Induction
Therapy Built for You. Only You.
Not a menu. Not a package. A physician-designed protocol built entirely around your skin, your biology, and your goals — because no two patients age the same way, and no two protocols should either.
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the One Designed for You
At Superior Health Medical & Wellness, Dr. Lisette Akers, MD, MBA approaches collagen induction the way she approaches all medicine — as a clinical decision, not a service selection.
Your collagen loss is unique to you. The rate at which it occurred, the areas most affected — whether that is your face, neck, or décolletage — the underlying biological factors driving it, your skin type and tone, your health history, your hormonal status, whether you are managing your weight, how your skin has responded to treatments in the past — all of these factors determine which modalities are appropriate for you, in what combination, at what timing, and at what depth.
Some patients need one treatment. Some need three. Some need a carefully sequenced protocol over six months. What no patient needs is a protocol designed for someone else.
Collagen is the structural protein that gives skin its firmness, elasticity, volume, and resilience. From our mid-twenties onward, collagen production declines by approximately 1% per year — a gradual process that eventually becomes visible as lines, laxity, hollowing, and the loss of that quality of youth that is immediately recognizable even when it is difficult to name.
This loss is not confined to the face. The neck and décolletage are among the earliest and most visible areas of collagen decline — and among the most overlooked in standard aesthetic protocols. Dr. Akers addresses the full canvas of skin aging, from the jawline down through the neck and across the chest, because true restoration cannot stop at the chin.
Collagen induction therapy encompasses a category of physician-administered treatments that work by activating your skin's own collagen-producing mechanisms — triggering fibroblast activation, neocollagenesis, and structural skin rebuilding from within, rather than masking aging on the surface.
This is physician-led collagen induction — and it is the only way we practice it here.
Not a Treatment Menu
The following treatments represent the modalities Dr. Akers draws from when designing your protocol. Not all of these will be right for every patient. The selection depends entirely on your assessment, your goals, and your biology.
Sculptra is an FDA-approved biostimulatory injectable that works at the deepest structural level — stimulating fibroblasts to produce new collagen gradually over months. It is not a filler. It does not add a substance that will dissolve. It instructs your skin to rebuild its own collagen infrastructure — producing results that emerge progressively and last 2–3 years.
Clinical studies demonstrate collagen Type I levels increasing by 65.5% after 3 months, with a 2025 multicenter study showing 90.57% improvement in midfacial volume at 12 months. Sculptra is also highly effective for neck and décolletage biostimulation when used in diluted protocols.
Dr. Akers may recommend Sculptra when significant structural volume loss is present across multiple areas — or when the goal is gradual, long-term collagen rebuilding of the face, neck, or décolletage.
Radiesse provides a dual benefit — immediate structural lift alongside long-term biological collagen stimulation. Its calcium hydroxylapatite microspheres act as a scaffold, stimulating collagen III which is gradually replaced by collagen I — building structural support for a year or longer.
In hyperdiluted form, Radiesse promotes neocollagenesis, neoelastinogenesis, fibroblast proliferation, and angiogenesis — making it one of the most versatile biostimulators available. It is particularly effective for the neck and décolletage, where hyperdiluted protocols produce significant skin tightening and quality improvement.
Dr. Akers may recommend Radiesse when the patient needs both immediate visible improvement and long-term collagen stimulation — particularly for the neck, jawline, décolletage, and hands.
PDO threads work in two distinct ways simultaneously — mechanically repositioning sagging tissue for an immediate lift and triggering a collagen synthesis response that continues building long after the threads themselves dissolve.
Thread insertion creates a controlled micro-injury in the dermis. Fibroblast cells migrate to the site and synthesize Type I and Type III collagen at insertion points. A 2025 study in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology confirmed collagen formation around PDO threads through ultrasound imaging in all ten patients studied. The threads dissolve in 6–9 months — but the collagen framework they created maintains results for 12–24 months.
Dr. Akers may recommend PDO threads when visible tissue descent requires repositioning — sagging jowls, midface descent, brow drooping, or neck banding — as part of a combined lifting and collagen rebuilding approach.
Microneedling creates precise micro-channels in the skin that trigger the wound healing cascade, stimulating fibroblast migration and collagen and elastin production throughout the dermis.
When combined with PRP, these micro-channels serve as a direct delivery system for platelet-derived growth factors. A 2024 clinical review found collagen density in the treated area increased by up to 400% following a full course of microneedling with PRP. This treatment is particularly safe for all skin tones and highly effective across the face, neck, and décolletage.
