Permanent Wrinkle Eraser|ABC News 4

text size: A | A | A

Permanent Wrinkle Eraser

posted 9:55 am Mon September 24, 2007 - Mt. Pleasant

In our never ending quest for the fountain of youth, there is a new product that gets rid of wrinkles around the mouth, permanently.

Please Upgrade To Flash!

Beverly Tankersley is growing old gracefully and she looks fabulous but admits there's one area of her face that she doesn't particularly like.

"I just wanted more on this smile crinkle. It's kinda crooked. Ones a little more predominate than the other," Tankersley said.

So she's visiting Mt. Pleasant plastic surgeon Dr. Thomas Funcik who will fill in those lines
with a new injectable filler called ArteFill. Funcik says Artefill is similar to Juvederm and Restylane: the more popular fillers in use, but contains something extra.

"20 percent of this volumn is little tiny microspheres, consistently sized round beads of polymethalmathacurlade, the same glue that's used to hold in artifical hip and artifical knees," Funcik said.

Funcik says those beads will remain in Tankersley's body, which will form new permanant collagen that will replace the lost collagen around her mouth.

Funcik makes several injections along both sides of Tankersley's face. ArteFill injections are considerably more expensive than Juvederm and Restylane but that's because the results are permanant.

"Restylane and Juvederm nationwide cost about $600 for one to two cc's or six to twelve hundred of restalyn and juvederm for full correction. The initial injection of Artefill is $3000 dollars," said Dr. Funcik.

Funcik places gauze on her face to prevent bleeding under the skin which could cause bruising.

When the gauze is removed, Tankersley has smooth laugh lines. Dr. Funcik says these lines will get even better over time.

"As your body animates and it becomes a part of you it continues to remodel and it just gets better and better and smoother," Funcik said.

Tankerlsley should see the full results in about a year, but she already likes what she sees.

"I'm impressed, it's easy," Tankersly expressed.

ArteFill just received FDA approval, and Dr. Funcik is one of the only doctors in this area certified in the procedure.

You need to be a registered member of
ABC News 4 to leave comments on news stories.

Not a member yet? Click Here to sign up.

Please leave your comments below:

Messages that harass, abuse or threaten other members; have obscene or otherwise objectionable content; have spam, commercial or advertising content or inappropriate links may be removed and may result in the loss of your posting privileges. Please do not post any private information unless you want it to be available publicly. Never assume that you are completely anonymous and cannot be identified by your posts.

The 'RUNNING MAN' icon is a registered trademark of America Online, Inc.