and evenly distributed under the skin we wish to tighten.
Which means that we need o administer it using more injections than is the case with a simple filler like Agent R.

We will ask you to come in to the practice an hour prior to your treatment time in order for us to apply some anaesthetic EMLA cream. This has to be applied thickly, as if we are icing a cake. Then we have to apply a little clear plastic film over the cream to ensure it doesn't dry out and to improve skin absorption. 

One hour later you are ready for treatment. Your facial skin is cleaned and we discuss again with you our treatment goals and the areas of the face requiring treatment. Once we agree on our plan, the skin is marked out to ensure the Agent S is placed exactly as we want, and as evenly as possible.

The EMLA has a great effect to reduce the sensation of the needle, and we furthermore mix our Agent S with a local anaesthetic that further reduces discomfort during and after treatment. 

The Agent S is spread under the skin using a fine needle, with each needle covering an area of 1-2 square centimetres.

We then like to give the treatment area a firm massage to further ensure the Agent S is evenly and thoroughly distributed where we want it.

Treatment finished!

What will it look like?

Agent S comes as a powder in a little vial, for preparation by dilution two days beforehand. We dilute out Agent S vials with 7ml of anaesthetic, so that when you first look at your face after the treatment you will notice a fullness and improvement in volume, but at this point you are looking at the volume effect of 7ml of fluid, not the treatment effect of Agent S per se. 
Over the following hours to days this volume effect will go down. A certain amount of bruising may appear, but is easily covered.

Actual collagen formation takes at least 6 weeks to begin, and is maximal about 12-18 months after the treatment.

What next?

All authorities and experienced users of Agent S recommend that you undertake several treatments to get the result you want. Here at Peach we would recommend at least three treatments, typically spaced 2 months apart.

Patients with large facial areas to treat or with moderate volume loss to repair are advised to have two vials of Agent S injected on each treatment occasion. This gets results happening faster, and because the price of two vials injected at once is less than twice the price of one vial the treatments are more economical.

Come and see us for more information and for a specific assessment of your needs.