Pressure is one of the most powerful tools in medicine and has been used for over four thousand years. The simple act of applying pressure to wounds will cause the blood cells to coagulate and stop flowing. Without such pressure, the blood can continue to flow. Of course, this is determined by the size of the wound. But in general, pressure is the one of the oldest tools in medicine.
We use pressure for a number of cures and corrections today. Orthodontic braces are another simple, yet extremely effective use of simple pressure. By applying a small amount of pressure to the inside or outside of teeth, regardless of the patients age, the tooth will move in relation to the pressure and its position. Although simple enough, it is a very strange result when you think more about this process on adults. As an adult, your teeth have already matured and stopped growing. Yet, with a bit of soft pressure, a tooth will move from its original position. How can this occur?
Even more bizarre is the extension of your pallet, with a small amount of pressure. Years ago, a dentist would remove several teeth in order to make room for others or correct the angle of existing teeth. Today, a small device known as a bumper is used to expand your pallet. Once your pallet has been expanded far enough for the teeth to have room, the bumper (pressure) is removed.
Don’t think pressure is used only for blood and orthodontics! Light pressure is also used to correct some vision problems. This technology is called Orthokeratology. By wearing specially designed contacts to reshape your cornea through light pressure, a patients eye sight issues can be resolved without surgery or medication. Special contacts are worn at night, which apply pressure to specific areas of the cornea, then removed in the morning. This technology is new and highly effective on particular sight problems.
There are countless techniques and procedures where pressure is used on the body for healing, pain relief and corrective actions. As pressure can be used to heal and correct, too much pressure or loss of pressure can result in less desirable results, such as high blood pressure.
Similarly, a loss in pressure can be extremely troublesome in skin conditions and aesthetics. A good example is the lower face (below the nose). Adults begin to lose pressure or volume as early as age 25 in this area. As our teeth and gums begin to recede, as a natural phase of aging, our facial skin follows the teeth. As a result, lips begin to roll under, creating wrinkles around this area known as smoker lines or lip wrinkles. The process continues and includes the cheek and chin areas. Without the support of our teeth and gums, our skin loses the pressure it needs to keep the skin taught and lips full.
During the development of a facial nerve implant, AngelLift stumbled upon a technique to replace this lost pressure due to receding teeth and gums. During their implant development stages, patients were asked to use a small flexible strip under their lip a few minutes a day while at home. This strip created space in the mouth for the implant. However, a secondary benefit from this small strip was recorded time and time again; the reduction of lines around the mouth.
AngelLift® Dermastrips - Clinically Tested Wrinkle Device from Aaron b on Vimeo.
After years of research and clinical studies, it was determined that the use of a small, soft, flexible strip under the lip for only a few minutes a day, replaced the pressure lost from receding teeth and gums. Hence, reducing smile lines, smoker lines and increasing lip roll. Today, this small, soft, flexible strip is known as Dermastrips and sold all over the world. In the US, the strip was introduced on ABC’s Shark Tank and set a 5 year record of 8.4 million viewers.