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Podcast – RF Microneedling: VirtueRF vs. Morpheus8 – What’s the Difference?

Home/Blog / Podcast – RF Microneedling: VirtueRF vs. Morpheus8 – What’s the Difference?

With not one but two of the world’s best RF microneedling technologies under our roof, nurse practitioner Lindsey treats all skin types and a wide variety of areas, including the face, jawline, neck, hands, arms, thighs, and décolletté.

While both of our RF microneedling technologies are fabulous treatments for improving texture and tone, acne scars, and crepey skin, there are some important differences to be aware of for darker skin types.

Covering all the bases, Dr. Houssock and Lindsey answer all the questions people have about VirtueRF and Morpheus8 radiofrequency microneedling, including:


Transcript

Dr. Houssock (00:04):
You are listening to another episode of Perfectly Imperfect. Hi Lindsey.

Lindsey (00:10):
Hi Dr. Houssock.

Dr. Houssock (00:12):
We meet again.

Lindsey (00:13):
Indeed. We should really stop meeting like this.

Dr. Houssock (00:17):
I know, it’s so crazy. Well, I feel like you and I could probably do one of these on the daily and still not run out of conversational pieces to talk about.

Lindsey (00:28):
Absolutely. We could.

Dr. Houssock (00:29):
Alright, so today we decided we’re going to talk about some energy assisted rejuvenation of the face. And you and I go way back when it comes to this stuff.

Lindsey (00:40):
We do. I mean right after we both started, I think we got, I think our first was the Vivace platform for microneedling radio frequency, and we loved that. And then upgraded when that became available to the Virtue, the newer version. And then I would say again, newer technology, Morpheus8. So when there’s new stuff we just kind of jump on it. We know we love it,

Dr. Houssock (01:04):
We do. And I think it was kind of a hole in our practice when we first started looking at it. And microneedling has been around for ages and ages and just general microneedling, that idea of puncturing the face in a very traumatic but stable way created some recycling and building of collagen. And we’ve always loved microneedling. That’s where the first vampire facial came in. But somebody along the way thought, well, if we combine that modality with RF or radiofrequency energy, which also existed on its own but was extremely painful and topical and still exists also on its own, if you combine the two, not only do you get a slightly more comfortable procedure, but when they work in synergy, they give you a better treatment.

Lindsey (01:53):
I think we attract the patient that looks for that. We’re looking for anti-aging and we’re looking for something. We’re not ready for a facelift. We’re not in need of that, but we need something that we can do to stop that rate of collagen loss that continues to happen for all of us percent per year. So I think we saw those people and we’re like, all right, what do we have for you?

Dr. Houssock (02:15):
Yes.

Lindsey (02:16):
We need to have something.

Dr. Houssock (02:17):
So let’s just kind of break it down a little bit Linds. So let’s start with, we talked about microneedling, what the radiofrequency is. Give me just the overall what you tell patients when someone comes in and says, I want Morpheus8 or I want Virtue. Talk about what you’re really doing to them and what it’s going to give them.

Lindsey (02:39):
Yeah, so the first thing I really want to know is what are your goals? Because a lot of people come in with goals that don’t quite match. So a lot of people come in and say, well, I have these goals of anti-aging, my pore size, my general skin, some fine lines and wrinkles that perfectly aligns. And then sometimes it’s, well I also have some brown spots, I also have some red, and that really goes with another treatment. And so sometimes we’re doing a combination, but it’s real important to understand that microneedling with radiofrequency really gives you improved texture. I would say improved tone. We can get a little bit of support in this backend here to sort of pick up, but not as much as a facelift is going to do, of course. But when we’ve lost collagen, then everything kind of falls this way, which nobody likes. And so we’re just trying to support that. And so we’re really looking at those type of things. And then also surface, I have a lot of patients with acne scarring and those do very well because we can kind of get into the scar, break up that scar tissue and almost allow this to happen with that spot of the skin, which is really, really nice.

