Plastic Surgery Press Releases

November 7, 2007

Permanent Makeup provides Definition that lasts

Kathleen Kassel brings artistry and an artist’s perfectionist eye to her permanent makeup treatments at Dr. Ben Lee’s practice in Denver

DENVER, CO - One of the basics a fine artist learns is that juxtaposition of color can change everything. The same translates to permanent makeup that can make a person look younger, restore features that have faded and dimmed with age, and can also return features compromised by health issues to their most realistic.

Kathleen Kassel, permanent makeup artist for Dr. Ben Lee, in his office in Englewood, Colo., a suburb of Denver, has mastered restoring thinning eyebrows, returning lips to their fresh youthful flush of color and reconstructing the areole after a mastectomy. Her ability to draw permanent fine hair strokes and implement color where it has diminished can take years off of a person’s face as well as restore the height of confidence about one’s physical appearance.

Fair-haired people, in particular, are prone to thinning eyebrows as they age. Some of Kassel’s patients have lost their natural eyebrows to skin cancer, eyebrows being one of the foremost places skin cancer strikes—Colorado being one of the highest ranking states in the nation for skin cancer. Kassel explains that even when people are aware of the benefits of the protection that sunscreen offers (an SFP of 30 is the minimum recommended to wear daily, whether one’s intentions are to be indoors or out), most people exclude their eyebrows when applying sunscreen. Skin cancer can strike where you least expect it---sometimes in between toes or in ears. The eyebrow area is as vulnerable to skin cancer as any area of the exposed body, says Kas sel. In the case of the patient who has his/her eyebrow fully or partially removed in the surgical treatment for a cancer, Kassel can restyle an eyebrow in the now hair-free area that so closely resembles the natural appearance of real hair, that onlookers would have to get within inches to tell the difference.

Another benefit of permanent makeup used in the eyebrow area is, according to Kassel, the immediate appearance of a lift—raising the look of the eyebrow to appear more youthful and arched.

When permanent makeup is first injected into the skin, the level of color registers as darker than the final outcome, fading for the first few weeks to achieve a less severe, more natural hue. That’s true of lips, eyebrows and areola tissue.

What’s most important to Kassel is that patients understand that permanent makeup IS NOT the same ink used in tattoos. “I invest a lot in the pigments I use,” says Kassel. While the FDA doesn’t regulate the quality of pigment used for permanent makeup, it does regulate the pigment source or structure. The FDA restricts ingredients that can cause allergic reactions in some people.

Whether permanent makeup should be classified as permanent or semi-permanent is one of the biggest debates when discussing permanent makeup, as Kassel tells the history of the rejuvenating color. To say it is permanent would suggest that it last forever, keeping the look it has shortly after applied. Instead, permanent makeup needs to be refreshed every 5 to 10 years. This is an advantage that allows a clients look to change with time and tastes.

The way permanent makeup works is that it is injected into the skin as a liquid and upon injection transforms into a powder under the skin. The skin has three layers: the topmost is the epidermis and will peel off eventually. Pigment in this level of skin will also peel off as the skin naturally sheds its dead cells over time. The middle layer of skin is the dermis where the pigment is optimally injected. The bottommost layer of skin is called the subcutaneous layer and if pigment is injected into this area, it can’t be seen from the surface of the skin.

When working on lips, Kassel’s art leaves lips looking as if they’re full and more youthful. She refuses to outline lips with dark color, a treatment that is anything but natural, albeit available in some permanent makeup artists’ studios. Kassel recommends a more natural look in permanent makeup, that allows the client to add color for a more dramatic look when desired.

There are four types of machines used to apply permanent makeup: the original hand method is recorded as having been used as far back as Cleopatra’s days. The second, coil machine, is also used for tattoos. Kassel learned her art initially on a coil machine. The third is the electric rotary machine and the fourth is the digital machine which Kassel uses today. By using the highest quality digital machine with the finest needles and pigment possible, her results achieve the height of detail and perfectionism.

“I think of the difference in equipment this way,” says Kassel. “If you were to attempt to cut a tomato with a dull knife, you could cut it but the cut and the slices would be uneven and less than precise. If you use one of the finest knives available, the process is seamless and quick. “I don’t have to press as hard or go over an area as many times because of the equipment I use and its effectiveness,” she adds.

Besides the difference in equipment, Kassel emphasizes the quality of pigment she uses by noting that hers is thicker than the less costly pigment that so many permanent makeup artists use. The thickness ensures that Kassel doesn’t have to revisit an area with multiple injections of the permanent makeup when the high quality pigment she uses is so much more sturdy and less likely to loose its hold.

“My pigments are really failsafe. I know what colors not to use on different skin tones. I know my ‘inurances’” adds Kassel, referring to the study of pigment that involves learning what colors are not to be used alone, what colors tone other colors down or heighten them, that adding two drops of certain pigments to the mix can make the difference between too much blue or orange.

“Pigment didn’t used to be this failsafe,” Kassel notes. That quality doesn’t come without a price; it’s the mot expensive pigment on the market—a factor Kassel says can’t be stressed enough.

Besides optimum, state-of-the-art equipment and pigment, Kassel is trained to use a needle that is patented for its uniqueness. Instead of injecting only one line of color at a time into the skin, her equipment allows Kassel to inject three or five parallel lines in perfect proportion. The result is less invasive, much more natural, and deposits more color with one stroke.

“It leaves more pigment in the right place,” she summarizes.

Permanent makeup treatments requires little downtime. The results are immediately evident and impressive. A brow treatment can effectively “raise’ the eyebrow and take years off of one’s face. In the same regard, an areola treatment can restore a woman’s confidence and assuredness in her body and femininity.

When doing lips, the process of the pigment “settling” can take up to 21 days. Four days after the initial injections, the lip in the treated area can be dry and peeling. Five to seven days later the color nearly disappears altogether. Then it can take on a whitish appearance, almost like wearing chapstick. At 21 days, the pigment implanted in the lips comes into full bloom, the lips turn flush with subtle color and defined outlines and patients are thrilled with the outcome.

“Most Coloradans want natural looking lips,” says Kassel nodding her head. She’s as definitive about knowing the market as she is about her artistic work. After all, beauty is art, art is beauty.

To make an appointment with Kathleen Kassel, please call the office of Dr. Ben Lee at 303-783-9997 or visit the website at www.drbenlee.com.