Vampire Facelift yesterday....
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free skin care · Wed Jun 13, 2012 5:21 am

Ugh...I hate having to re-write this post. I wrote a LOOOOOONG one yesterday evening, and then suddenly it disappeared because the site went into "routine maintainence." Dang!.....

I drove to Knoxville, TN yesterday to the YearsYounger Med Spa to see Dr Kevin Stamey, for the Vampire Face Lift (really just Plasma Rich Platelets, also known as PRP.) Dr S is a Medical Doc, not a Dermatologist or Plastic Surgeon, and I really liked his approach, which is more on the "natural" side. My face was prepped for 30 minutes with a heavy, sticky, numbing agent "made in a compounding pharmacy." I was completely numbed out...VERY strong stuff that took 5 hours to totally wear off. Anyway, ten minutes into that numbing period, a vial of blood was drawn, then taken in to "spin," to separate plasma and platelets. After 30 minutes, he brought in the vial, added an activator, and began injecting the areas of my face that I had previously expressed concern about: the orbital area around my eyes, nasolabial lines, area above upper lip, and around the corners of my mouth. I did not feel any pain, but could feel a little burning when he injected the areas around the corners of my mouth. He also injected my lips which gave them a nice little poofiness for a while!! The injections lasted around 10 minutes, then he ended the procedure with "La Pag." This involves dragging the needle across the whole face and injecting the platelets more superficially all over, kind of coating the face with the serum. He recommended leaving that on as long as possible, so I didn't wash my face until 8 hours later. I didn't look horrible after the injections, and loved the way the lines on my face were temporarily diminished and filled out. There was some redness around the injection sites but they are not visible today. Mostly I just have some puffiness under my eyes, and one tiny little bruise at the corner of my mouth. I've gone to work now, and no one has noticed anything. I was very diligent about taking Arnica for a few days before and eating a lot of pineapple too (bromelian) and I believe that really helped minimize bruising (because I am a big bruiser~!) The whole appt took 1 hour and 45 minutes and cost $325. They informed me that it will take 3 months to "see" the results. I'll keep ya'll posted!

free skin care · Wed Jun 13, 2012 9:00 am

loopylori wrote:

what a pain having to write all that twice.

Sounds like a very interesting procedure. I am trying to visualize the needle dragging and thats the only bit that puts me off.

The price sounds good. I am sure when Tiny was talking about this before the prices quoted were higher. So sounds all in all like you got a great deal.

I am definitely interested in your long term results. Please do post how it looks when it settles down etc.

Ty for posting this.

Yeah, I agree...the La Pag (pronouced very french) is weird. I was so numb I couldn't tell what he was doing and I still am a little confused by it, but I do see one small needle-drag mark on my cheek. I asked him to explain it a couple of times, and felt embarrassed to ask him again, when I didn't really "get it." Rolling Eyes

I tried to google La Pag but didn't find anything. This appartently is part of the technique they learn at Vampire Lift School Smile

free skin care · Fri Jun 15, 2012 2:04 pm

mountaingirl wrote:

Keliu wrote:

There are other threads here about PRP.

http://www.essentialdayspa.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=34350

I had it done a couple of years ago. It cost me $850 for one syringe in Australia and I had two treatments in my neck (one syringe each time). Can't say it did a thing for me.

As far as effectiveness is concerned - the opinion of doctors appears to be divided. Many are skeptical. It certainly hasn't been accepted as a total winner by the majority of plastic surgeons.

Keliu...in an article link Dr J posted, there was an interesting point made, and it made me think of you and your unsuccessful experience with PRP. Here is what it said:

Of the many benefits mentioned above, what you actually end up seeing depends: some report smoother skin, some report improved discoloration, some report improved wrinkles or scarring, and some will have varying combinations of thes on your own blood. The platelet level and the levels of growth factors in these platelets differ from one person to the next. Therefore, each person reports a different experience: some report smoother skin, some report improved discoloration, some report improved wrinkles or scarring, and some will have varying combinations of these. So really your dermatologist cannot predict how it will work for you, but one thing’s for sure, you will get something out of PRP.

Yes ma'am. That's a key point - the actual biochemicals expressed by your platelets in PRP will vary based on age, health, all sorts of things. The main limitation with anything autologous (comes from your own body) is that it already is in decline in terms of these key chemicals if you are older. Ideally you would get them from someone younger and wrinkle free.

The next scientific step to take would be to isolate the key factors of importance in PRP, and synthesize them individually, or as a group, or find a way to pre-condition the PRP platelet collection in the test tube to express just the right chemicals in the right ratios. Then you will get a therapy that is controllable, reliable, predictable.

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