Dr. Houssock (03:46):
Kind of tightening and building would you say? Like you’re building it.

Lindsey (03:49):
Yeah. Like you almost, if you can visualize it like that spot’s being kind of pulled down and sort of stuck there. We just kind of break that up and release it and then we can get some collagen in there and then it smooths out that surface of the skin. And so those people do really well as well. Crepey skin, that’s another one. Everybody hates crepey skin and saggy skin under here. The saggy jawline that I always tell people when you’re numbing your face, don’t forget the jaw. Nobody likes the saggy jaw. Really want to work in that area to try to increase the tone of the skin and tighten it back up. Sometimes I can even get into some fat under here and really get that tighter. And that really changes the whole profile of the face, which is really nice.

Dr. Houssock (04:29):
So in general, you’re using an energy source and in this instance you’re using two energy sources to create that reaction or that injury that the body sees. And then by doing that and creating that in a safe way, you are coaxing the collagen deposition to kind of realign and reform and build. And because of that, you’re getting what you’re talking about. You’re getting an improvement in scars, you’re getting some tone changes. We are trying to hesitate saying tightening because you have to be careful with what your expectations are and we’ll get to that. But you are seeing some of that when it comes to jawline contouring. I’s so interesting, we watch and do this procedure all the time, but there are obviously times where I will see a superb result. And one of those instances was specifically in Danielle. The only reason I know that is it was just on a random day.

(05:22):
She had had her Morpheus8 maybe a couple of weeks before, and we were doing a consultation together and I was looking at her and I could just see that there’s something had happened to just pull her and her jawline. It had nothing to do with, she didn’t have any filler, she had no other procedures, she had just had the radio frequency microneedling. It was just giving her this contour edge, I would call it. And I think that’s really one of the goals that we can offer for that. Where else will you do it? Besides, we talk about the face of course, but where else will you perform it?

Lindsey (05:58):
Probably the second most popular area would be the neck. So the neck is one of those zones that honestly people forget about. So we do all this stuff on our face. We do skincare, we do treatments, we do fillers, we do Botox, we do everything. And then we kind of don’t do anything for our neck. And so what I tend to find is people start to get that crepey skin, the lines on the neck, and at some point it starts to bug them. Usually we’re doing Morpheus8. And so I try to encourage people, don’t forget about it. Even if you’re young and you don’t see any problems now, even doing it once a year with every other Morpheus, something like that, just so that you can keep that skin going, keep that collagen there. Great for crepey skin, great for lines. I will say the word tightening with the understanding that it really is the appearance of, but really it’s that collagen. It’s that collagen. It’s not pulling back on the neck, but you are improving those lines. And I think a lot of people view that as my neck’s tighter. So if you can work with that word, it really is just that collagen and those lines are better

Dr. Houssock (06:57):
When it comes to the neck, I feel like if you think about decades ago people were getting these crazy peels and CO2 lasers and they’re getting their facelift and then you could tell someone’s age by the neck. And so we’re really cognizant of that now. We’re really cognizant of that now. How often would you say that a patient adds their neck onto their procedure?

Lindsey (07:15):
Probably half the time, probably half the time. And that goes per patient. So it might not be that that patient does it every single time but every other time. So I think most people are hitting it at least once a year in their treatments. If they’re doing a biannual or if they’re doing once a year, they’ll do it every other year. They’re hitting their neck. So the other area that I think you can see age on is hands, so the backs of the hands. And so sometimes I’ll do it there. That’s not as often it can help. I personally think that filler does more for the back of the hands than Morpheus8. But I have done it and it does work, but it has to be the right person. You can’t have so much loss of volume there, but you can have a little, and then it does help. Decollette, another zone that gets kind of with age, sun exposure, all of that. So that’s another zone. And then abdomen, armpits for excessive sweating, it can help with that. And arms, general arms. So those are some areas, upper knees, thighs we will do. And that gives a little for people that have some sagging, crepey skin there, that’s the ideal candidate for that one. So

Dr. Houssock (08:21):
All these areas you’re talking about, it really is something where if someone has some bothersome texture and tone changes to the skin, it’s anywhere that you could really utilize that increased collagen deposition?

