What Is Facial or Cosmetic Acupuncture?
Facial or cosmetic acupuncture helps to stimulate collagen production by creating microtraumas. It sounds scarier than it is, as the needles are tiny and you don’t feel a thing. Needles can be inserted into actual wrinkles or scars, or to sagging areas and stay in for about 20 minutes. As with all good and natural things, acupuncture doesn’t provide a quick fix. It takes time and its benefits are compounded over time: Increased collagen stimulation, brighter complexion, reduced scarring and stress reduction.
Our licensed acupuncturist, Einaz Farahmand, runs a general practice with a focus on holistic health and her mission is to provide a sense of calmness while you are on your journey to holistic healing.
Einaz Farahmand believes that beautiful skin begins with feeling good on the inside. She works with her patients to achieve their health goals through the prevention and treatment of the root cause of the condition. Einaz Farahmand achieves this by doing three things – providing education on good lifestyle choices, using holistic modalities to heal the health concern, and empowering patients to be their best self. To educate, heal and empower is what she truly stands for.
What Are The Benefits Of Facial Acupuncture?
Facial acupuncture is great for anti-aging, acne, facial scars, dark spots, facial rejuvenation and other conditions affecting the skin.
Collagen Production
Collagen is the most abundant protein found in the body, which makes up the framework of the skin, muscles, tendons and ligaments. Having sufficient collagen is important to prevent wrinkles and dry skin. Inserting tiny needles in the skin (especially around wrinkles) causes microtrauma to the area that is not visible to the eye. Areas with microtrauma stimulate the healing process which in turn increases collagen production in the area. In this way, the natural production of collagen is stimulated without permanent injury to the skin, which leads to smoother wrinkles.
Toning
To reach the skin muscles, deeper acupuncture needles are inserted. Deeper needle insertions lead to decrease in facial tension and toning of the skin muscles. Acupuncture needle insertion in the area also allows for increased blood flow which nourishes and moisturizes the skin.
Stress Management
A facial acupuncture treatment is not only relaxing, but it also helps with the repercussions of living a stressful life. These include puffiness around the eyes, stress lines and other constitutional symptoms that go beyond cosmetics.
Holistic Health
While most patients get facial acupuncture for the beauty benefits, it is not just for cosmetic use. For example, if a patient has chronic constipation which is retaining toxins in the body, it is most likely to show up on the skin in different ways. During facial acupuncture treatments, we would also treat constipation and any other conditions affecting the skin. This busts a common myth as well that facial acupuncture is only for elderly women. THIS IS NOT TRUE! Facial acupuncture is for men and women over the age of 25 that are affected by any skin
condition or just want to look and feel their best.
What Is The Process Like?
After checking in at Maryam Collahi Medspa to see Einaz Farahmand, she would first do a quick intake of your health history and assess your skin. This process is used to find out if any underlying causes may be affecting or impacting your skin health. The initial treatment will be an hour and a half long and then the following subsequent treatment is about an hour long.
The initial assessment is followed by a customized treatment plan. Everyone is different and will have a completely different holistic plan put in place, which is implemented in follow-up subsequent visits.
The one thing to remember is that with facial or cosmetic acupuncture, a whole-body treatment approach is used. Meaning, there will be needles strategically placed on your body as well as your face to treat the issue holistically. For example, if someone is suffering from constipation, their body is not eliminating toxins effectively. These toxins can show up on the skin as dark spots or accelerated aging. In this case, we would treat constipation which can be associated with the presenting skin issues.
After Einaz is done inserting the needles, you’ll be left to relax for about 20 minutes where you’ll start to feel a deep sense of relaxation. Some patients have said that it almost feels like their body was a balloon being deflated of pressure and stress.
How Many Facial Acupuncture Sessions Do I Need To See Results? With facial acupuncture, its effects are compounded over time. It generally takes 6-10 treatment visits to see results. Most patients see results within the first six treatments. After the initial treatment, one maintenance treatment is recommended every 1-2 months to maintain that bright, glowing complexion!
The Consensus – Is It Worth It?
Facial or cosmetic acupuncture helps to stimulate collagen production by creating microtraumas. It also takes into account your entire health history and looks at treatment holistically. Given it’s relaxing and stress-releasing effect on the body (including the face), we would highly recommend incorporating this into your health plan, especially if you are looking for a more natural way to increase collagen production, tone your skin and decrease stress!
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