My philosophy on fillers? With the right one – or the right combination – you can plump, fill and smooth wrinkles beautifully, achieving results similar to or better than those of more aggressive procedures.
A dermal filler injection is one of the few procedures that can instantly improve your appearance with little or no downtime. While there are many types of fillers available (and while it’s not uncommon for physicians to treat multiple areas of the face with just one), they offer different benefits. To me, using the best possible filler for each area of treatment is key to achieving the most natural and beautiful effect. However, equally important to the type of filler used, its also where the filler is placed that gives one the best look possible. Also, to decrease the risk of bruising, I often use cannulas to inject fillers, rather traditional needles.
The following injectable fillers are highly effective when used in the appropriate areas:
Hylauronic Gel Fillers:
- Hyaluronic acid is a natural sugar found in the human body that attracts and binds water which enhances the volume of the skin and comes in the following various forms. Hyaluronic Acid fillers are versatile and have the advantage of being reversed with Hyaluronidase. However, the ease of this varies between different types of fillers. In general the longer lasting, the more difficult to dissolve.
Non Hylauronic Gel Fillers
- Calcium hydroxylapatite is found naturally in human bones and is a mineral-like compound. Calcium hydroxylapatite is biosynthetically produced, meaning that no animals/ animal products are used. This lowers your risk of an allergic reaction and no skin testing is required. This type of dermal filler is known to produce a very natural result, doesn’t migrate and side effects are rare.
- Polylactic acid is a synthetic dermal filler that causes your body’s own production of collagen. This type of dermal filler is also known as a stimulator. This non-toxic, biodegradable substance has been used for more than 40 years as suture material. This substance is unlike any other dermal fillers because it doesn’t produce immediate results. Instead, it stimulates your own body’s collagen production, so results appear gradually over a period of weeks. You will likely need about three monthly treatments to achieve your desired results. With each treatment, there is re-stimulation of your own collagen. Then it can take four to six weeks to see the full effect. While this type of dermal filler is considered semi-permanent, you may still need occasional touch-ups.
The following injectable fillers are highly effective when used in the appropriate areas:
Volume filling, facial shaping or lifting: Voluma, Radiesse, Sculptra, Juvederm Ultra Plus, Restylane Lift, Defyne
Fine line or crack filling: Belotero, Restylane Silk, Volbella
General filling: Restylane, Juvederm, Radiesse, Refyne, Vollure
Lips Volbella, Juvederm, Refyne
Eye Area: Restylane, Restylane Silk, Belotero