The numerous inquiries about this article actually confirm my theory that anything concerning the fountain of youth is big business. Everyone is a sucker for anything that will make them look younger and more beautiful with virtually no pain or side effects.
I have good news for all my readers who are interested in having Titan. It is now available in Manila. One of my friends who read my article was kind enough to share with me some vital information about this wonderful treatment that turned back the clock for her at least 10 years without having to undergo surgery. I was in awe when I saw how youthful she looked after not having seen her for many years. She connected me to Dr. Sylvia Jacinto, the dermatologist who did the treatments on her three times. Dr. Jacinto was just too happy to share with me more information about Titan.
Titan is an infrared machine approved by the USFDA for collagen remodeling. It arrived in the Philippines last April 2005 and is owned by the Skin and Cancer Foundation Inc. (SCF) headed by Dr. Jacinto. The SCF is an approved dermatology residency training program of the Philippine Dermatological Society Inc.
A survey of hundreds of patients here and abroad who have had Titan claims that 99 percent of the patients are happy with the results. Many patients report tighter, lifted skin after only one session. With some patients who have looser skin, results are satisfying but gradual. Some patients require as much as five treatments, two to four weeks apart, while some need fewer treatments. It is a case-to-case basis, depending on how much work has to be done on the face.
The natural aging process, along with sun damage, causes collagen fibers to stretch and loosen like worn rubber bands, resulting in less elastic skin that eventually droops. Titan tackles this problem by delivering infrared light deep into the dermis, the inner layer of skin where collagen resides. Under the microscope, collagen remodeling stimulated by the infrared heat continues up to three years. This is seen clinically as tighter skin.
Candidates for Titan are men and women who want to tighten the sagging skin of the face, including lower-lid eyebags, the brow area, nasolabial folds, marionette lines (lines running down the corners of the lower lips) upper arms, elbows, knees, abdomen, inner and upper thighs and other areas with loose skin.
Two areas where doctors are seeing especially good results are the knees and elbows, regions that until now were virtually untreatable for drooping skin. Where it is ineffective is on skin that is uneven due to excess fat, such as the butt. The butt is usually bulging fat, and Titan cannot treat this. Some dermatologists are using the treatment in combination with other cosmetic procedures to enhance their results, such as to tighten the skin after a liposuction procedure. Most doctors agree that Titan is not meant to replace a much-needed face lift or tummy tuck. Very loose skin on the tummy (like after three pregnancies) would need a tummy tuck, not Titan. The best scenario is to use it on areas that still have some elasticity but are starting to slacken.
Dr. Jacinto is one of those who will discourage a patient from undergoing Thermage, Titan’s predecessor, which also tightens the skin. She describes Thermage as a skin-tightening system using radiofrequency energy, which is much more intense and harder to control than Titan, which uses light energy. Radiofrequency energy can also go too deep, destroying fat under the skin and resulting in dimpling, unevenness, scarring and skin depressions. The American Society for Dermalogic Surgery has reported these complications from Thermage. It is also a painful procedure necessitating preoperative potent analgesics or even sedatives and anesthesia. Titan uses only infrared heat and penetrates only up to the second layer of the skin (dermis) and avoids these complications. Thermage also costs much more than Titan.
Dr. Jacinto says that age is not a determining factor in Titan’s success. It is more about the condition of the skin and tackling the problem when the first signs of sagging start to occur, which differs from patient to patient. She has had patients in their 20s who needed the treatment. It is not about your chronological age, but more about your biological age.
For interested parties, call 637-7871. Dr. Jacinto or any of her colleagues will answer your questions about Titan, the latest discovery in the scientific search for the fountain of youth. For many of us mortals, beauty is its own excuse for being.