Our skin can start to look old and tired as we age, even if we feel healthy and energetic. This can be especially true for people between 45 and 65. Despite leading a healthy lifestyle, the effects of time can still be visible on our faces. Many of us desire to reverse the signs of aging and regain our youthful appearance. Fortunately, Dr. Dennis Schimpf, a board-certified plastic surgeon and the founder of Sweetgrass Plastic Surgery, offers minimally invasive methods to help delay aging.

According to Dr. Schimpf, there are five ways to help turn back the clock:

1. Skin-care products:

Good skin care is the foundation for reversing aging. Choosing the right skin-care products, especially sunblock, can protect against harmful rays that can age the skin. Having healthy skin can optimize the outcomes of any procedure.

2. Lasering:

This more aggressive treatment uses fractional technology to reduce pore sizes and punch micro holes in the skin, allowing new skin and growth. It tightens the skin and offers mild to moderate improvements in wrinkling.

3. Dermabrasion, microdermabrasion, and skin peels:

Dermabrasion is a more aggressive type of skin peel that involves surgical scraping of the skin to remove the upper layers of skin. Microdermabrasion sands away the outer layer of skin to treat sun damage, stretch marks, and minor scars. Skin peels use a solution to remove the damaged outer layer of skin, improving texture and tone.

4. Fillers:

Several fillers are on the market for soft-tissue changes. Injections in the forehead reduce wrinkles, while injections in the lips make them plumper.

5. Fat grafting:

This minimally invasive procedure involves taking the patient’s fat and injecting it into the facial tissues. Roughly half of the patients require two fat grafting sessions to get the graft to take. Overall, fat grafting technology has improved.

“It happens to many people – they look in the mirror and don’t really like what they see,” says Dr. Schimpf. “But there are good, affordable options that have little or no downtime and counteract some of the effects of aging.”

Dr. Schimpf’s book, Finding Beauty: Think, See, and Feel Beautiful, focuses on helping people find inner and outer beauty. He is a member of the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) and the American Society of Plastic Surgery (ASPS), and he is board-certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery and the American Board of Surgery.