Treatment with Hyaluronic Acid based Dermal Fillers by Dr Michael Prager
Replacing only the missing volume around the cheeks and the chin area can takes years off your face without you even realizing. Just like magic.
How to use Dermal Fillers and look more attractive.
When I started out dermal fillers were injected into two places: upper lip and naso labial folds. You might remember those days. Nowadays we use fillers to replace the MISSING volume instead of just filling where we see a line. Facial volume goes missing as we age in the mid-face/under eye area, the temple, the chin or the cheek. Of course I still use fillers to treat lips and the odd naso-labial fold but it is no longer bigger that’s better. Instead of plumping artificially it is all about recreating beauty. Sometimes luscious, sometimes subtle and elegant. But always with the aim to make you look your best.
Dermal fillers have improved so much over the years. We are now using much thinner products, longer lasting and most of all with ever greater patient satisfaction. Hardly any swelling if none, you are camera ready within 15 minutes post treatment. Thicker fillers are great for structuring the face but step by step. It is hardly beautiful or natural to overfill one specific area, like it would be with the Y lift, where large amounts of fillers are used to blow up the cheeks to lift the jaw-line.
Dermal Fillers can offer such amazing results for age reversal and prevention treatments. In the right hands it is like magic, and you will love it. Anything else not age reversal or rejuvenation, it is only different.
What are Dermal Fillers?
Dermal fillers such as Belotero® or Juvederm® contain a synthetic form of hyaluronic acid, naturally found in the skin’s collagen layer. Hyaluronic acid in our skin gradually decreases over time. In fact, 50-year-olds are estimated to have less than half the amount of Hyaluronic acid they had in their youth. By the age of 40, signs start to show—skin starts to lose its elasticity and volume as lines and wrinkles appear.
While Botox® or Xeomin® (botulinum toxin type A) is used to lift eyebrows, saggy cheeks and to make frown lines disappear; dermal fillers are used to replace facial volume, smooth the lines and restore skin elasticity, the most visible effects of skin ageing. Dermal fillers can restore skin tone and texture and even prevent future ageing.
Results with Belotero®, Restylane® or Juvederm Ultra®
If your treatment plan included lip enhancement, you’ll notice that your lips appear fuller and more defined. If your plan included adding volume to your cheeks,
Hyaluronic acid is present throughout our bodies, with 50% of it located in the skin. It occurs naturally in the deeper layers of our skin (the dermis), where it helps to keep skin smooth and ‘plump’ through its amazing ability to hold up to 1,000 times its weight in water. A way to think of Hyaluronic acid is as our skin’s own natural and internal moisturizer.
Injectable Hyaluronic acid gel is a modified form of the Hyaluronic acid that occurs naturally in your body. Hyaluronic acid filler supports your skin, provides volume, can correct skin deficiencies and improves facial lines typically found between the eyes and around the mouth area. Skin elasticity in the treated areas improves significantly, especially after the treatment has been repeated.
Follow up treatments
Filler treatments work over a long period of time. The results are long lasting and can improve continuously over a period of several months. The effects of HA last 9 to 18 months, in some cases or after repeated treatments up to 36 months or longer. Keep in mind that everyone’s skin is different; the timing of any additional wrinkle treatment will vary from person to person. When repeat treatments occur over time, either the interval between appointments becomes longer, or fewer products is required to achieve the same results, or more areas can be treated with the same amount of product.
Questions and Answer Section
Q: What are the benefits of dermal fillers?
A: “Most of the signs of facial ageing are due to loss of volume. As proportion plays a major role in how we perceive beauty, replacing volume is a very effective way to improve facial proportions and to make a face look “naturally” younger. Loss of volume takes place as early as our mid twenties, depending on lifestyle. From thirty onward, hollowing of the cheeks can start to be visible, especially in people who diet or exercise a lot. Replacing the reduced collagen and increasing volume is both preventative and effective in maintaining youthful facial proportions.
Treatment with hyaluronic acid-based dermal fillers such as Hydrafill Softline or Juvederm Ultra, minimises and smoothes out fine lines. Facial volume replacement is the most important treatment for rejuvenating the face, especially when you think of how we perceive “youth”. You only have to think of a baby’s face - rounded, plump cheeks. A full upper face and chiselled jaw line are both signs of attractiveness and youth. As we age, we lose volume in the upper face and gain it under the chin and neck. Heart-shaped faces are often used by cartoonists to portray “likeable” beauty think Pocahontas while a wide-jaw (Shrek) is usually a sign of age or unattractiveness.
Q:How do fillers work?
Fillers such as Belotero® or Juvederm Ultra® replace facial volume, smooth lines and restore skin elasticity, the most visible effects of skin ageing. The fillers are injected into the deeper layers of the skin, one or two injections with a very thin needle are already enough for cheeks to fill out and create a more heart shaped face. You will be pleased to know that there is local anaesthetic in the syringe which makes the whole procedure much more comfortable.
As it is a naturally based biological material, Hyaluronic acid (HA) is similar to your body’s natural HA, so you don’t need a skin test prior to treatment. The procedure involves small series of injections under the skin, either to fill lines or to increase facial volume, where the deeper layers of the skin are injected. Immediately after treatment, it’s perfectly normal to experience temporary minor stinging, sometimes moderate redness and swelling. Bruising can also occur. Recovery may take a few hours to a few days, depending on the area treated and the type of filler used. Most people find that they can return to work or go about their normal activities immediately after the procedure. Generally we would say the products last between 12 to 18 months, in some cases however 2 to 3 years is not at all unusual. The cost for one syringe starts from £390.”