Lindsey (08:32):
Yes.

Dr. Houssock (08:34):
What’s the treatment regimen typically look like for the procedure? How does it work and how often do you do it?

Lindsey (08:40):
So typically when we first start we do three treatments about four to six weeks apart. Sometimes we go eight. I tell you, really no sooner than four. For scheduling, you got to be six or eight weeks. It’s not like you’re going to mess things up. We’re really just trying to you in the sooner we get you in each treatment takes about six months to give you full results. Sooner we get you done, the sooner you’re at full results. That’s the motivation. But you have to do schedule. I mean it’s time and there’s not much downtime, but there is about a day, maybe two for people. Little bit more downtime on the neck, not tremendous, nothing that you can’t cover, but for people that need to plan, there’s a little bit more when you add the neck in. And so we do three treatments kind of close together and then we let you ride. So I like to see you back about six months after the third. At that point you should be resulted from that series. And then maintenance is once or twice a year with a single treatment.

Dr. Houssock (09:32):
And when you say resulted, what are your end goal hopes for the patients? What are you seeing?

Lindsey (09:38):
It really depends on what they’re looking for, but we’re looking at decreased pores, we’re looking at texture of the skin, tone of the skin, fine lines and wrinkles. I’ll usually tell people what that first series deeper lines become finer lines, finer lines tend to go away. So it depends on the kind of line we’re looking at, but being realistic in three treatments, deep to fine, fine to almost gone or gone.

Dr. Houssock (10:01):
Yep. Yep. I mean, and I think that’s the key of it, what you just said, it doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a building over time. And it’s so hard to, I think now I think patients are really understanding that concept of multiple treatments. I think in the very beginning it was hard for anybody to accept that you weren’t just going to have a one and done. But I do feel like people are starting to get that now, which is good and we don’t have to argue about it too much. One treatment of course is going to be helpful, but we always think about all of these more, less invasive, non-surgical treatments as a series and then over time. So yeah, I think that part of it is easier for patients to understand. We are probably a little bit different than other practices because we do have two different machines. One is the now what is the newer version of the Vivace, which is the Virtue, and then we have Morpheus8. What’s the difference? Does it matter what the patient gets? How do you decide what the patient gets when you’re choosing for them?

Lindsey (11:04):
So, there’s a couple of different factors. So the main difference that people will, I’ll say complain about is the pain level. Virtue doesn’t hurt at all. It’s a little warm. People tolerate it very well. It’s no big deal.

Dr. Houssock (11:22):
They numb beforehand?

Lindsey (11:23):
They numb beforehand. We do the same numbing for both. We do a topical BLT that we send. You actually do it at home, which is lovely. Send you a video of me putting it on.

Dr. Houssock (11:31):
BLT. Like bacon, lettuce, tomato?

Lindsey (11:33):
Absolutely have your little sandwich, come on in. We send you a video and you numb and it’s great. And that sits on an hour so that you don’t have to sit here for an hour. You can continue working whatever, you come in. I take that off virtue. You go home, you’re fine, no problem.

Dr. Houssock (11:48):
Redness.

Lindsey (11:48):
Morpheus8, a little redness that day, 24 hours. That part is pretty similar between the two. But the pain level with that one, fine. We talk Morpheus8, I actually pre-medicate. So I like to pre-medicate people with either Xanax or Valium and then some sort of pain medicine, whether it be tramadol, Percocet, we kind of have a discussion of what you’ve tolerated well in the past. Are you opiate naive? All those things. We figure out what you’re going to take. We send that in. I have you take that an hour before too.

