As it’s the unprotected outside of our body, our skin takes a beating over the years. And since our face and is rarely covered, it absorbs constant damage and abuse nearly every moment of our life. Excess sun exposure, harsh weather, unhealthy diet choices, pollution and other environmental factors can affect the look and feel of your skin. Facial fillers are the perfect solution to:
- Soften wrinkles and fine lines
- Fill in recessed scars, including acne scars
- Plump thin lips or enhance lip definition
- Improve the appearance of bags or shadows beneath the eyes
- Restore symmetry to imbalanced facial features
One benefit of facial fillers is that these simple, non-invasive treatments that can ward off the need to undergo more extensive procedures. They can also be combined with other treatments to improve your skin’s texture and radiance. With a well-planned and implemented aesthetic plan, you can experience similar results with no incisions, no scarring, and little to no downtime.
Types of Facial Fillers
Many types of facial fillers have their own primary ingredients, intended uses, and ideal candidates. Let’s take a take a look at some popular treatments that dermal fillers are being used for.
Cheek Contouring
A sculpted and lifted mid-face provides multiple benefits. First, it provides support to the under-eye area, where the signs of aging can often creep up. Also, this treatment can provide lift to the lower structures to the face such as the folds around the mouth. Hollowing and loss of fat pads during the aging process creates shadows and a tired appearance throughout the mid-face, which is fleshy and smooth during our youth. Careful placement of fillers along the cheekbones ensures a natural and slimming effect of the face, and not a “chipmunk cheek” appearance. Typical fillers often used for cheek contouring are Restylane Lyft and Juvederm Voluma and often last 1-2 years.
Chin and Jawline Sculpting
A well fined jawline creates a confident look and balances the facial profile. Often with aging, we can develop “jowls” or sagging of skin along the jawline. Strategic placement of dermal filler along the jawline and chin can create a sleek, well defined, and youthful profile. In fact, men and women of all ages seek often seek dermal filler treatment for chin and profile balancing. An enhanced chin usually involves the careful placing of filler to elongate the chin to balance one’s proportions.
Tear Trough Correction
Many men and women are bothered by a tired appearance, often a result of dark under eye circles or eye bags. The undereye area is a complex area, with extremely thin skin, and correction is often achieved with a combination of therapies. One treatment is placing very fine filler into the area. Filler will lift sunken skin and soften the hollowed-out view. Tear trough injections require meticulous placement using advanced injection techniques, and careful selection of only the most appropriate fillers. Many aesthetic doctors will employ microcannulas to place the filler in this very delicate area. The microcannulas technique ensures minimal trauma or bruising to this delicate area. The type of filler used and the depth of placement are also key to the success of the treatment. Belotero and Restylane are great options for use in these areas to avoid risk of swelling, migration, or unwanted darkening in the area. Also, many under-eye treatments are performed in 2 sessions to avoid over-correction, puffy or overfilled results.
Lip Injections
Lip injections are perhaps the most popular filler technique. Filler placed in the lips and in the nearby mouth area provides for a hydrated and smooth appearance. Many women are bothered by lines around the lips, often referred to as “smokers lines” and can form even if one has never smoked. Carefully placed fillers can erase these lines without weighing down the top lip. Many women fear that lip filler will result in unwanted, over-done “duck lip” or “trout pout”. Fortunately, with improvement in fillers and injection techniques, disproportional and unbalanced lips are not something patients should fear.
How Fillers Work
Each brand of dermal filler works differently, and is appropriate to address different aesthetic needs. Perhaps the most popular form of dermal fillers are those based on hyaluronic acid. Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a naturally-occurring substance with both medical and cosmetic applications, and serves to attract and hold moisture for plumper, more hydrated skin. HA occurs naturally in the body, and is an element in many injectable fillers.
Preserve Natural Expressions
The ideal outcome from facial filler treatments is a refreshed look, not a look that looks tight or stiff while talking or laughing. Expressions are a crucial part of our unspoken communication style and you never want to sacrifice this. The ideal dermal filler is flexible enough for treatments to allow for natural looking emotion and expressions, while still addressing unwanted signs of aging.
How Much do Dermal Fillers Cost?
The cost of filler treatment varies based on the area being addressed, the type of filler being used, and the amount of time needed to complete the injection. During a pre-treatment consultation your medical professional will review your current situation, discuss your goals and determine the best course of action and a establish the cost of your dermal filler treatment.