Acupuncture Facelifts

by Valerie Gladstone — January 25, 2008

More and more women, who once relied on Botox and Restylane to get rid of wrinkles, are turning to what are being called acupuncture facelifts. It's not so much to save money--acupuncture can cost as much as those treatments with 10 sessions over a year often around $1000 and monthly maintenance of $105 a session--it's the supposed naturalness of the process, and the belief that their skin looks younger, smoother, brighter, and uplifted.

Its holistic approach appeals in particular to women who want to slow signs of aging but don't want to undergo surgery or to inject chemicals. Whether it is called facial rejuvenation, acupuncture face-lift, or cosmetic acupuncture, the aim is to tackle wrinkles, muscle tension that may be causing unsightly lines, as well as systematic issues standing between you and glowing skin. As with traditional needling, putting needles on acupuncture points stimulates the body's natural energies, called qi, but with added benefits.

Whether cosmetic acupuncture works has yet to be proved. Some randomized, controlled studies have shown that acupuncture is an effective adjunctive treatment for hypertension, chronic pain, headaches, and back pain. But there is no research demonstrating that acupuncture diminishes wrinkles. Still, an industry devoted to needling for youthful skin has grown in recent years. Practitioners of cosmetic acupuncture called Mei Zen ("beautiful person" in Chinese) offer their services in 16 states.

Doctors have surmised that because people carry around a lot of muscle tension in their face, which gives them frowns and wrinkles, that by reducing tension in the muscles, acupuncture can affect the skin. For instance, holding tension in one's jaws or brows can make a face appear strained so needles inserted into the jaw area could relax it. But they don't believe that facial acupuncture can increase collagen, another claim of some practitioners.

Since your health is reflected in your skin, many cosmetic acupuncturists assert that because acupuncture facials improve circulation and unblock stuck energy, they help people heal from the inside out. They consider them a kind of preventative medicine, expensive to be sure, but "natural."