(12:18):
People do fine, but it is still painful even on those medications. It’s also double the speed. So the needles go in and out much faster than with Virtue. So a Virtue treatment will take me 35 minutes. A Morpheus takes me 15 to 20, so it’s much quicker. And we do small sections. And so even patients that are nervous, those medicines help and then they go, okay, as soon as it’s over, as soon as you’re literally done that area, it doesn’t hurt anymore. It’s just warm. So if you can get through that minute of me doing that area, it’s okay, but you do have to plan a little bit more because you are taking pre-medication, so you need a driver. And so for people, the scheduling of Morpheus is a little bit different. Downtime wise, you’re going to be red again that day probably for 24 hours. Sometimes with Morpheus8, especially on the neck, I find that people get, can you picture the skin of a chicken where it’s kind of bumpy,

Dr. Houssock (13:18):
Yeah.

Lindsey (13:18):
But it’s like flesh colored.

Dr. Houssock (13:19):
Like goose bumpy?

Lindsey (13:20):
Goose bumpy. Yes. That’s what you’ll find. You’ll find texture things. It’s not red but you’re like my skin feels weird. So that can last for some people for a week or so, especially on the neck.

Dr. Houssock (13:33):
Yeah, yep.

Lindsey (13:34):
So that is a little bit different. I don’t really see that with Virtue.

Dr. Houssock (13:36):
So a little bit more downtime with Morpheus8?

Lindsey (13:39):
A little bit more.

Dr. Houssock (13:39):
Would you argue that that, with the pain comes a little bit of a better treatment?

Lindsey (13:44):
I think so. And I will tell you I’ve had people who don’t take the pain medicine and I have to turn the energy level down. And that makes me sad because I would rather, if we’re going to do it, let’s do the treatment. Let’s not do a half a treatment because you couldn’t find a driver, I would rather you find the driver, take the meds and then I can give you the full treatment.

Dr. Houssock (14:05):
That is such a good point because I think when people research Morpheus8 or any of these modalities, it’s a mixed bag when you look online about whether they’ve had great quote results or not. And I think what we have to remember is that these machines are ultimately just machines and just like an operation, you have a person utilizing that machine. And so the machine itself, it may do a great job for one person and not for another, and it could very well be related to the person who has performed it and the settings that were used. If you turn something down to the lowest levels and you get a Morpheus8 treatment, which costs the same as someone who has a higher power number, and Lindsey who’s done this for so long knows how to manipulate those numbers to their effectiveness, those treatments are going to be the same treatment but very different results. And so that is really important whenever you’re researching any of these things, lasers, skin peels, microneedling, and it goes the same for surgery. You have to know if that particular person has the education and the knowledge and the ability to give you the ultimate treatment because it certainly could not work as well if it’s done wrong.

Lindsey (15:21):
Absolutely.

Dr. Houssock (15:21):
Conversely, it can be dangerous. I mean there are risks to it. What are the risks that you worry about and how do you combat them?

Lindsey (15:30):
So one of the reasons that I am so careful with my depth and I pinch the face a lot when I’m doing my treatment and people will be like, what are you doing? Well, I’m trying to feel where I need to be depth wise. I don’t want to get into the fat where I don’t want to be in fat. So I don’t want to get into the fat in the midface because I can actually ablate fat. I can get rid of it.

Dr. Houssock (15:50):
We want that.

Lindsey (15:50):
And so this fat, we want. This jowl? No, I don’t want that fat. I’ll go ahead and be right in there. This fat under here could take it or leave it there. I don’t need it. So I’ll get in there, but I do have to set my appropriately. And so depth and energy go hand in hand. You can’t put in too much energy. Superficial, you can have some skin reaction, you can have some blistering of the skin, so you don’t want to be too superficial with your energy. So I turn up the energy more when I’m deeper because that’s the safer spot to be the same reason. I don’t like doing darker skin types with Morpheus. So I can cause hypopigmentation, which I don’t have a reversal for. I can actually take their pigment out with the heat and the energy

(16:34):
And that’s really related to how the energy comes out. And so in Morpheus, the energy comes out of the tip of the needle, goes back up to the surface of the skin and comes back down to those needle tips deep within the skin. And so we can actually damage darker skin types with that. So I have to turn the energy way down. Well, in my mind I have another machine, Virtue, that is safe for darker skin types that I can treat at that higher energy level. Absolutely. That’s the better machine for them. They’re going to have a better result with the same kind of treatment and those needles are actually insulated. So no energy leaks out. The energy only comes out deep and that’s why it’s safer for darker skin types.

