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The demand for non-invasive cosmetic surgery is rising and technology has raised the bar. The use of cutting-edge techniques with minimal pain and fast healing time is the goal of many individuals who contemplate making changes to their appearance.

Gregory Laurence, MD, medical director of Germantown Aesthetics, is known for his “airbrush facelift.” The technique he developed uses laser technology in addition to permanent fillers to produce results comparable to the traditional facelift. There’s no cutting so there’s no scarring and the results are more natural.

Laurence is all too familiar with the association between a patient’s well-being and his or her self image. He developed the techniques for the airbrush facelift and serves as the only training facilitator for its associated lasers and fillers in this region.

“The beauty of the airbrush facelift is that I’ve never done two that were the same,” Laurence said. “Everybody needs a different amount of volume. We have figured out that people look more natural if their volume deficits are refilled.”

Airbrush facelift includes a balanced, customized, administration of several technologies and techniques all in a single, comfortable and safe treatment session. The goal is a long-term, dramatic natural look.

Non-invasive cosmetic surgery using a practical yet complex approach is what drives Laurence in this field. A unique feature of his approach is that he pioneered the use of tumescent anesthesia.

Tumescent anesthesia involves infiltrating a dilute solution of lidocaine, epinephrine, and sodium bicarbonate in physiologic saline into subcutaneous tissue, causing the tissue to become tumescent; it generally lasts for more than 12 hours.

“The trifecta of good facial aesthetics is technology, surgical competence and minimally invasive technique,” he said. “Those three things together contribute to the perfect outcome for that patient.”

Laurence began his journey into cosmetic surgery more than 12 years ago starting with breast augmentations. He began developing the airbrush facelift seven years later and it took him two to four years to perfect it because there was no existing technology available enabling him to hone his craft. Questions regarding aesthetics often begin in the primary care physician’s office. Patients trust their primary care physicians and will ask for advice on non-invasive cosmetic procedures.

Laurence feels it is important for medicine and aesthetics to collaborate since art and science merge in many medical disciplines.

“The multi-specialty area of cosmetic surgery is still an emerging practice,” he said. “There is no residency program yet, but this is an area where we are hoping that with contributions from all specialties (involved) we can meet and exceed patients’ expectations.”

Concerns with cosmetic surgery procedures revolve around recovery, side effects, the type of anesthesia used and how long the results will last.

Each patient is given a customized solution. However, most patients are prescribed a single-treatment session, which may include laser surgery and volume fillers which give a long-term result. Sometimes the airbrush facelift requires the removal of excessive pockets of tissue with liposculpture. Nonetheless, all of these interventions are performed in a single treatment setting. The cost varies depending on the improvements that the patient desires and most can return to work in as little as eight days after treatment.

While many laser centers use one laser system, Laurence’s facility houses nine separate cutting-edge laser and light systems, making it unique among clinical facilities. The center serves as a training facility for physicians in Tennessee and the surrounding states.

Conditions which can be addressed by the airbrush facelift with associated average percent improvement include:

· Sun damage pigmentation 80 percent
· Pore size 60 percent
· Broken capillaries 80 percent
· Diffuse redness 50 percent
· Loose skin 50 percent
· Fine lines 90 percent
· “Smoker’s lip lines” 80 percent
· Deep creases 60 percent
· Loss of cheek fullness 80 percent
· Skeletonized appearance 80 percent
· Thin lips 90 percent
· Poor lip shape 60 percent
· Symmetric or asymmetric low brow position 50 percent
· Poor chin projection 60 percent
· Neck looseness 30 percent
· Turkey neck (under chin bulge) 80 percent
· Dark under eye circles 60 percent
· Facial scars 60 percent
· Saggy jaw line (jowling) 40 percent
· Nasal labial folds 50 percent
· Asymmetry of facial volume 50 percent


With interests in laser medicine, sclerotherapy and cosmetic surgical procedures, Laurence strives to bring the safest and most effective technologies to patients.

He believes that medical school, specialty training and fellowships lay the foundation for practicing physicians, but in addition he added, “We all just begin learning once we finish our formal education. The most effective technologies for our patients did not exist when 95 percent of practicing physicians were in formal training. “

Tags:

airbrush facelift, Germantown Aesthetics, Gregory Laurence, MD, tumescent anesthesia. non-invasive cosmetic surgery

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