Zyderm Collagen - Scars

NATURE OF THE PROCEDURE

Collagen is one of the proteins in your body that gives support to the skin. When collagen ages, whether naturally or accelerated by sun damage or smoking, it "collapses" and thus forms a wrinkle. This is nothing to do with dry skin. Dry skin does not cause wrinkles.

Zyderm Collagen can be injected to rebuild support for these wrinkles, and the injected Collagen will begin to blend and merge with your own collagen. This product and procedure is FDA approved. There is even evidence that repeated Collagen injections will stimulate your own collagen to grow even more around the injected Collagen. Thus, you may enjoy a more prolonged correction.

The injected Collagen does slowly dissipate and simply gets absorbed. As the wrinkle slowly begins to reform with normal aging, you may then elect to have more injected, typically at intervals of four to six months.

Zyderm I was the original Collagen. It is the least "dense," with the most water used for dilution. This is often used in areas of thinner skin or that might be more delicate such as around the eyes.

Zyderm II is roughly double the density of Zyderm I. It will last longer, there is less chance of it being lumpy and it may give the overall smoothest result.

Zyplast has been cross linked and otherwise modified such that it will last longer. This is primarily used for the lips and the deeper furrows around the mouth.

FEES

Zyderm Test Dose - $120
1 cc of Zyderm II or Zyplast - $350
1.5 cc of Zyplast - $425
2.0 cc of Zyplast - $475
2.5 cc of Zyplast - $525
Any mixture* - $350 per cc (Zyplast, Zyderm II, etc.)

All fees are subject to change. The fee is always what is current at the time of your actual treatment. Old fee schedules, handouts, or web site fees do not apply. Any quoted fees must be in writing and are only good for six months. No "verbal" quotes are accepted.

SCHEDULING

Dr. Coverman must see all new patients prior to the first treatment session. That this time he will discuss your overall cosmetic concerns and develop a skin treatment program just for you. In addition to other dermal filling materials such as Restylane or Artecoll (Artefill), he may offer alternatives including the use of topical products, Botox, ablative and non-ablative lasers, microdermabrasion, and other techniques that might be appropriate for your care. There is a fee for this visit.

If it is medically indicated, a test dose may be applied at your first visit: see below.

Because there is a needlestick and the remote chance of bruising, do not schedule your Collagen treatment immediately before any big social event. If you have a big party on the weekend, try to schedule your actual Collagen treatment on a Monday or Tuesday. Otherwise, Collagen injections may be performed at any time, and you may immediately return to all normal activities.

If you have not had any Collagen in one year, you must be retested. Please check your calendar before making your appointment - if you come to our office after this one year period, we cannot treat you. If you do come on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday however, we can of course retest you if appropriate.

There is a $150 non-refundable fee for missed appointments without a 24 hour notice.

PRETREATMENT

If you have ever had herpes or think you may have (cold sores or fever blisters), inform Dr. Coverman or our staff prior to scheduling your appointment. We will give you a series of anti-herpes pills to take the day before the treatment, the day of, and the day after. This should help to suppress or prevent herpes from flaring, but there are no guarantees. A herpes flare could cause pain, pigment, infection, and scarring.

Dr. Coverman strongly recommends that a numbing cream be applied prior to the treatment. Although this won't block all discomfort, often it can improve this by at least 50%. You may purchase some of these over the counter (Ela-Max) but we recommend Betacaine LA. This is a patented product that is compounded by Medical Center Pharmacy in Tampa, Florida. We have tried almost all other similar products on the market, and this is by far the best. By law, this must be dispensed directly to the patient, and this will be shipped promptly directly to your home. For your convenience, we will fax the prescription for you. We will need your credit card information in order to do this but we immediately SHRED that information and do not save it anywhere.

Please apply this one hour prior to your intended procedure. It will work even better if you place saran wrap over the cream and then tape all of the edges airtight. Some patients don't want to come to the office with cream or plastic on their face, so if you bring the cream with you, we can apply it for you just prior to your treatment. Although it won't be on as long, a little bit is always better than nothing.

SAVE the numbing cream! It can be used again for this treatment, other treatments like it, or for waxing, hair removal, even insect stings and sunburns. You will always find a use for this cream. Never put it on a fresh burn, infected skin, inflamed skin, or ANY weeping, open, or oozing skin. Never apply to any undiagnosed rash. For any questions, always ask Dr. Coverman.

TREATMENT DAY

Collagen is injected personally by Dr. Coverman using a very narrow gauge skinny needle. He does not use nurses, assistants or PA's. He will ask you to point out the sites that you would like treated, and the procedure only takes minutes. Even with the numbing cream there will be a brief pinprick needlestick. The discomfort is over virtually immediately upon completion of the procedure.

Women may apply make-up and go back to normal activities. There is a chance of pinpoint bruising, and there is the possibility of some minimal swelling as the material is injected. Since some of this is water for dilution, the "swelling" often goes down immediately. You may resume all normal activities.

POST TREATMENT

No special instructions. Do not sunburn, eat excess beef or drink excess alcohol on the day of treatment. Do not exercise that day.

COMPLICATIONS

There is of course a needlestick, and because of that there can be pinpoint bruising. Usually, if any, this clears within a few days and can be covered by make-up. There is some immediate overcorrection which may be visible to others, but as some of the water for dilution is absorbed, this goes down quickly. The correction with Collagen is immediate and you may immediately resume all normal activities. Even with double negative test dosing, there could be an allergic reaction. This could present as lumpiness or red swelling. This is extremely rare. Dr. Coverman will discuss this and other potential complications with you at your office visit.

FOLLOW-UP

There is no special follow-up. You do not need to come back to be rechecked unless you perceive any complication. Please schedule your normal Collagen visits well in advance so that you can get the appointment time that you wish.

If you have not had any Collagen in one year, you must be retested. There is the normal test dose fee. Please check your calendar before making your appointment - if you come to our office after this one year period, we cannot treat you. If you do come on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday however, we can of course retest you if appropriate and indicated.

Top