Dr. Houssock (17:13):
Fascinating.

Lindsey (17:13):
So these are things you just have to be aware of.

Dr. Houssock (17:15):
Yes. Yeah, absolutely. And so that’s one of the things when you’re looking at who’s this, who is this best for and who’s it not best for? Really all patients can benefit from the radiofrequency microneedling modality. It’s just going to be based on a lot of things, your downtime, what you’re looking for, and also your skin type, whether or not you’re going to be more appropriate for the Virtue of the Morpheus8. But the good news is at least in our practice, we’ve got something for everybody.

Lindsey (17:41):
We do.

Dr. Houssock (17:42):
You can utilize this great modality and there are other companies who make these machines. At this point, Morpheus8 is well known because it was well marketed and we would argue is still probably the most beneficial in the end for treatment if you can tolerate the downtime and some of the discomfort. A lot of us have had it done with surgeries for one have when I had my breast done. I’ve had all of them. I mean I’ve had every one of them. I try to be good about doing them on at least every other yearly basis if not more often. And I would say just like Lindsey’s saying, they all are beneficial. I’ve not done the Morpheus8 awake. I’ve only done it under anesthesia.

Lindsey (18:24):
Me too. But my excuse is I don’t tolerate the topical well, the topical numbing makes my, I have very weird skin. Even with a diamond glow facial for example, I break out in pseudo hives. I freak everybody out so when I put anything on my skin it gets very odd. So I did it while I was asleep for my lipo.

Dr. Houssock (18:42):
So if someone is really sensitive to their skin, would you say that they’re still a candidate for all of these things? We just have to be careful with just allergies and whatnot for the topical numbing.

Lindsey (18:53):
Yeah. That’s not something that I typically see. I’m one of, there’s two of us that I know of me and one other person that has had issues with the topical and I can make some changes to the topical as needed, but most people tolerate it just fine.

Dr. Houssock (19:07):
Yeah, I mean I would say we see patients coming in every day for Morpheus8 numbed with the medication. People really tolerate it. That’s another thing we thought we’d get a lot of pushback about, was doing those medications, but it’s worth the great result if you’re going to do it. You want to have the best result. You’re making that investment in time and money, so we want to make sure you maximize. We also have nitrous, inhalational nitrous here that can help if someone would prefer that. You can do that for a little bit of comfort during the procedure. We have a cooling machine, we’ve got it all. So whatever is going to make a patient be able to get through the procedure, we have it. And ultimately absolutely, if you want to be some of us and have it done in the OR, it’s obviously always an option.

Lindsey (19:50):
It’s great.

Dr. Houssock (19:50):
It’s a little overkill if you’re not getting anything else done, but a lot of people now will combine them because obviously we’re a surgical practice. A lot of people do. I actually had Morpheus8 on my stomach as well. When I had my breasts done, Lindsey also did my Morpheus8 on my tummy. I would say like she was saying with the neck, the downtime was pretty long for the tummy. I don’t know why. Maybe the skin turnover there is a little bit slower than what it is in the face. We’re always washing it, exfoliating, et cetera, and the neck and the tummy just took longer. Lindsey, you had it done as well, right? Where did we do it on you?

Lindsey (20:23):
Face, jawline. Face and under here, the two main areas.

Dr. Houssock (20:28):
Didn’t we do your thighs?

Lindsey (20:30):
Oh yeah, that’s right, we did.

Dr. Houssock (20:31):
I did your thighs. Yeah.

