What is PLEXR?

Developed by an Italian team, PLEXR stands for Plasma EXEResis. This technique makes it possible to carry out procedures that previously required surgery with at least anaesthesia and sutures, which can sometimes give rise to complications.

This technique harnesses the energy of plasma, a kind of unstable gas rich in electrons and ionized particles, which has been used in medicine for 40 years. Plasma therapy delivers an ionizing current when the skin is approached, but never touched.

During the procedure, the surgeon performs several PLEXR impact points on the face and eyelids, without exceeding one or two seconds per point.

To form this plasma arc, the practitioner creates a potential difference between the handpiece and the skin tissue: the gases present in the space are ionized, and theintense energy released sublimates the epithelial cells, transforming them directly from a solid to a gaseous state.

Is PLEXR a laser technology for medical blepharoplasty?

PLEXR is often mistakenly equated with laser energy, when in fact it’s quite the opposite.

Lasers use photon energy on an extremely precise, targeted coherent wave, depending on the desired effect: a vascular laser, an abrasive laser or a pigment laser all operate at different wavelengths, down to the nanometer.

That’s why laser technology is so precise, with so many surgical indications. It’s also why a high-quality medical or surgical laser is much more expensive than a PLEXR device.

Conversely, PLEXR remains a more basic technology, less well controlled and far less precise: to put it simply, it’s an extreme burn of very short duration, whose starting point is an electric arc.

What are the risks of non-surgical blepharoplasty with PLEXR?

Reading some of the articles about medical blepharoplasty, one might sometimes think that surgical blepharoplasty, or eyelid plasty, is totally outdated.

In reality, this is not the case. As always in medicine and surgery, you have to compare the risk/benefit ratio.

However, the risks of PLEXR technology are numerous and perfectly identified.

When cells are sublimated, it’s easy to imagine that the energy released is very powerful, with obvious risks if poorly controlled.

The danger is all the greater in that eyelid skin is almost 5 times thinner than the rest of the face, and therefore much more fragile.

Intense inflammatory reaction

The powerful energy generated by plasma energy creates considerable inflammation, with redness and often scabbing.

While aesthetic medicine often allows patients to resume their activities immediately, medical blepharoplasty requires them to avoid social contact, often to the same extent as surgical blepharoplasty.

We therefore lose one of the main advantages of a cosmetic medicine treatment.

Complications of medical blepharoplasty are potentially serious

But the great danger of a burn of the palpebral tissues is that it can lead to potentially serious and irreversible complications.

• Significant inflammation can easily generate a pigmentary reaction, known in medicine as IPH or inflammatory hyperpigmentation: the inflammation then generates an influx of pigmentary cells, whose melanin deposits will considerably darken the eyes, the opposite of the desired effect.
• Micro-bruises can also lead to the formation of a succession of micro-scars, which then take on the appearance of small, particularly unsightly crater-shaped holes, similar in their mechanism to the scarring lesions of acne.

Not only are the eyes not rejuvenated, but the eyelids are indelibly marked by these micro-holes.

It’s important to be aware that medical blepharoplasty is a far cry from the harmlessness usually sought in aesthetic medicine.

What are the results of PLEXR for the eyelids?

Given the high risks associated with plasma energy, practitioners will reflexively deliver small quantities. It’s hard to blame them, since this is actually the best way to avoid serious complications.

But it’s also the best solution for achieving unsatisfactory aesthetic results! Generally speaking, the results of a medical blepharoplasty are always uncertain and disappointing, far from the expectations we have of rejuvenating our eyes.

Why choose surgical blepharoplasty?

Conversely surgical blepharoplasty remains a perfectly mastered procedure in the hands of an eye surgeon, with a technical and artistic gesture down to the millimeter.

The best results are obtained with addition blepharoplasty, which combines two surgical procedures on the upper eyelids:

• Filling of lost volumes, with the addition of small volumes of fat using micro-lipostructure or microlipofilling.
• An “eyelid lift”, by resection of excess skin.

The complications associated with surgical blepharoplasty are exceptional, making it possible to rejuvenate the eyes with virtually no risk, for a natural look that enhances the upper face without detracting from the individual’s identity.

The result of eyelid surgery is therefore actually better and safer than blepharoplasty without PLEXR surgery.