Facial Cosmetic Acupuncture
The face. Often your most recognizable feature and often the first thing people notice about you. Our faces are our outward-most expression of ourselves, communicating our feelings, thoughts, moods, how well we’ve slept and how stressed we are at work. So what do we do when we feel we aren’t presenting our best face forward? Acupuncture can help.
Facial rejuvenation through acupuncture is a subtle non-surgical option to restore your skin’s youthfulness. Facial rejuvenation with acupuncture brings back the natural radiance in a person’s face by reducing fine lines, wrinkles and puffiness, while also brightening the complexion. Acupuncture facial rejuvenation also avoids the serious side effects associated with more aggressive treatments, such as surgeries, peels, and injections, as well as the high costs of those procedures.
Through these acupuncture treatments, not only is the skin’s outer beauty restored, but so is the inner beauty that comes with it in the form of improved self-esteem and increased self-confidence.
The best part of facial rejuvenation acupuncture is that it also addresses the person’s overall health. Patients notice an improvement in sleep, digestion and overall mood. All these things will also add to a person’s beauty, allowing their best face to shine through. That old saying is true: beauty comes from within. When your body is balanced and your constitution is in harmony, your facial complexion will be bright and clear, too.
Why do we get wrinkles?
We have 43 muscles in the face. Their structure is very fine, and they overlap over each other in intricate, synergistic ways. This allows us to make all of our different facial expressions, conveying an amazing range of emotions. In addition to the important role facial muscles play, our skin’s structure – a matrix of keratin, collagen and elastin – gives our face its ability to convey so much and still be able to bounce back to its original shape. This matrix is what helps give our skin its flexibility, suppleness and tone.
Unfortunately, this complex system of muscles and skin proteins can wear down over time. As we age, that matrix is not naturally repaired as quickly as when we’re young. The keratin and collagen reserves under the skin begin to be depleted, separating from the muscle. This is what causes wrinkles and skin sagging.
Additionally, our skin is easily affected by our overall health and environmental factors, such as sun exposure and pollution. Having a poor diet and bad digestion, smoking, lack of restful sleep, and chronic pain can lead to wrinkles and sallow complexions, too.
How can acupuncture facial rejuvenation help?
Jinhee Yoo has 8 years of experience using acupuncture for facial rejuvenation. She has become a master of remedying fine lines, wrinkles, uneven complexion and other complaints, such as acne and rosacea.
Jinhee has studied many schools of thought when it comes to facial rejuvenation, specifically the world famous Nefeli and Mei Zen techniques. This allows Jinhee to combine the best from each system and custom tailor treatments to a person’s specific needs. Jinhee’s refined approach to reducing wrinkles, puffiness and sagging in the face and neck is the product of years of study. Furthermore, her expertise allows her to use fewer points, reducing the chances of discomfort or other side effects while still achieving the desired results.
Acupuncture can stimulate the healing process to repair the support matrix under our skin, whose breakdown causes fine lines, wrinkles and sagging. From a scientific view, acupuncture stimulates the body’s natural healing process to repair that matrix, including sending fibroblasts, a special kind of repair cell, to the acupuncture points. Fibroblasts can regenerate collagen and elastin. Studies show that the increased stores of collagen at acupuncture points can be dispersed throughout the face, improving overall skin tone and restoring lift.
Jinhee also uses Gua Sha to stimulate facial muscle groups and facilitate lymph drainage, which activates tired muscles and drains excess fluid and puffiness from the face. Gua Sha also exfoliates dead skin cells to remedy a dull complexion and restore brightness. Manipulating the muscles and lymph fluids with the Gua Sha tool will also address sagging of the neck and jaw line, and puffiness and dark circles under the eyes.
Facial rejuvenation techniques can also be used to treat TMJ pain and sinusitis because acupuncture can relax the facial muscles and improve lymph flow.
Do you use anything besides acupuncture and Gua Sha?
Jinhee uses all natural skincare products made with Chinese herbs that will nourish skin and create a more youthful glow.
What can I expect from facial rejuvenation acupuncture?
Because this is a natural way of rejuvenating the skin, results will not be as dramatic as a surgical procedure. Multiple treatments are necessary to achieve optimal results.
You should commit to 10 to 12 treatments to get results. You will notice a difference after the first treatment, but the full course of treatments are required if you want results to last. Ideally, treatments are done twice per week. After that, monthly treatments for maintenance are strongly encouraged.
It’s important to note that facial rejuvenation acupuncture is not appropriate for people who take blood thinners, have a weak immune system, pregnant woman or those who suffer from migraines.
The benefits of facial rejuvenation acupuncture done by Jinhee are:
- Reduction of fine lines, which may even disappear; improved skin elasticity
- Reduction of puffiness
- A ‘leveling” of deeper lines, giving a ‘filled-up,” softer and less harsh look
- Beginnings of jowls can be minimized and the jawline defined
- Improvement in rosacea and acne symptoms
- Skin gets softer and rosier
- Cheeks look smoother
- Skin tone improves and becomes more consistent
- Helpful for patients after surgery who have lost vibrancy due to blood supply
- Age spots will fade
- Wrinkles on décolleté will fade or disappear. A reduction in vertical lines on chest from sun damage
- Other benefits: improved sleep, feeling more balanced, better moods; improved depression, less anxiety, more energy