GUEST POST BY YASMIN SANTANA
The vampire facial rejuvenation treatment may just scare the blood out of you. To some, the thought of a vampire facial is enough to conjure up images of pain. With mixed feelings about this procedure, I decided to end my fear and to find out because I wanted to explore why women will go to such lengths to find the fountain of youth.
To do this procedure, I selected one of the best in the business: Dr. Joseph Bivens, a renowned cosmetic and reconstructive surgeon. He has made several appearances on the hit TV show The Real Housewives of Orange County.
Dr. Joseph Bivens was born in Florida and attended the University of Florida Medical School. He completed his general surgery training at New York Medical College.
After his general surgery training, he relocated to San Diego to complete his plastic surgery training at UCSD. In 1996, he became a faculty member of Morehouse School of Medicine for the Department of Surgery. What sets Dr. Bivens apart from the others is his emphasis on educating his clients on the mind, body, and spirit. He believes it plays an important role in the overall beauty and lifestyle of the person. He says, “There is an underlying driving force these days to stay and appear youthful. What I try and get people to see is not just the cosmetic surgery that is such a small component of being youthful. I think when people are active it makes them feel and appear more youthful.”
The vampire facial is a procedure that uses your own blood because it is a natural rejuvenating cell: (PRP) Platelet Rich Plasma and the Platelets have growth factors. We also know that if you put little microchannels, tiny little holes, into the skin, the mitochondria in your cells ultimately produces the signals that tells the cell what to do. Marina Kufa, a certified Derma Pen clinician, educated me on the process of the vampire facial. The Derma Pen is packed with 11 micro-needles and is the only FDA-approved device in the United States.
Marina first applied a numbing gel to my face; this is an optional step.
With the gel in place, Dr. Bivens drew my blood. The blood is then put into a machine called the Biomet Biologics. This separates the platelets in the blood by spinning the blood-producing PRP.
I relaxed as Marina poured a few platelets of blood onto my skin and the Derma Pen went into action. I felt no real discomfort at first. When she got to the damaged areas of my skin, she raised the speed to 2.5 and I could definitely feel more pressure. The depth of 2.5 actually targets those old collagen fibers and breaks them down. Once they break down, your body creates an autoimmune response and starts to produce fibroblasts that creates new collagen. I will admit that there is some discomfort; keep in mind there are needles creating damage in your skin while the blood and platelets get re-injected into your skin.
The entire procedure lasts approximately one hour. There is little to no aftercare after the procedure, except that you are not allowed to touch or wash your face for 24 hours. I experienced redness and peeling for the first few days. After a week, my acne scars started to smooth out and my skin started to glow. It’s hard to say if the vampire facial works as it may take a few weeks or months to see the results. The results vary depending on the person. But will I get this procedure again? Yes! I survived the vampire facial!
