Choose from Four Options
- $245 for one ReFirme laser skin-tightening treatment on the full face ($490 value)
- $245 for one ReFirmd laser skin-tightening treatment on the lower face and neck ($500 value)
- $469 for two ReFirme laser skin-tightening treatments on the full face ($980 value)
- $649 for three ReFirme laser skin-tightening treatments on the full face ($1,390 value)
Elastin: Putting a Spring in Your Smile
Some of the effects that anti-aging laser skin-tightening treatments seek to correct are caused by the breakdown of elastin. Learn just what it does for your skin with Groupon’s close-up look.
Without elastin, our lungs would have a hard time expanding and our skin would crinkle like a paper bag the first time a doting aunt pinched our cheek. Elastin is a type of protein packed into all our stretchy tissues in coiled chains—each fiber unfurling to accommodate the movement of connective tissues, then quickly snapping back into place.
A weaker protein might easily break down under the stress of all this movement, so it’s no surprise that elastin is tough stuff. But because it’s so durable, our bodies stop producing elastin around age 12 or 13. At that point, elastin becomes vulnerable to degradation through sun exposure, poor diet, and other environmental factors, since it can’t be readily replenished.
There is no shortage of products on the market designed to reverse elastin damage; some even contain elastin itself. However, elastin molecules are large, and therefore unlikely to penetrate the skin and directly make tissues springier. But such products still may produce a plumper, smoother look by helping the surface of the skin retain moisture. You might also try a little internal medicine: in the San Francisco Chronicle, nutrition educator Paula Martina noted that eating foods rich in copper, such as dried figs or raisins, could help protect elastin reserves.
Forever Young Medical Day Spa
Dr. Adam Weissman couldn't quite hang up his stethoscope on the coatrack of retirement. He may no longer be working in emergency rooms, but he hasn't slowed down in his semi-retirement—in addition to serving as a flight surgeon, he's also leading a staff of nurses, aestheticians, and massage therapists as the medical director of Forever Young Medical Day Spa. Practicing full-time emergency medicine for over a decade and a half in community hospitals and trauma centers, in addition to experience in pain management and orthopedics, he regularly treats chronic back pain, pinched nerves, and spinal disk diseases. Dr. Weissman is also certified in medical aesthetics and anti-aging, with almost a decade of experience in those fields.