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CNN Live Today

Ironing Out the Wrinkles

Aired February 28, 2003 - 11:33   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: An FDA advisory panel is reviewing a new injectable treatment for removing wrinkles. Artecoll is a combination of collagen and synthetic material. It's already available in other countries, and if it's approved for use in the U.S., it could be an alternative to Botox and collagen injections. We continue our "Paging Dr. Gupta" segment today on wrinkle removal.
Sanjay's back.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good to be back.

And I'll tell you, this article is really pretty exciting stuff. And we're going to just tell you that, we're going to show you. We got some pictures, before and after. You've see these sorts of pictures before. But take a look at what Artecoll can do. Those are called horizontal wrinkle lines right across the forehead, before and after. And I think we have a couple other pictures, other places where this can be used.

Look at those -- those are called nasal wavial (ph) folds right along the sides of the mouth there. Gone. Basically gone.

KAGAN: Suddenly you have our interest.

GUPTA: That's why people are excited. I think we may have one more. That's called the grabella (ph), or an angry sort of line. People are angry. Look, gone again there, Artecoll. A lot of people very excited about this.

We are joined by Dr. Alan Matarasso, who is in Manhattan. He is a plastic surgeon up there. He's also a spokesperson for the American Society for Aesthetic plastic surgery. We -- a lot of interest in this, as you know, Dr. Matarasso.

Thanks for joining us again.

Really quick, before we get to lots of the e-mails that we have, there is surgery and there are nonsurgical procedures to try and take care of wrinkles. Can you comment on what the difference is between the two?

DR. ALAN MATARASSO, AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR AESTHETIC PLASTIC SURGERY: There's an overlap between what surgery does. We're doing less invasive procedures with shorter scars that heal more rapidly, and nonsurgical procedures such as Botox, which paralyzes the muscle, creates a wrinkle, or fillers, which we're going to talk about, which fill in lines, or laser resurfacing, which sands down fine lines. So they compliment each other. And we suggest what people call an integrated lift, where you combine nonsurgical and surgical procedures.

KAGAN: OK, want to go back to our e-mail questions that we have left over from yesterday, doctor. The first one comes from Judy in Ohio. She has a good question -- "How do you find a doctor in your area that does fillers? And how much does it cost?"

And I'm going to throw in there, how do you find someone who does it well?

MATARASSO: Well, there is an organization called the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery that maintains a Web site at www.surgery.org, and these are highly qualified aesthetic plastic surgeons, and they'll refer three people in your area to you that do these procedures.

In terms of cost, fillers, which are one of the three categories of nonsurgical procedures, run anywhere for about $500 to $1,500 per injection site.

GUPTA: All right. And continuing now with our e-mail questions. One of the products we talked about rest was Restalyne. Someone asked, when will that be available in the United States.

Doctor, maybe you can just remind people what it is and talk about when it might be available.

MATARASSO: Restalyne is a highly eronic (ph) acid product, which is an intracellular component. It's something that extracted from cells, which made either synthetically or from rooster cones (ph), and it's a very popular filler outside of the United States. It's currently undergoing an investigation. It's processed by the FDA, and it's anticipated that it should be approved hopefully this sometime this year.

KAGAN: We're going to go to the phones now. And this question -- Margot (ph) from Texas, are you with us?

CALLER: Yes, hi.

KAGAN: What's your question for the doctor?

CALLER: What is the difference between Restalyne and the new Artecoll?

MATARASSO: Restalyne is a naturally occurring material. Artecoll is actually Plexiglas beads chopped up into small fine beads and mixed with collagen. So Artecoll is a permanent injection; when it's put in, it's their for good. Restalyne lasts about six months or so. It's a long-acting temporary filler.

GUPTA: OK, lots of e-mail questions.

Let's go straight to our next one. This one actually talking about specific wrinkles. "What's the best filler for deep lines and lines below the mouth and chin area?" Is one better than the others?

MATARASSO: Well, this is something you should discuss with your doctor, because there's a whole universe of fillers out there. It's a consultation you need to have.

But in general, the fine lines or the vertical lines where lipstick will bleed around a person's lip or a woman's lip are best treated with resurfacing procedure like laser, and the deeper lines either with filler materials, and as we mentioned, there are many of them out there, or even we use sometimes a little bit of Botox in that area.

