What You Need to Know Before Your First Dermal Filler Treatment

Over time, skin loses moisture, elasticity, and volume. However, revitalizing and volumizing your skin is possible through dermal fillers. Dermal fillers provide a subtle, natural-looking solution to skin’s age-related concerns in a quick, minimally invasive treatment.

At SafiraMD Medical Aesthetics & Wellness Center in Alpharetta, GA, we offer several FDA-approved injectable fillers to help restore your youthful appearance. Dermal fillers are among the most gratifying cosmetic treatments available, presenting immediate results for skin concerns such as wrinkles, scars, and skin laxity. 

How Does Aging Affect Skin?

Over time, your skin’s outer layers begin to thin, and your body’s collagen and elastin production decrease. Both collagen and elastin are crucial to your skin’s youthful appearance. 

Collagen is the building block of skin cells, as it provides structure and shape to your skin. Elastin provides skin flexibility and restores skin to its previous form after stretching and movement. 

As you age, your skin might begin to show the following qualities: 

• Rougher and drier
• Thinner
• More fragile
• Looser

These changes come from various factors, including loss of fat below the skin, decreased collagen and elastin, sun damage, and bone and cartilage loss. These structural changes in the skin cause wrinkles, looser skin, and sunken eyes.

What Are Dermal Fillers?

Dermal fillers are synthetic or naturally occurring gel-like substances that are injected into the facial tissues to restore fullness and reduce the appearance of wrinkles. Beyond just adding fullness to the face through the fillers themselves, recent studies show that some filler injections may stimulate your body’s natural collagen production. 

The fast, noticeable results of dermal fillers and the lack of downtime make injectables one of the most popular wrinkle treatments in medical aesthetics. 

Fillers treat the common signs of aging by doing the following: 

• Smoothing under-eye circles
• Lifting cheekbones
• Plumping lips
• Smoothing lip lines
• Treating facial creases and wrinkles
• Improving the appearance of recessed scars
• Enhancing shallow contours
• Rejuvenating skin on the hands

Dermal fillers provide subtle, natural-looking results, so while your friends and family may notice your more youthful appearance, they probably won’t be able to guess how you got it. 

How Long Do Dermal Fillers Last?

Most facial fillers last between six and eighteen months. However, the exact amount of time depends on the treatment area and the type of filler used.

What Are the Different Types of Fillers?

The FDA classifies fillers into four categories based on their main ingredients.

Hyaluronic Acid

Hyaluronic acid is found naturally in the body and is most prevalent in the joints, cartilage, and skin. Hyaluronic acid attracts and holds water, hydrating skin. Fillers made with hyaluronic acid include the Juvéderm and Restylane lines and generally last between 6 and 18 months.

Calcium Hydroxylapatite 

Calcium hydroxylapatite (CaHA) is a mineral found naturally in bones. Injectable fillers made of CaHA work through microspheres suspended in a gel carrier. As the body absorbs the gel, the microspheres promote collagen production. 

Radiesse is one of the most popular fillers made with CaHA, and these fillers last up to 18 months. 

Poly-L-Lactic Acid

Poly-l-lactic acid (PLLA) is a synthetic material with several medical uses. Injectable PLLA is known as a bio-stimulatory filler in that it stimulates your skin to produce new collagen. The most widely known PLLA filler is Sculptra. While PLLA fillers may last up to two years, their effects appear gradually as collagen production ramps up. 

Polymethylmethacrylate Beads

Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) beads with bovine collagen are the only fillers that aren’t absorbed by the body, making them last the longest, up to five years. Bellafill is the only popular filler that uses PMMA, and it is recommended chiefly for filling acne scars and nasolabial folds. 

Common Uses for Dermal Fillers

Dermal fillers serve as a wrinkle treatment as well as a skin-plumping solution. Common treatment areas include:

Lips

Dermal fillers found their fame in lip volumizing treatments. However, over-plumped lips are a thing of the past. Now, popular brands Juvéderm and Restylane make specific lip fillers. These lip fillers offer subtle enhancements that work with the natural shape of your lips. Lip fillers can also fill in lines, add symmetry to lips, and restore lost volume. 

Cheeks

Cheeks lose volume with age, decreasing the healthy, youthful shape of the face. As this happens, the nasolabial folds, also called smile lines, become more pronounced. 

Since cheekbones are the focal point of facial bone structure, injectable fillers applied to the cheekbones plump the face. Juvéderm, Restylane, and Sculptra are all popular cheek filler options.

Forehead

Dermal fillers serve as a wrinkle treatment to correct static forehead lines — those lines that remain even when the face is at rest. Additionally, fillers can contour the forehead, allowing for better symmetry, remedying sloping or protrusions in the forehead, and filling in hollowing at the temples. 

Juvéderm, Restylane, and Radiesse all make fillers specifically to treat static lines in the forehead. 

Chin and Nose

Dermal fillers offer a non-surgical option to reshape the chin, jawline, and nose. These treatments may improve the appearance of a sagging neck or a side profile with very subtle modifications. Radiesse and Voluma are dermal filler options that reshape the profile without surgery.

Marionette Lines

Along with nasolabial folds, marionette lines around the mouth deepen over time. Fillers applied to these lines restore balance in the face and recover natural youthfulness. 

Scars

Scars create uneven texture on the face, even when the scar isn’t noticeable. Dermal fillers lessen the appearance of scars and even out texture to restore skin’s smoothness. The most popular fillers for facial scars are Juvéderm, Restylane, and Radiesse. 

Schedule a Consultation

At SafiraMD Medical Aesthetics & Wellness Center in Alpharetta, GA, we want you to be thrilled with your image in the mirror. So book your appointment today, and we’ll walk you through every step in the process to refreshed, rejuvenated skin.