Dracula Therapy Is The Scariest Anti-Aging Treatment We’ve Ever Heard Of
Posted by: Leonora Epstein
Filed in:
style
10:10AM, Monday November 2nd 2009
Warning: for those who are squeamish about needles, blood, or both, this beauty treatment is definitely not for you. So please, carry on, and we’ll catch you later. For the “True Blood” lovers or facial-happy folks, prepared to be intrigued. The latest in anti-aging treatments, according to the Daily Mail, is what’s referred to as “Dracula Therapy,” where a doctor draws your blood, extracts minerals from it, and injects it back into the skin on your face with dozens of pricks. The supposed result? Disappearance of fine lines, improvement of skin tone, and rejuvenated skin. Sounds like something straight out of a horror movie, right?
Also known as S3, short for stimulated self serum skin therapy, the treatment is not common practice, but rather the invention of a Dr. Daniel Sister, who took the existing principles of using the patient’s own “serum” to heal gums and sports injuries and applied it to cosmetics. In essence, what the doctor injects back into your skin is an “enriched” substance with vitamins and amino acids, which encourage DNA growth. So, does the creepy procedure actually work? The Daily Mail‘s reporter got to try it herself.
Hearing her account makes us think that Dracula Therapy is only for the brave-hearted: “S3 Therapy starts with Dr Blum taking blood from my arm—four vials of it—which are put in a centrifuge to separate out the red cells. After a few minutes the vials emerge, with thick red blood at the bottom and a yellowish clear liquid at the top, which he siphons off and mixes with vitamins and proteins.”
Then comes the painful part. “[He] injected all over my face from hairline to jawline, crosshatching my face with tiny pinpricks. I felt like a voodoo doll…” The end result, however, sounds pretty great. “The lines between nose and mouth and on my forehead had vanished. A Vesuvius of a spot on my chin was much reduced.”
So ... does this make you want to suck your blood? Man, and here we thought Halloween was over. [Daily Mail]
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xifeng882
wrote on November 2 2009 @ 10:21 am: [report]
This actually sounds kind of fantastic. I dont know why but I am definitely intrigued.
bethlynn00
wrote on November 2 2009 @ 10:36 am: [report]
That is a lot of blood to take…and how long do the results last? I would be worried about continually going in and having blood taken out. Plus as you age you lose many of those minerals, so I would think the older you get the less effective this might be.
amandabear
wrote on November 2 2009 @ 10:45 am: [report]
Yeah, I find it more intriguing than anything. I might try it, if given the chance.
DancerNinja
wrote on November 2 2009 @ 10:46 am: [report]
This sounds like poppycock to me. Using plasma for injuries makes sense, as your plasma contains antibodies and other lovely innate immune system critters to jump start the natural healing process. (The immune system is a bit of a black box to me, so I can’t go into details.)
Second, why can’t we just use a facial cream with absorptive properties to deliver the goodies? How much of the wrinkle disappearance is just a swelling reaction to being pricked and poked multiple times?
And any time a cosmetic company talks about “amino peptides” (redundant much?) and DNA, my skin crawls.
bethlynn00
wrote on November 2 2009 @ 10:55 am: [report]
Also I wonder how much something like this costs? If I have to pay thousands of dollars for someone to take MY blood and put it back into to me, that seems like a rip-off. It was already inside of me, it’s mine’s!
secretstevie
wrote on November 2 2009 @ 01:18 pm: [report]
let’s remember that this is published in the Daily Mail. i love me a cosmetic breakthrough, but i would definitely question the credibility of that reporter’s ‘experience’.
sanguisuga
wrote on November 3 2009 @ 02:19 pm: [report]
Four vials isn’t that much - about equivalent to what’s taken for your annual physical. The thing that I find amusing about it is that the concept for this was discovered over 400 years ago by Countess Bathory. Of course, she preferred virgin’s blood, and is perhaps the most prolific serial killer in history, but…well, a woman’s vanity, you know…
Harry Adelson
wrote on November 5 2009 @ 11:36 am: [report]
Hi, all
I’m a doctor and have been performing platelet rich plasma injections (the scientific name for stimulated serum) for orthopedic/musculoskeletal conditions for almost 5 years with excellent results. The way it works: At the time of injury platelets congregate at the site of the injury to create a blood clot (everyone knows this) but platelets also release proteins that are directly responsible for tissue healing and regeneration - so basically injecting platelets into an injury that never fully healed such as a tear, chronic tendonitis, (even arthritis), tricks your body into thinking that it has undergone a new injury (but it has not) and this launches your body’s natural healing mechanisms to grow new, healthy, collagen.
About a year ago I learned of the cosmetic applications so I tried it on my girlfriend (of course) - to date I’ve performed this on about 18 women and 2 men and they have all been THRILLED. The 2 main applications are for filling folds and for rejuvenating aging skin (can be done anywhere on body such as face including eyelids or hands).
Additionally, even though I’ve only been doing this for a year (which practially makes me senior because the treatment is so new), so far the results are lasting and in fact you continue to notice improvement many months out so I don’t know how long after the treatment the reporter states her good results, but wait another 3-4 months and it will be even better.
Anyway, hope this helps
Dr Harry Adelson