KAGAN: Doctor, that happens to Sanjay all the time, the lipstick bleeding out. It's gets really, really ugly.

GUPTA: Told you not to talk about that.

KAGAN: We might have to consult you later when we get off the air.

Meanwhile, let's move on to Eva's question from Virginia.

"Once these cosmetic filler producers like Restalyne, Artecoll, they're FDA approved, how does when assess which is the appropriate treatment for you?"

MATARASSO: Again, this is where want to consult your aesthetic plastic surgeon; go through the options, because you're going to choose what you want based upon what you are trying to achieve. Do you want a permanent product? Would you benefit by a surgical intervention? So that there's no one product that fits every problem or every patient.

GUPTA: All right, doctor, we go to the phones now. Marilyn from New York has a question for you now.

Go ahead, Marilyn.

CALLER: Yes, I'm wondering, is this the same procedure as the RF face lift? RF? It's a photo-facial. Is this the same thing?

MATARASSO: The photo-facials are, that category are what we call non- ablative lasers, and they are designed to thicken the skin without creating the redness that the lasers do. Keep in mind that the nonsurgical procedures fall into three categories, lasers, which sand down the skin, all of these different fillers like Artecoll that we're talking about, that fill in the lines, and Botox, which freezes the muscle that creates the line.

And a new generation of nonablative lasers are what's coming up. But none of these are a substitute for surgery. They may complement, they may help, or they may do something different than surgery does.

KAGAN: And that leads us into our final question that we're going to take from Tom from Pennsylvania. He has a good question here, "If you can't afford the whole thing at once, it is better to get a face lift first and treat the remaining wrinkles, or vice versa?"

MATARASSO: Well, there's certainly an overlap. And when you do a face lift, and as I mentioned, we have shorter scars now, faster recovery, and better anesthesia. When you do that, there is an overlap where a lot of the lines and wrinkles, particularly in the cheek area, will be improved. So it defends upon what bothers you. If it's a line, for example, in between your eyebrows, then you're probably better off there with a nonsurgical procedure first.

KAGAN: Lots of good answer. Lot of questions our there. Dr. Alan Matarasso in New York, thank you very much. Dr. Gupta.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired February 28, 2003 - 11:33   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: An FDA advisory panel is reviewing a new injectable treatment for removing wrinkles. Artecoll is a combination of collagen and synthetic material. It's already available in other countries, and if it's approved for use in the U.S., it could be an alternative to Botox and collagen injections. We continue our "Paging Dr. Gupta" segment today on wrinkle removal.
Sanjay's back.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good to be back.

And I'll tell you, this article is really pretty exciting stuff. And we're going to just tell you that, we're going to show you. We got some pictures, before and after. You've see these sorts of pictures before. But take a look at what Artecoll can do. Those are called horizontal wrinkle lines right across the forehead, before and after. And I think we have a couple other pictures, other places where this can be used.

Look at those -- those are called nasal wavial (ph) folds right along the sides of the mouth there. Gone. Basically gone.

KAGAN: Suddenly you have our interest.

GUPTA: That's why people are excited. I think we may have one more. That's called the grabella (ph), or an angry sort of line. People are angry. Look, gone again there, Artecoll. A lot of people very excited about this.

We are joined by Dr. Alan Matarasso, who is in Manhattan. He is a plastic surgeon up there. He's also a spokesperson for the American Society for Aesthetic plastic surgery. We -- a lot of interest in this, as you know, Dr. Matarasso.

Thanks for joining us again.

Really quick, before we get to lots of the e-mails that we have, there is surgery and there are nonsurgical procedures to try and take care of wrinkles. Can you comment on what the difference is between the two?

DR. ALAN MATARASSO, AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR AESTHETIC PLASTIC SURGERY: There's an overlap between what surgery does. We're doing less invasive procedures with shorter scars that heal more rapidly, and nonsurgical procedures such as Botox, which paralyzes the muscle, creates a wrinkle, or fillers, which we're going to talk about, which fill in lines, or laser resurfacing, which sands down fine lines. So they compliment each other. And we suggest what people call an integrated lift, where you combine nonsurgical and surgical procedures.

KAGAN: OK, want to go back to our e-mail questions that we have left over from yesterday, doctor. The first one comes from Judy in Ohio. She has a good question -- "How do you find a doctor in your area that does fillers? And how much does it cost?"