Dr. Akers may recommend microneedling with PRP when the primary concerns are surface texture, tone, scarring, pigmentation, or as the delivery method for regenerative serums such as exosomes and PDRN.
Exosomes are microscopic extracellular vesicles that carry growth factors, proteins, and biological signals from cell to cell — amplifying the skin's own healing and regenerative mechanisms at a cellular level that surpasses what PRP growth factors alone can achieve.
At Superior Health Medical & Wellness, medical-grade exosomes are delivered by saturating the micro-channels created during microneedling — allowing these concentrated biological messengers to penetrate deeply into the dermis where collagen synthesis occurs. The result is accelerated collagen production, faster healing, and deeper regeneration across the face, neck, and décolletage.
Dr. Akers may recommend exosomes when maximum regenerative amplification is the goal — or when the skin needs accelerated healing and enhanced cellular signaling as part of a larger collagen protocol.
PDRN — Polydeoxyribonucleotide — is a regenerative compound that activates specific cellular receptors triggering tissue repair, collagen synthesis, and anti-inflammatory responses at the DNA level. It is particularly effective for damaged, compromised, or sensitive skin that has not responded adequately to other modalities.
At Superior Health Medical & Wellness, PDRN is applied by saturating the micro-channels created during microneedling — allowing this regenerative compound to penetrate deeply where it can activate collagen synthesis and tissue repair most effectively. This approach is ideal across the face, neck, and décolletage, and is exceptionally well-tolerated by all skin types including sensitive and reactive skin.
Dr. Akers may recommend PDRN when the skin is significantly damaged, reactive, or compromised — or to establish a biological repair foundation that allows other collagen induction treatments to perform optimally.
Understanding You
Before any treatment recommendation is made — before any product is selected, any needle is placed, or any timeline is discussed — Dr. Akers takes the time to understand you completely. This is not a 15-minute consultation followed by a predetermined plan. It is a genuine clinical assessment that informs every decision that follows.
Your Consultation Includes
We evaluate skin quality, laxity, texture, volume distribution, collagen density, and aging patterns across your face, neck, and décolletage — because the full picture determines the right protocol.
Your hormonal status, nutrition, chronic conditions, and medications all influence how your skin produces and responds to collagen stimulation — in ways a non-physician provider cannot fully evaluate.
Not what you think you should want — but what genuinely bothers you and what outcome would make you feel like yourself again. Your goals shape the protocol, not the other way around.
What is recommended, why, the sequence and timing, realistic expectations, and the investment involved. No surprises. No pressure. No hidden additions after the consultation.
Early preservation vs. significant restoration require fundamentally different approaches.
Face only, or including the neck and décolletage — which require different modalities and techniques.
Determines which treatments are safe and most effective for your specific skin.
Influences both collagen production rates and treatment response in meaningful ways.
GLP-1 therapy or rapid weight loss changes the entire protocol approach — a critical factor.
What has been done before, how your skin responded, and what that tells us about your biology.
Downtime tolerance, treatment frequency, and long-term maintenance goals.
Gradual natural improvement, more immediate visible change, or a combination over time.
This May Be the Most Important Thing You Read
Medically supervised weight loss — including GLP-1 therapy — is transforming how patients feel, how their labs look, and how they move through the world. The results can be extraordinary.
But rapid weight loss accelerates collagen breakdown. As fat volume decreases quickly, the skin's collagen infrastructure can struggle to adapt — particularly in the face, neck, and décolletage, where skin laxity and thinning become most visible. The result is a disconnect between how extraordinary patients feel on the inside and how they see themselves on the outside.
What most practices do not tell patients — because most practices are not also managing their primary care — is that this collagen loss is not inevitable. It is preventable. Or at least profoundly minimizable.
By beginning a carefully designed collagen induction protocol during the weight loss process — not after — Dr. Akers actively builds collagen reserves that support the skin as it adapts to a changing body. This is what she calls banking collagen — investing in the skin's biological foundation so that when patients reach their goal weight, their skin reflects their transformation rather than working against it. If you are also enrolled in our physician-supervised medical weight loss program, this conversation is one Dr. Akers will initiate from the very beginning.
If you are currently on or considering GLP-1 therapy, please discuss collagen preservation at your next appointment. The time to start is now — not when the laxity is already visible.
FAQs
a Conversation
Every collagen induction protocol at Superior Health Medical & Wellness begins the same way — with a thorough, unhurried consultation where Dr. Akers takes the time to genuinely understand your skin, your health, and your goals before making a single recommendation. No pressure. No predetermined plan.
"Because the right care begins with genuinely understanding who you are."
All aesthetic consultations by appointment · Charlotte, NC