Lindsey (20:33):
Yeah, we did my thighs and I think you know what, you hit my C-section scar too. Now that I think about it. There was so much bruising there, honestly from the lipo that I kind of forgot. I’m not going to lie.

Dr. Houssock (20:42):
We love it. Every one of us though who have gone under surgery here, like patients of the practice, meaning like Lindsey and I, Danielle, all of us who have had a procedure here, we all always add something. So Morpheus8, Cool Peel. It’s so nice if you can because you’re already under, but I think your thighs were the same as my tummy. They took a little while to, for the, I think you’re saying, like the shapes to go away.

Lindsey (21:05):
The texture. Yeah. Yeah. You kind of almost see the boxes from the needles. It’s like a little box that is 24 needles. It’s actually 40 for the body needles in one little box. But you see that little box.

Dr. Houssock (21:16):
Yeah. Yep, yep. So you don’t want to do it if you’re my tummy for instance. You wouldn’t want to do that if you’re going on a vacation anytime soon. You want to wear a bikini or something like that, but there is some downtime. It’s worth the downtime. Every time I do it, I’m like, I hate this. But I’m definitely doing it again every time. Just touch a little bit more Linds, on just the final thing would be adding in PRP. We are not really talking PRP today, but just give a little idea of what PRP is and how it benefits being added to one of these procedures.

Lindsey (21:46):
So PRP is your own blood spun down to get the growth factors in your plasma. Basically it’s platelet rich plasma and so we add that in. I don’t do it. Some people will put the plasma on and then needles through it, but there’s so much heat with the frequency that I make all of my channels at all of my different depths all along the face and then I will lay the plasma over top and let it sink into those channels. When it goes down into that deep dermal zone. I always say if you heard yourself calling out for help, you would obviously respond a little faster than if you heard somebody you didn’t know calling out for help. And so really the plasma is you calling out to your own cells going, Hey, hey, come on over here, put some collagen in the spot and so your cells are going to respond a little better.

(22:30):
I love it because I think it jumpstarts you a little bit. I think it jumpstarts that process of getting more collagen in the people that I will say you really need to save your money and do this with PRP are my acne scarring. They really need the PRP with every single treatment. And my patients that really need some major anti-aging, their skin texture is really, really rough or they’ve got a lot of deeper lines, a lot of fine lines, a lot of crepey skin.

Dr. Houssock (22:59):
Sun damage?

Lindsey (23:00):
A lot of sun damage, all of that. When you think of somebody with skin like that, they really do better with PRP. Under eye, if the under eye is the primary area and it’s that crepey skin that PRP does a great job in that area because that is a very difficult area to get. And so you need all the help you can get. The other thing that I will touch on, sorry, is Cool Peel over top. And so sometimes I will tell people

Dr. Houssock (23:24):
Oh. Adding this to Morpheus8? what is Cool Peel Linds?

Lindsey (23:26):
So Cool Peel is a CO2 laser and that works on the surface of the skin. So if you think about it, the micro needling with radio frequencies working deep to build collagen, the Cool Peel’s working at the surface to smooth the surface of the skin. And so sometimes I’ll say to people, look, if you’re telling me I’ll do one or the other for the person with some fine lines or some real surface type issues, I’m going to pick Cool Peel because Cool Peel can really resurface for them. And so when we add that in to Morpheus or Virtue, you get a great result that does increase your downtime. So you do have to plan for it. Usually I tell you, you got to give me a few days because with Cool Peel, I’m doing damage at the surface and so I’m leaving more noticeable.

Dr. Houssock (24:09):
More noticeable.

Lindsey (24:10):
More noticeable marks, yep, more redness. You’ve got some squares from treatment. Those are going to stay for about 24 hours. You can put makeup on at that point, but your skin’s going to feel rough. And about day five you can exfoliate and so you’re not really exfoliating that skin until day five. And so you really have five days of funky feeling skin, but fantastic when added over.

