Introduction: What are Dermal Fillers?
Dermal fillers can help to restructure and enhance your facial features highlighting your natural beauty.
Dermal fillers act by restoring age-related volume loss to bring balance and harmony to your face or by filling in facial lines. Most dermal fillers are temporary, and their effect lasts between 4 to 18 months. The various options of dermal fillers are specifically designed depending on the area to be injected.
Being a non-surgical treatment, dermal fillers are a cost-effective way to improve your facial features. The effects of the procedure are immediately apparent with minimal downtime and fewer risks of complications as compared to surgery. Although it is important to know that fillers are not a substitute for surgery such as facelift, brow lift or eye lift.
Who is a Good Candidate for Dermal Fillers?
A good candidate for dermal fillers includes those who are physically healthy, don’t smoke and have realistic expectations of what to expect after injection.
Fillers can help to address the areas listed below:
- Cheek enhancement: Volume loss in the cheeks is one of the earliest signs of aging and dermal fillers can do wonders to uplift sagging facial skin in this area.
- Chin augmentation: Dermal fillers can be used to fill in a recessed chin bringing it more in line with your nose and forehead, dramatically altering your facial appearance.
- Improving the appearance of post-acne scarring: Any surgical scars or post-acne scars that appear as depressions on the skin surface can be filled and smoothed using dermal fillers.
- Adding volume to thin lips: In addition to giving your lips a fuller and more pleasing look, dermal fillers can be used to reshape and correct any drooping or unevenness of your lips.
- Tear trough reduction: Having sunken tear troughs that run from the inner corner of your eye out to your cheek can give a tired and unhappy look to your face. Filling in these recesses can instantly change your appearance. This procedure can be tricky as the skin in this area of your face is quite thin and therefore the procedure should be performed by an experienced and skilled cosmetic physician.
Pre-Injection Assessment
Before your injection, a detailed medical history is obtained, and a thorough facial analysis is performed to see if Fillers are right for you. During your consultation, your doctor will advise you to stop smoking, if you smoke, to avoid post-injection complications. You should inform your doctor of all medications that you are taking and about significant medical conditions, allergies and previous surgeries if any.
Photographs will also be taken during pre-injection consultation, to be used for before and after comparison. Your goals will be discussed, and realistic expectations will be set. After discussing your goals, we will make an individualized injection plan together that best suits your goals. Your Filler injection can happen on the same day as your initial Filler consultation.
This is the best time to ask all your questions so that you can feel comfortable and confident going into surgery.
Procedure: Filler Injection
The area to be injected is cleaned thoroughly. Your face may be marked for anatomical landmarks. The Filler is injected into the specific areas discussed in your consultation with a very thin needle. The needle may be replaced multiple times as needed so that it does not dull.
During injection of the filler – there will be a process of injecting, massaging the filler and evaluating the result to check for symmetry and appropriate volumes.
Depending on the number of areas to be treated the whole process can take from 20-60 minutes.
Risks and Complications of Botox Injections
Filler injection is relatively safe, however there are severe complications that can rarely occur. Potential complications from Filler injection include:
- Acne-like skin eruptions
- Asymmetry
- Bleeding from the injection sites
- Bruising
- Damage to the skin that results in a wound and possible scarring
- Infection at the injection site
- Lumps
- Palpability of the filler under the surface of the skin
- Skin necrosis (ulceration or loss of skin from disruption of blood flow) or blindness due to filler accidentally being injected into a blood vessel and interrupting blood flow – *depending on the type of filler used an anecdote may be able to be injected if recognized quickly to dissolve the filler
- Skin rash with itching
- Skin redness
- Swelling
- Under or over correction of wrinkles
Recovery after Botox Injections
No anesthesia is required for Fillers. You should avoid strenuous activities for the first 24-48 hours to minimize swelling and bruising.
Initially you may have an “overfilled” appearance to treated areas secondary to swelling. Swelling and bruising is to be expected after filler injection and this ranges based on what areas were injected, filler type and amount. You may be able to feel bumps or hard areas initially. The most important thing to do after injection if you have any issues is to ice the area and massage the area if lumpy.
*If you have an severe reactions or if you have any visual disturbances or skin changes you must contact your injector immediately.
Summary
The results of soft tissue augmentation using dermal fillers are apparent immediately and will last from several months to several years depending on the filler used and the patient injected. After initial injection allow a week or two for swelling to fully resolve so that you can appreciate your final results.
