Have you ever seen someone go on a lunch break and come back with a new nose? It sounds wild, but in today’s world of cosmetic treatments, doing exactly that is not only possible but even easily accessible. As medical technology has progressed over the decades, options to treat or augment the face and body with quick turnarounds and minimal downtime have increased. From more intensive procedures like a mastopexy in Melbourne to anti-wrinkle injections at local skin centres, clinics across the world are now offering a growing list of non-surgical cosmetic procedures — also known as “tweakments”.
What are tweakments?
Tweakments — a pun on the idea of “tweaking” the face, and undergoing a “treatment” — are cosmetic procedures that are non-surgical and minimally invasive, meaning they can be done without general anaesthesia and without extensive recovery processes. The three most popular tweakments in the world are botox injections, dermal filler and laser hair removal.
Botox or anti-wrinkle injections
Anti-wrinkle injections, also commonly referred to as Botox injections, are tweakments that involve injecting very small quantities of the Botulinum toxin, which temporarily paralyses muscles, smoothing out wrinkles in the skin. Many people request Botox for the glabellar lines (wrinkles between the eyebrows), crow’s feet (wrinkles around the eyes) as well as lines on the forehead and around the mouth.
The effects typically last three to twelve months, and injections can be done in less than 20 minutes, with most people noticing the desired effects within three to four days of treatment. Because the effects of Botox fade over time, many doctors recommend that Botox becomes a recurring treatment done every three to six months, for those who want ongoing results.
Dermal filler
As we age, our skin naturally loses its collagen, leading to a loss of volume and sagging skin. Many people therefore use dermal fillers to reduce wrinkles and restore lost volume to the face. However, it’s also popular to use fillers to augment features, such as smoothing out bumps in the nose or plumping naturally thin lips. The treatment usually takes less than half an hour, with results being seen immediately and lasting for months to years depending on the location and type of filler used. As with all tweakments, it’s important to consult with a qualified doctor and make sure that your practitioner is experienced and knows how to choose the treatment that best suits your facial aesthetics.
Laser hair removal
In laser hair removal, a concentrated laser is shot at the skin, which is then absorbed by melanin in the hair. This is quickly converted to heat, which damages the hair follicle and discourages or delays further growth. While some people choose to only have a few treatments to reduce the overall thickness or coarseness of hair growth, others choose to have regular laser hair removal treatments for a more complete process, and usually after 12 to 15 treatments, the hair is mostly gone.
Since the process requires a high contrast between the skin and the hair pigment, laser hair removal will work most effectively on people with pale skin and dark hair. The process is mildly painful, and many people describe the pain of laser hair removal as being like an elastic repeatedly flicking on the skin.
The benefits of tweakments?
Some people consider tweakments to be the “lite” version of more invasive surgical procedures that would otherwise be more expensive and require extensive downtime. Sometimes, this can be true, like in the case of Botox or filler to reduce the signs of ageing. The surgical counterpart to this would be something like a full surgical facelift, which typically costs thousands of dollars, requires general anaesthesia, and has a potential downtime of up to 6 weeks. In this case, tweakments offer more affordable, less intimidating, and lower commitment alternatives, albeit with more subtle and less drastic results.
However, many tweakments are cosmetic procedures that are conclusive in their own right, like laser hair removal, discussed above, or the multitude of skincare treatments that reduce acne, dark spots, or other skin imperfections. For these tweakments, there is no “more invasive” or surgical counterpart. At the end of the day, tweakments are valuable services that offer some consumers more accessible alternatives to invasive surgeries but can also be services that are genuine and stand-alone solutions to specific cosmetic desires.