Dr. Houssock (24:30):
So generally the microneedling radio frequency is working deep, building collagen, adding tone, increasing in smoothing texture. The Cool Peel is surface, it’s resurfacing, it’s fine lines. It’s that aged sun kind of aged skin. It’s thinning of the skin, but it’s more at the surface. Is that what you’d say?

Lindsey (24:48):
More at the surface and

Dr. Houssock (24:49):
So combining both gets both.

Lindsey (24:52):
Combining both gets both. You got it. You’re working deep and superficial and you’ve kind of made that sandwich of now I can get everything.

Dr. Houssock (24:59):
I can say personally, if I’m going to do a microneedling procedure at this point, I will not do it, even Lindsay will be like, it’s fine, we can do it. I will not do it without a CO2 laser. I know it’s going to be added downtime. And I also know she can do it very quickly for us. But if I’m going to go in, I’m doing it. So every time I get my microneedling radio frequency, I always have her resurface with that Cool Peel at the end. And again, Cool Peel is a fractionated CO2 laser. There’s a million of them out there. They have been around forever, but they’re resurfacing. They’re not going to tighten tone, increase texture, build collagen. They’re only going to do resurfacing. The things you’re seeing on the surface, those scars though, people who have deeper scars, they’re going to benefit from that combination because when it’s a deeper scar, you’ve got to build collagen from deep and then you’ve got to resurface from the outside. So we’re very passionate about these things. We obviously all utilize them, we all get these procedures and I think it’s just a really hot topic right now because so many companies now have finally realized how great they are and they’re making machines. Did we miss anything Linds? What else? Anything else we missed about them?

Lindsey (26:04):
Gosh, I don’t think so.

Dr. Houssock (26:05):
I think we hit ’em pretty hard. Oh, how the results, how long do they last?

Lindsey (26:11):
We’re all losing in collagen every year. So I would tell you figure about a year and then you’re going to have some additional collagen loss that you’re going to need to correct as well. They probably last longer than that technically, but I think you’d need to keep up with it because we are losing collagen every single year. And so at least once a year you got to come in and fix that damage from that year basically.

Dr. Houssock (26:32):
Yeah. It’s interesting when it comes down to trying to figure out your life’s regimen, nothing is going to be one and done nothing, not even surgery. So you have to know that this is a lifelong thing. Aging is not curative, it’s forever. So we’re always going to be wanting to work on it, prevent it and improve it.

Lindsey (26:50):
And the other thing that you don’t want to downplay either is skincare. And we talk about this all the time. You don’t go to the dentist and then not brush your teeth every day. So you’re going to spend money on these treatments. You need to at least get some good skincare. You don’t have to be on 50 things, but you need a couple of good things to target your concerns.

Dr. Houssock (27:08):
And it’s got to be worth your investment. There’s so many options now when patients come in for skincare consultations, we’ll start with the simple things to do at home and then talk into these nonsurgical items. And obviously there’s always going to be a more expense, the more invasive you go, but then you’re balancing that expense for the result. And so it all just depends on your budget. The good news is that no matter your budget, I really feel at this stage in aesthetics, there’s something for you. You just have to be realistic about what you’re going to get from whatever it is you decide to invest in.

Lindsey (27:40):
Yep.

Dr. Houssock (27:40):
So alright, Linds, well that was great.

Lindsey (27:43):
I think we covered it.

Dr. Houssock (27:44):
I think you probably have a patient waiting for you right now, my guess is because you’re a busy girl these days.

Lindsey (27:50):
I do. I do.

Dr. Houssock (27:50):
Alright, thanks for stopping in.

Lindsey (27:51):
Well carry on. Dr. Houssock.

Dr. Houssock (27:52):
Carry on. Perfectly Imperfect is the authentically human podcast navigating the realities of aesthetic medicine. JEV Plastic Surgery is located in Owings Mills, Maryland. To learn more about us, go to JEV plastic surgery.com or follow us on Instagram @drcarehoussock, or just look in the show notes for links. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it and subscribe to Perfectly Imperfect on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you’d like to listen to podcasts.