And I'm going to throw in there, how do you find someone who does it well?

MATARASSO: Well, there is an organization called the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery that maintains a Web site at www.surgery.org, and these are highly qualified aesthetic plastic surgeons, and they'll refer three people in your area to you that do these procedures.

In terms of cost, fillers, which are one of the three categories of nonsurgical procedures, run anywhere for about $500 to $1,500 per injection site.

GUPTA: All right. And continuing now with our e-mail questions. One of the products we talked about rest was Restalyne. Someone asked, when will that be available in the United States.

Doctor, maybe you can just remind people what it is and talk about when it might be available.

MATARASSO: Restalyne is a highly eronic (ph) acid product, which is an intracellular component. It's something that extracted from cells, which made either synthetically or from rooster cones (ph), and it's a very popular filler outside of the United States. It's currently undergoing an investigation. It's processed by the FDA, and it's anticipated that it should be approved hopefully this sometime this year.

KAGAN: We're going to go to the phones now. And this question -- Margot (ph) from Texas, are you with us?

CALLER: Yes, hi.

KAGAN: What's your question for the doctor?

CALLER: What is the difference between Restalyne and the new Artecoll?

MATARASSO: Restalyne is a naturally occurring material. Artecoll is actually Plexiglas beads chopped up into small fine beads and mixed with collagen. So Artecoll is a permanent injection; when it's put in, it's their for good. Restalyne lasts about six months or so. It's a long-acting temporary filler.

GUPTA: OK, lots of e-mail questions.

Let's go straight to our next one. This one actually talking about specific wrinkles. "What's the best filler for deep lines and lines below the mouth and chin area?" Is one better than the others?

MATARASSO: Well, this is something you should discuss with your doctor, because there's a whole universe of fillers out there. It's a consultation you need to have.

But in general, the fine lines or the vertical lines where lipstick will bleed around a person's lip or a woman's lip are best treated with resurfacing procedure like laser, and the deeper lines either with filler materials, and as we mentioned, there are many of them out there, or even we use sometimes a little bit of Botox in that area.

KAGAN: Doctor, that happens to Sanjay all the time, the lipstick bleeding out. It's gets really, really ugly.

GUPTA: Told you not to talk about that.

KAGAN: We might have to consult you later when we get off the air.

Meanwhile, let's move on to Eva's question from Virginia.

"Once these cosmetic filler producers like Restalyne, Artecoll, they're FDA approved, how does when assess which is the appropriate treatment for you?"

MATARASSO: Again, this is where want to consult your aesthetic plastic surgeon; go through the options, because you're going to choose what you want based upon what you are trying to achieve. Do you want a permanent product? Would you benefit by a surgical intervention? So that there's no one product that fits every problem or every patient.

GUPTA: All right, doctor, we go to the phones now. Marilyn from New York has a question for you now.

Go ahead, Marilyn.

CALLER: Yes, I'm wondering, is this the same procedure as the RF face lift? RF? It's a photo-facial. Is this the same thing?

MATARASSO: The photo-facials are, that category are what we call non- ablative lasers, and they are designed to thicken the skin without creating the redness that the lasers do. Keep in mind that the nonsurgical procedures fall into three categories, lasers, which sand down the skin, all of these different fillers like Artecoll that we're talking about, that fill in the lines, and Botox, which freezes the muscle that creates the line.

And a new generation of nonablative lasers are what's coming up. But none of these are a substitute for surgery. They may complement, they may help, or they may do something different than surgery does.

KAGAN: And that leads us into our final question that we're going to take from Tom from Pennsylvania. He has a good question here, "If you can't afford the whole thing at once, it is better to get a face lift first and treat the remaining wrinkles, or vice versa?"

MATARASSO: Well, there's certainly an overlap. And when you do a face lift, and as I mentioned, we have shorter scars now, faster recovery, and better anesthesia. When you do that, there is an overlap where a lot of the lines and wrinkles, particularly in the cheek area, will be improved. So it defends upon what bothers you. If it's a line, for example, in between your eyebrows, then you're probably better off there with a nonsurgical procedure first.

KAGAN: Lots of good answer. Lot of questions our there. Dr. Alan Matarasso in New York, thank you very much. Dr. Gupta.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com