Hands say a lot about a person. We greet each other with a handshake. We gesture to make a point. We wave to old friends or raise our hands to get noticed. We work with our hands, we cook with our hands, we build with our hands — we use our hands constantly. With such nonstop use, hands are one of the first areas of our body to show signs of aging.
The skin on our hands loses volume over time, revealing visible veins and tendons and creating a ropey appearance on the back of the hand. Unlike most of our skin, hand skin is almost always exposed. In warm weather, that often means damage from harmful UV rays, while in cold weather, going without gloves exposes hands to the drying effects of low temperatures.
Using a moisturizer, ensuring hands are protected by sunscreen while outdoors, and wearing gloves during the winter or while doing other tasks that can damage the skin all are ways to help keep your hands from showing signs of aging. But even those who use good hand-care practices at some point likely will find their hands are adding unwanted years to their appearance.
That’s why hand rejuvenation is the perfect option for many individuals who want to restore the youthful beauty their hands once had. Here are three of the best cosmetic procedures for hand rejuvenation.
Dermal Filler Procedure
Dermal fillers are natural or synthetic substances injected into the skin to help add volume to areas that have become wrinkled or thin. Injectable dermal fillers can be used in many places throughout the body but are most commonly used to improve the appearance of the face and hands.
For hands, the most commonly used filler is Radiesse. This filler uses calcium hydroxylapatite, which is a compound found naturally in bones and teeth. The compound is suspended in a water-based gel-form solution that’s injected in the appropriate spots using a very thin needle.
Radiesse creates a very natural looking and subtle volumizing effect that fills and plumps the skin of the hand, making it appear more youthful. After about a year, it’s naturally absorbed back into the body.
A dermal filler procedure should take only about 30 minutes at most, and recovery is quick. Most patients are recovered in about a day, though many will have brief swelling and bruising. Gently applying an ice pack for 15-20 minutes at a time can help reduce swelling, but patients should use caution to avoid freezing the skin.
Studies conducted by the manufacturer of Radiesse showed that after three months, almost all patients (97.6%) rated their hands’ appearance as improved. For individuals who prefer a non-invasive cosmetic option, dermal fillers may be ideal.
Surgical Fat Transfer Procedure
For those who want a longer-lasting result and/or those who are considering fat removal in other parts of their body, surgical fat transfer is a good option. In a surgical fat transfer, a quantity of fat is taken from one part of the body and injected into the hands, under the skin.
Using a Liposuction procedure, a small amount of fat is removed from a fatty area of the body, often the abdomen, buttocks, or thighs. The fat is then processed by being separated from any excess fluid or tissue still remaining within the fat. It’s then carefully injected into the hand, corresponding with the spots where volume has been lost. Gentle pressure is then applied to create a smooth, natural contour along with the hand.
The transferred fat will remain in the hand long-term, and the fat cells will change with weight gain or loss. Because a surgical fat transfer necessarily involves a San Francisco liposuction procedure, this option is ideal for patients seeking other fat removal procedures that can be done at the same time. Since Liposuction is part of the transfer, the procedure is more in-depth and will take significantly longer than other, less-invasive treatments.
One study of surgical fat transfers on hands indicated more than 80 percent of patients who underwent the procedure were satisfied with their results after 12 months.
Laser Skin Treatment Procedure
In addition to volume restoration that makes skin appear thicker and fuller, surface skin treatments can give hands new life by removing the aesthetic signs of aging. Laser treatments using BBL (Broadband Light) are effective at helping turn back the clock on the appearance of the hands.
Laser treatments with BBL target the pigment in the skin, removing age spots, sun damage, and other cosmetic blemishes, helping return the natural, youthful luster of the skin, which, for all their benefits, fillers and fat transfers can’t do because they don’t address the skin from the outside.
With laser treatments, multiple sessions may be necessary to begin showing the best results at removing the damaged, aged-looking skin, but the individual sessions themselves are quick and easy and require no downtime.
Skin may appear red for the first day after the procedure. Additionally, pigment on the skin will appear darker immediately after the procedure but will gradually fall off within a month of treatment, revealing younger-looking skin.
Conclusion
Hands take a beating over the course of a lifetime. From work to play and everything in between, our hands do it all for us, so be good to them! While regular skincare habits, such as moisturizing, using sunscreen, and keeping hands covered in cold weather, should be part of your routine throughout your life, hand rejuvenation may be right for you.
Whether you’re interested in a minimally or non-invasive procedure or something longer-lasting, there’s no shortage of options for you.
Contact our office today if you’re interested in scheduling a consultation with San Francisco cosmetic surgeon Dr. Sieber to discuss rejuvenating your hands and restoring their youthful glow.
Please contact us below to schedule your consultation.
References
- Radiesse Injectable Implant Instructions for Use for the Dorsum of the Hand. (2014). https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/cdrh_docs/pdf5/P050052S049d.pdf
- Hand rejuvenation with fat grafting: A 12-year single-surgeon experience. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5610212/
