Upcoming Facial Ultrasound Workshops 2022 

Diagnostic Ultrasound in Cosmetic Medicine 

Diagnostic ultrasound has been used for many years in various fields of medicine and is now emerging as an important tool in cosmetic medicine, especially in the field of cosmetic injectables. The key factors driving the adoption of ultrasound in cosmetic medicine are an increased focus on patient safety, improving treatment planning and improvements in ultrasound technology and affordability.

Improving Safety

Every cosmetic injector would like to avoid a vascular occlusion and diagnostic ultrasound is an extremely useful tool for lowering the risk of causing a vascular occlusion. With diagnostic ultrasound, cosmetic injectors are able to visualise and map out the location and size of important blood vessels within the face. Although the approximate location of vessels are well known, anatomical variations do occur. By mapping the exact location of an individuals important arteries using diagnostic ultrasound, injectors are able to improve their safety, and minimise the risk of inadvertently causing a vascular occlusion. 

In the case that a a vascular occlusion does occur, diagnostic ultrasound is a very useful tool in identifying the location of the occlusion. It is possible to use ultrasound to trace the effected artery and find the location that blood flow is reduced is blocked, so that appropriate treatment can be directed at resolving the vascular occlusion. 

As well as improvements in safety, diagnostic ultrasound can also be used to visualise soft tissues such as skin, fat, muscle, fascia and even the location and size of any previously injected dermal filler. Using ultrasound it is possible to detect if filler has migrated to undesired locations, or if there is still filler in place. Some cosmetic injectors have begun performing injections under ultrasound guidance to ensure the filler is placed precisely where they intended. 

VINNO ultrasound coordinated the first cosmetic medicine ultrasound workshops in Sydney in June 2022, taught by Interventional Radiologist, Dr Chris Rogan and sonographer Lisa Hackett.  “I think ultrasound will find an expanding role in aesthetic medicine, most notably assessment of filler distribution and prevention of complications” Says Dr. Rogan. “The immediate use case is in evaluation of filler deposits to assist in cases of migration and overfilling for targeted hyalase therapy as well as in the treatment of serious complications like vascular occlusion. Additionally, pre injection mapping may help to identify individual variation in vascular anatomy to therefore reduce complication risk especially in high risk areas.”

Advances in Ultrasound Technology

In the last few years there has also been significant advances in diagnostic ultrasound technology, which has brought diagnostic ultrasound into the reach of more practices. Ultrasound machines have become more portable, have higher image quality and are now more affordable than ever. Some ultrasound machines are so small they can even fit into your pocket. Although these pocket sized ultrasound machines are small and relatively cheap, they sometimes lack the image quality required for cosmetic medicine. 

For diagnostic ultrasound in cosmetic medicine, a high quality ultrasound system with high colour doppler sensitivity is needed to detect the very small vessels of the face that can be smaller than 1mm in diameter. Colour doppler is the mode on the ultrasound that displays blood flow as either blue or red movement on the ultrasound display, depending on the direction of the flow. 

Most cosmetic injectors who use ultrasound in practice prefer a high frequency hockey-stick shaped linear transducer. The hockey stick transducer is a small L-shaped transducer that is very lightweight and fits the small structures of the face well. VINNO ultrasound recommend the VINNO V6 unit with a 7-18MHz Hockey stick transducer. They have also created special presets that are designed to make diagnostic ultrasound for the face simpler and more time efficient. 

In the future it is possible that ultrasound may become a standard part of care in cosmetic injectables, as it has become in obstetrics, sports medicine and many other fields.