While I’ve always understood that aging happens, I didn’t think that meant it would happen to me, personally. But alas, it has. 

 

I’ve heard it said that you’re either a sinker or a sagger when it comes to how you age, and I can confirm that I am both (what can I say—I’ve always been competitive). The area that bothered me the most was the emergence of those pesky “marionette lines” running vertically from the corners of my mouth to my chin. You know the ones—always threatening to make you look a little more tired or serious than you feel inside.

 

But here’s the thing: I’d seen the photos of overfilled celebrities and knew that wasn’t a route I wanted to take. I wasn’t trying to change my face, I just wanted it to bounce back a little. That’s when I discovered Sculptra. Unlike traditional fillers that add immediate volume, Sculptra is something called a biostimulator. Translation? It doesn’t fill. It triggers your body to create its own collagen.

 

This appealed to me on so many levels. Natural, gradual, and subtle: Yes, please.

 

I saw Shannon Grace, NP, founder and owner of Grace Aesthetics in Cool Springs, for my treatment. Shannon is one of those people you instantly trust; knowledgeable, kind, and incredibly detail-oriented. She has either trained or been trained alongside the other talented injectors at her office, including Daniel Ayers, PA, who also treated me with Pure Plasma, and Tori Crook, NP. Everyone on the team is well-versed in the nuances of Sculptra, which is important because this isn’t your quick-fix lunchtime filler. It’s more like planting seeds and letting them bloom.

 

Shannon’s approach for my treatment was to inject Sculptra into the back portion of my jaw, technically, the masseter area. That might sound counterintuitive when the concern is around the mouth, but it’s actually a foundational fix. “When we lose volume at the back of the jaw, everything starts to droop forward,” Shannon explained. “By rebuilding that structure, we’re not just replacing what’s missing, we’re helping to pull the skin back into place, which softens those lines around the mouth without adding bulk to the front of the face.” In other words: Lift from the back, not puff from the front -that’s the Sculptra difference.

 

Each session started with numbing, so I didn’t feel a thing. Sculptra is mixed with sterile water before it’s injected, which means you get an immediate (but temporary) plumping effect. The next day, however, it looked like nothing had happened. That part was admittedly a little disappointing, but that’s also the magic of it. Over the course of the next one to three months, your body gradually responds by producing new collagen right where the Sculptra was placed. It’s essentially aging… in reverse.

 

I did three treatments spaced out over approximately nine months, and let me tell you: the results snuck up on me in the best way. My marionette lines softened. My jawline looked more defined. And everything just felt a little more lifted. Not one person has asked if I’ve had work done. They just say, “You look really good lately,” which is the adult version of getting an A+ in subtle glow-ups.

 

One of the reasons I like Sculptra is because it empowers your own body to do the work. It doesn’t add something foreign, it activates what’s already yours. Shannon says it’s her favorite treatment for a reason. “Sculptra doesn’t change the way you look,” she says. “It restores what time has taken, slowly, naturally, beautifully.”

 

If you’ve been curious about Sculptra, or are wondering if there’s something out there that can subtly rewind the clock without overdoing it, I can’t recommend this treatment, and this team, enough. Grace Aesthetics offers a curated, expert approach to regenerative treatments that truly live up to the name–and then some.