Recently approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration, LAVIV is the only injectable drug available on the market today that uses personalized skin-cell therapy to treat and correct wrinkles. Unlike other facial treatments that are made up of hyaluronic and poly-L-lactic acid or collagen, LAVIV contains a patient’s own fibroblast cells, which are in charge of producing the collagen and elastin that help skin remain elastic and youthful looking.
If your doctor finds that your are suited for LAVIV treatments, he or she will collect a small skin sample from behind your ear and send that sample to a laboratory, where collagen-producing cells will be isolated and reproduced. Once the cell isolation and reproduction process is complete, your doctor will inject the cell culture into the problem areas of the skin during multiple sessions over a period of three to six weeks. The effects of the treatments usually last about six months, at which time additional injections may be needed.
While LAVIV was originally approved to treat smile lines, the drug has proved to be an effective off-label treatment for any facial fine line or wrinkle. LAVIV is also currently being studied as a potential treatment for various types of scars, including those caused by acne.