Sun damage can lead to premature aging. We all know it. But while we may diligently wear facial sunscreen, wide-brimmed hats, and even UPF-treated clothing, our hands often bear the full weight of everyday UV damage and aging.
“We spend money trying to rejuvenate our face and make the wrinkles go away,” says Michael T. Somenek, a board-certified plastic surgeon who works with Galderma, which makes the filler Restylane Lyft. “When the hands don’t match the face, it creates a disconnect.” Hands can lose volume over time, allowing more prominent veins and tendons to become visible, contributing to an aged look. What’s a regular person to do when their age is written from wrist to fingertip?
For Jill Lewis, a public relations founder in her 50s, the disconnect between her hands and the rest of her appearance led her to seek out a unique solution: injectable filler to plump up the hollows of her hands.
I have always felt like my hands are aging faster than the rest of me. It’s not sexy to get your hands filled, but the before-and-after comparison is so drastic. It’s just such a crazy transformation.
I’m 58 years old. I use sunscreen, follow a healthy diet, I exercise. I do everything you should do. Still, whenever I drove, all I could look at was my hands. I’d grab the steering wheel and look at them, like, “What happened?” It would just bug me. It felt like seeing my great-granny’s hands on my body. I even stopped wearing rings because I didn’t want to draw any attention to them.
I never used tanning booths or anything, but my hands seemed to age faster from everyday activities. I’m outdoors a lot. I’m always walking the dog. I like to hike. But I also think some of the sun damage I’ve accrued comes from childhood. When I was growing up, we didn’t wear sunscreen the way we do now.
One day, I complained to my manicurist about this. They told me I could fix it with filler. I worried it would be painful, but I was told they would freeze your hand with topical numbing cream and that the results afterward would be instantaneous. I get Botox [injections] and other treatments regularly, so I called up my usual spot and made an appointment.
Filling In
I’ve done platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy, microneedling, and Morpheus8 before, so I have a good amount of experience with the numbing process. A staff member applied a topical numbing solution to my hands. Then, I sat in the waiting room for an hour while it took effect. The actual filler injections took less than two minutes and were really quick. They have to make sure they’re putting it in the right place, but similarly to Botox, it doesn’t take long.
When you get Botox, you are typically asked to scrunch your face. In the same (metaphorical) vein, the practitioner needed me to manipulate my hands in different positions to ensure the right spots were being injected with filler. (For instance, I was asked to make a fist with my hands, as though I was picking up a pen.) As for placement, the injections were administered to the backs of my hands—as in, the sides opposite to my palms—because I did not have any aging I wanted to correct along my fingers.
Afterwards, it took about 30 to 60 minutes for the numbing sensation to go away. Regarding the cost, my injector used one syringe of Radiesse, and the appointment cost me around $1,200.
Within seconds, my hands plumped up, and I couldn’t see any of the little hand bones sticking out anymore. There was absolutely no change to my dexterity or anything afterwards, either. It felt, to quote Cher, as if “I could turn back time.“
The only downside: My hands slightly resembled the paws of a bear cub for a bit. They were very puffy. At first, I wondered whether it would be permanent. “What happens if they don’t go down?” I thought. “Will I have ‘cub hands’ forever?”
They didn’t hurt or anything, and I had full mobility, but I was worried about the appearance. After about a week or two, the filler calmed down and settled into place, and I no longer felt like I had stump hands.
A Word of Advice
My advice to anyone considering it would be to make sure you find a good doctor. Don’t try to find a deal.
Ask your friends where they’ve gone, or ask your doctor, and just be careful with whoever is holding that needle, because God forbid it’s tainted or something goes wrong.
It’s essential to vet the healthcare provider who will administer it. I would urge you always to do research and read reviews about the practitioner you’re seeing. I would also recommend not doing it in another country. If there’s a problem, you don’t want to be overseas when it happens. (You also don’t want to pay for an expensive plane ticket to return for subsequent correction.)
At the end of the day, a substance is going into your body, and you don’t want the process to be handled by anyone untrained or inexperienced.
After the Plump
I was never going to do more invasive procedures, like a surgical hand lift. This decision made sense for me, and I can’t see any downside to getting hand fillers. Now, when I look down, I think, “No more granny hands.”
While I didn’t broadcast it to the world, I’m very open with my friends about the procedure, some of whom told me that I didn’t “need to do that.” But I’m happier looking at my hands when I drive now. (I’ve also decided to invest in a pair of gloves.) I couldn’t believe how aged they looked before. As for upkeep, my results actually seem to last quite a while. I just come back for treatment every year or so.
Everyone’s so concerned about the area from the neck to the head, but what about the rest of your body? Wearing clothes protects our body from the sun, but our hands are so exposed. My only regret: I wish I’d known about it sooner. If I started getting hand fillers in my thirties, would they have aged as much as they ultimately did?
The post This Treatment Made My Hands Look 20 Years Younger in One Appointment appeared first on The Daily Beast.
