For many years now, people across the world have been looking for minimally invasive, non-surgical options and techniques to restore their youthful appearance. While some patients, decided to go with a more foregoing and surgically invasive methods like facelift, neck lift, others went for an equally safe but a bit more affordable method, known as dermal fillers.
What are exactly dermal fillers?
To put it plainly, dermal fillers are substances used to restore the lost volume, smoothen out lines, soften creases and enhance facial features.
There are several different types of dermal fillers on the market today:
- Calcium hydroxylapatite, which can be found the human bones
- Different types of hyaluronic acids, also found in in the human body and
- Polylactic acid
All these dermal fillers have a long safety record and they haven’t only been used in medical i.e. cosmetic purposes. Some of them are even used in dental treatment.
Why to opt in for dermal fillers?
Due to the natural process of aging, we all lose volume in our face, wrinkles start showing and skin start to sag a little bit.
If you wish to restore the lost volume and smoothen out those pesky wrinkles and enhance contours of your face, the simplest way to do that is with dermal fillers. The procedure is simple and the end results look very natural.
What can we use dermal fillers for?
We mentioned already, that dermal fillers can be used in a variety of areas, although they are mostly used in the cosmetic industry, usually to treat issues such as:
- Thin lips
- Crow’s feet
- Smile lines
- Weak chin
- Sunken cheeks
- Scars and
- Frown lines
Dermal fillers aren’t only being used to restore youthful look of your face. In fact, they are often used and injected into the patient’s hands in order to make them look and feel smoother and more youthful.
What type of results can you expect?
Depending on the type of fillers you go with and of course the area that has been treated, the effects can last anywhere between six months and even up to several hears. To know exactly what to expect, we recommend that you contact your cosmetic surgeon and discuss the details with him.
Some dermal fillers provide immediate results while others take a little time. After the treatment, you might feel that the injection site looks a bit overfilled, but that’s only because the dermal filler didn’t yet have a chance to settle down or because of residual swelling. Once the fillers settle and the swelling goes down, you will notice more natural results.
What to expect from the treatment procedure?
The needle used to inject fillers is really thin, similarly to the one used for injecting Botox, but some cosmetic surgeons will still use numbing cream, especially if the patient is anxious or is afraid of pain/discomfort.
Depending on the dermal fillers you get, there are types that also have numbing agents inside them, so numbing cream won’t be necessary.
Before the procedure, the treatment area is sterilized and fillers are carefully injected. The procedure takes about an hour and you will be able to return to your day-to-day activities.
With dermal fillers, the same with Botox, there is virtually no downtime or recovery. However, some do recommend that you limit strenuous activities at least for the next 48 hours so the fillers can settle faster. There will be some soreness, swelling or bruising around the injection site, but that should resolve on its own.
The important think that we need to note is that we don’t recommend that you rub or massage your face. Thermal fillers need time to settle and by massaging the area, fillers could shift and you won’t get the results you wanted.
Dermal fillers are safe and minimally invasive to restore your natural and youthful look. If you’re looking to restore your younger facial contours and replenish the lost volume, contact Dr. Kotoske and schedule an appointment.
