A Plastic Surgeon Says These 5 Noninvasive Treatments Are Actually Worth The $$$

Holistic plastic surgeon Anthony Youn, M.D., has an overarching goal to keep patients out of the operating room—so, of course, he loves noninvasive treatments for skin longevity. But the wide world of high-tech aesthetics can be overwhelming, to say the absolute least (facials, peels, and lasers, oh my!). Where should you start? Not to mention, these treatments aren't cheap. How can you get the biggest bang for your buck? 

We'll begin with the most at-home-friendly. Red light therapy involves exposing the skin to red and near-infrared light between the wavelengths of 660 nm and 890 nm. It works via a process called photobiomodulation, which has been shown to impact cell mitochondria1 and improve the health of the skin2. 

"Red light basically contributes energy to the mitochondria in your cells," explains Youn. "It causes those mitochondria to create more ATP, or more energy, to [help] those cells function in a more efficient and youthful manner." 

In fact, he references a "split face" study3 where researchers treated one side of the face with red light and the other with a placebo light. After treating the face twice a week for four weeks, they found a significant improvement in wrinkles, elasticity, and hydration. "They found that the collagen was thicker in the side that was treated with a red light therapy device," Youn adds. And that was after just a month of commitment! 

"The best thing about it is you can do it in the comfort of your own home," he adds. "That would be the place I would start."

If you do have the resources for an in-office treatment, Youn says to consider microneedling. 

Now, you could use a microneedling tool (i.e., a dermaroller) at home, but the professional treatment generally penetrates deeper (and provides more dramatic results) because it involves longer, sharper, more precise needles. 

"We take an automated device that has tiny needles on it, and we can set exactly the depth of the needle penetration that we want," Youn notes. Still, please proceed with extreme caution if you do choose to use a dermaroller home—and check out our guide. 

The goal of microneedling is to stimulate collagen production in the skin. Think of your collagen as the logs of a log cabin, Youn notes, and they start to fall apart with age. 

With microneedling, "we go over the skin, making hundreds, if not thousands, of tiny, little needle pokes into the skin," Youn explains. "Those needle pokes create acute trauma, [which] will then damage the collagen of your skin. As that collagen heals, it heals in a tighter fashion—like putting those logs of that log cabin back together nice and tightly." 

If you want to kick microneedling up a notch, you could opt for platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections post-treatment. 

Essentially, a professional will draw a vial of your own blood, put it in a machine called a centrifuge, and spin it to separate the platelets from the rest of the blood cells (white and red). These platelets are considered "liquid gold" in the cosmetic dermatology field, as they contain growth factors, which are in charge of recovery whenever the body is in need of repair (i.e., premature aging from oxidative stress or environmental aggressors, like pollution). 

As I mentioned up top, microneedling creates these tiny holes in your skin, and these can act as channels for that plasma. "So if you apply growth factors to the surface of the skin, it can seep into those channels and basically reverse aging from the inside out." 

To level up even further, Youn recommends Morpheus8 for noninvasive skin tightening. 

Like microneedling, the device contains tiny insulated needles, "but the tip emits radio-frequency energy," Youn explains. "As the needle goes into your skin, it emits that radio-frequency energy that heats up the collagen to a certain temperature that damages the collagen, so you get that acute inflammation." And as that collagen heals, it results in a firmer, tighter appearance. 

You can do Morpheus8 to your whole face and parts of the body (Youn does it on his neck), with three treatments spaced out a month or two apart.

Finally, Youn considers IPL, or intense pulse light, a great bang for your buck. "IPL is not the same as a laser," he notes—lasers use a single wavelength of light, whereas IPL uses a broader spectrum of light with multiple wavelengths. Plus, he adds, lasers tend to cost a great deal more than IPL. 

Still, "IPL is a great way to use light energy to target dark spots on the skin," Youn shares. "So if you've got age spots or sun spots, it can get rid of those very efficiently." It can even help fade scars and smooth fine lines—read more about the benefits and who it's best for here.

It's not as painful as other lasers either; many say it feels like a rubber band snapping on your skin. Not comfortable but not severely painful.