Word: skins
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...steamy July morning in New York City last summer, Allergan, maker of Botox, unveiled the latest weapon in its aesthetic arsenal, Juvéderm. The new wrinkle filler--made from hyaluronic acid, a naturally occurring sugar in the skin that helps it hold moisture--had just got the green light from the FDA for distribution in the U.S. Champagne corks popped and a curtain parted to reveal a glamorous and wrinkle-free blond, seen minutes before on a video with a face full of creases and frowns. "This is the new generation of dermal fillers," gushed Caroline Van Hove, director...
Dozens of new kinds of injections, light therapies, laser resurfacing devices and innovative skin creams are available or about to hit the market. The newest selling point: shorter recovery periods, fewer visible aftereffects and, in many cases, near immediate results. "The better the techniques, the more people want them," says New York City and Miami cosmetic dermatologist Dr. Frederic Brandt. The machines used by professionals are expensive, but for dermatologists the payoff is huge: cash up front and no insurance bureaucracy to engage. "If you're really good at what you do," says La Jolla dermatologist Dr. Richard Fitzpatrick...
...that produce natural-looking results and let patients get back to work quickly. On the table: tools that use radio frequencies (Thermage), plasma gas (Portrait), infrared light (Titan), light-emitting diodes (GentleWaves), pulsed light (Palomar Medical Technologies' Lux system) and lasers (Fraxel, Vbeam) to smooth out and tighten the skin and soften the appearance of wrinkles. Syneron's eMax uses radio frequencies and light energies and costs about $175,000. According to Shiu-Yik Au, an analyst for Millennium Research Group, the market for aesthetic medical equipment will top $400 million this year, a 30% increase from 2005. He projects...
...companies that make the devices, it's also a profitable proposition. Consider Reliant Technologies, a privately held company in Mountain View, Calif., known for its popular resurfacing laser, Fraxel. Its newest model, Fraxel SR1500, which lets dermatologists treat deeper layers of skin, sells for $110,000. Orders have been pouring in, but the revenue stream doesn't stop there. The handheld device requires a special tip that needs to be replaced after four to six treatments. Cost per tip: $400. "It is a great business model," says Reliant vice president of global sales Keith J. Sullivan, with a grin...
Even though the various treatments work slightly differently, they operate on a similar principle: they deliver heat energy to the skin's deeper layers, which essentially damages the layers on top, triggering a healing process that produces newer skin underneath. "You need to basically wound the skin, so you can get a healing response," says Keith Penny, director of research for Rhytec, a firm that makes Portrait PSR, a device that treats wrinkles with plasma...