Focus on Fillers

Der­mal fillers refer to a group of injectable prod­ucts that can be used for aes­thet­ic cor­rec­tion of lines, wrin­kles and hol­low­ing of the face. The first, and per­haps best known, mem­ber of this prod­uct group was col­la­gen. Col­la­gen first came to mar­ket over 20 years ago and was found to be an excel­lent prod­uct to help enhance lips and also fill very fine lines. Unfor­tu­nate­ly, the results would only last 1 – 3 months and the lack of com­pet­i­tive prod­ucts made it fair­ly cost­ly. This and the need for aller­gy test­ing pri­or to its use was the dri­ving force behind research to devel­op alternatives.

Fast for­ward to 2014, and we now have a vari­ety of dif­fer­ent prod­ucts that we can offer our patients. So how do you know if der­mal filler is the right option for your aes­thet­ic prob­lem, or even which der­mal filler you should be using? This is where con­sul­ta­tion with a board cer­ti­fied der­ma­tol­o­gist or plas­tic sur­geon can be of great ben­e­fit. Physi­cians trained in the use of these prod­ucts know when one option might be bet­ter than anoth­er, and what would be safest for an indi­vid­ual patient. If a patient presents for lip aug­men­ta­tion, a filler like Resty­lane® might be used since it has reli­able injec­tion prop­er­ties and actu­al­ly car­ries FDA approval for injec­tion into the lips. If a patient has hol­low­ing out of their cheek­bones, the new filler Juve­d­erm Voluma XC® might be the best choice giv­en it has more plump­ing and lift­ing pow­er than oth­er mem­bers of its prod­uct class. If a patient presents with vol­ume loss of the dor­sal hands that is lead­ing to increased vis­i­bil­i­ty of veins, the physi­cian would tent to rec­om­mend Radiesse®.

These pro­ce­dures tend to involve min­i­mal down­time as the prod­uct may cause only a lit­tle bit of swelling or red­ness. They are inject­ed with small cal­iber nee­dles; that and the addi­tion of numb­ing agents to the prod­ucts can make dis­com­fort min­i­mal or non-exis­tent. Der­mal fillers are some­times used by patients who are try­ing to delay a larg­er cos­met­ic sur­gi­cal pro­ce­dure such as a face lift. They can also be used in a com­ple­men­tary fash­ion to oth­er cos­met­ic pro­ce­dures, both sur­gi­cal and non-sur­gi­cal. In addi­tion, they tend to be cost effec­tive and can eas­i­ly fit into most bud­gets. If you want to know if one of these pro­ce­dures could ben­e­fit you, please set up an appoint­ment with one of our physi­cians for a consultation.