Acupuncture for Wrinkles?
Women are looking to alternative therapies to battle wrinkles and aging, including - acupuncture.
Women are turning to a different kind of needle for youthful skin-acupuncture, reports Nora Isaacs in The New York Times. More affordable than Botox or Restylane, and reputedly longer-lasting and less invasive, acupuncture is quickly becoming the anti-aging treatment of choice for many.
With sessions ranging in price and length of time, cosmetic acupuncture aims to holistically approach aging. Rather than merely focusing on just a visible wrinkle, this advanced form of acupuncture instead holds that all systems of the body affect one another. Thus, an imbalance of the liver or spleen, for example, can show on the face. By lowering stress and freeing other areas of the body from tension, the skin will naturally appear more youthful, glowing and smooth.
According to Isaacs, facial acupuncture was a major hit at the 2005 Academy Awards, where dozens of celebrities and A-listers lined up for the opportunity to “transform their skin from the inside out” and now that popularity is trickling down to non-celebrities and regular, every-day consumers.
Cosmetic acupuncture, or the acupuncture face-lift as it is sometimes called, aims to address wrinkles in the skin caused by muscle tension and follows many of the same tenets of traditional acupuncture such as, inserting thin needles into energy points on the body to stimulate “the body’s natural energies, or qi”. However, the efficacy of acupuncture has yet to be proven.
“For centuries, the ancient Chinese have promoted health and beauty, but we’ve taken it to another level” holds Mary Elizabeth Wakefield, a licensed acupuncturist who trains hundreds of teachers in over 40 states. Martha Lucas, also a licensed acupuncturist, agrees “There’s a rise in interest all over the country”.
Some traditional medical doctors agree that this alternative form of a face-lift may work. According to Dr. Richard G. Glogau, clinical professor of dermatology at the University of California, San Francisco, “It’s obvious that people carry around a lot of muscle tension in their face, which gives them frowns and wrinkles.” However, one area where traditional medicine and acupuncture differ is the claim that an acupuncture face-lift will increase collagen. Even though the body will produce collagen in response to damage, “…acupuncture really just involves a handful of punctures. It’s unlikely that you will get significant collagen production from that” reports Dr. Glogau.
Some forms of cosmetic acupuncture now incorporate microcurrents. First used to stimulate the muscles of patients with debilitating muscle disorders such as Bell’s palsy, some practitioners are exploring how microcurrents will affect wrinkles. Dr. Peter Hanson, licensed acupuncturist believes the use of the microcurrent is key “The current tones and increases the volume of underlying muscles, which ‘makes the skin young again”‘. Opinion on the use of the microcurrent is divided; Dr. D’Amico, assistant clinical professor of plastic surgery at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine says, “Increasing tone does not increase muscle volume…anything that stimulates muscles will cause skin to fold even more and the wrinkles will get worse”.
Still, consumers are flocking to cosmetic acupuncture for the multitude of healthy side-benefits and feel it is a conduit to alternative medicine. Jane Becker, who receives regular acupuncture facials notes “If I have any stress on my kidneys, liver and spleen, it shows up on my face. Keeping my systems healthy is a win-win all around”.