Times Of India
18 June 2011
By Tanya Datta
Hy derabad

Here’s a New, if Somewhat Creepy, Alternative to Botox, to Tackle Ageing
With vampires enjoying unprecedented popularity, thanks to series like "True Blood" and "The Vampire Diaries" and movies like "Twilight", here’s something that the fans out there might appreciate.

There’s a new, alternative therapy to Botox doing the rounds among anti–ageing experts internationally called the Dracula Therapy. This therapy promises younger looking skin using facial injections formulated from your own blood.

The Dracula Therapy, introduced in London nearly two years ago by French cosmetic doctor Daniel Sister, has increasingly gained popularity in the West. Also called S3 or Stimulated Self Serum skin therapy, it heals scars and makes, dry, wrinkled and lacklustre skin look and feel younger without the use of synthetic fillers or painful lasers or peels. This is how the therapy works: the doctor draws four vials of your blood, and separates it into red blood cells, clear serum and platelets. Then vitamins and amino acids are added and the serum is injected into your face.

The injections can heal scars and renew skin through DNA repair. The idea has been inspired by a similar treatment conducted for decades by dentists using a patient’s serum to regenerate receding gums. "I thought, if serum therapy was good enough for bones and soft tissue like gums, then it could do even better in the skin," said Sister to an international publication.

So what is that Indian doctors have to say about this procedure? Cosmetic physician Jamuna Pai calls it a "healthy option" when compared to synthetic products like Botox. She states, "This technique has been discussed a lot at international conferences, but it is still in its nascent stage. It’s not available in India currently, but going by its increasing popularity, I’m sure it will hit our shores soon." However, cosmetologist Mohan Thomas prefers to look at the flip side.

"This treatment has been in use in the US and UK for a while now, especially for healing wounds. But as far as skin rejuvenation goes, the serum doesn’t help much. Only when you inject viable fat cells, you notice a difference.

What is Dracula Therapy?
It is a non–surgical, age–defying treatment wherein the doctor takes vials of your blood and separates its key components — the red blood cells, the serum and the platelets. Vitamins and amino acids are then mixed and the enriched serum is injected into your face. It is a three–step process that takes under 20 minutes, depending upon the area you want to get treated on. The injections do not add volume but stimulate your collagen production and cell migration to eliminate lines, folds and wrinkles.