Don’t Forget The Dermal Fillers

Many of you may be having botox for the treatment and prevention of upper facial ageing and even some to the lower face e.g. to lift the corners of the mouth or soften upper lip lines, however, when it comes to restorative rejuvenation and improving overall appearance and attractiveness, botox can’t do it all.

In fact, when you are relaxing the facial muscles in the upper face with botox, you are in fact stopping the clock and preventing those lines from being able to be etched. If you do this, while neglecting the lower face, you can end up with two halves of the face looking unmatched and unbalanced.

When Julie and Angela started cosmetic medicine, all they had was collagen injections. Yes, these were the “before botox” days. Both the actual fillers we use today and where we put them have come a long way, particularly in recent years.

Traditional Fillers:

• Required an allergy test one month prior to treatment
• Derived from animal source
• Many did not contain local anaesthetic
• Were designed to fill lines and treated the outline of the lips only (the “paris lip”)
• Were used for facial treatments only
• Only lasted 3 months (6 if you were lucky)

Today’s Fillers:

• No allergy test required
• Non animal
• Contain local anaesthetic for comfort
• Wider range of products to still fill lines and treat lip borders, but also treat: lip volume, restore facial proportions and replace volume to an ageing face (or add volume to areas you may be lacking such as cheek bones), soften tear troughs to correct under eye hollows, hydrate the lips and fine crepey lines and the list could go on!
• Can be used in many areas of the body including neck, décolletage and backs of hands
• Last 6-12 months with many lasting up to 2 years

Younger patients e.g. in their 20’s are using fillers to glamourize such as cheek enhancement or lips, whereas as you age, it is often more about restoring and correcting. An experienced injector will ensure age-appropriate treatments. Cheeks and lips for a 30-year-old will be very different to what we would do for an 80-year-old. It is about correction without over inflation.

A patient’s goal is usually not to look younger (although they are very happy when they do), but more about looking more beautiful and less tired.

If you are scared that people will notice….don’t be.

It is only when treatments have been overdone that people look weird and creepy, and let’s face it this is the same with botox but also with fashion and makeup.

If you are worried about the pain…don’t be.

The products contain anesthetic but we have other tricks, such as topical anesthetic creams and even injections if required, to make the procedure comfortable throughout.

Do we put a “COMING SOON”…. We are looking forward to introducing Volbella and Volift to complement our existing fillers. Part of Allergan’s facial rejuvenation portfolio, Volbella will last 9-12months and is used to fill lines in a similar way to how we used traditional collagen. Volift will last longer and is used for contouring and smoothing. These will be available in New Zealand later June.