What is face fillers? Face fillers are substances that are injected into the skin to add volume. They can be made up of collagen, hyaluronic acid, and other biocompatible materials. The purpose of this treatment is to add volume or fullness to areas of the face that have lost fat or elasticity.
How does it help? This procedure can help reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles around the lips, cheeks, jawline and around the eyes. It also helps to improve a sunken appearance caused by age related loss in facial volume. It’s often used as an alternative to surgery because it offers similar results but with less downtime and discomfort.
Is Face Fillers Bad
When people make appointments with qualified medical practitioners to get fillers, there’s usually only one “after” they’re picturing: smoother, plumper skin. For the most part, this is what they get. But when patients sit down in Dr. Mike Roskies’ office for their first appointment, they’re presented with a long list of other, less desirable after-effects, too.
Roskies is a facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon and the medical director of SpaMedica in Toronto. In an ordinary, non-quarantined week, he sees about 25 to 100 patients for injectable fillers, and patients range in age from their teens to their eighties. Each patient gets “The Talk” about what to expect when they leave Roskies’ office. He says thanks to Instagram and other social channels, the taboo around getting these procedures has been lowered and the results overexposed to such a degree that people approach fillers a little too casually, without considering the aftereffects. “People need to treat this like a medical procedure with a medical risk; it’s not like going for a manicure,” he says.
While people used to wait until they saw visible signs of aging to act, many in their late twenties and early thirties are now hitting up doctors’ offices as a preventative measure. Roskies says most people want to enhance what they’ve already got instead of trying to build whole new features. For the most part, people are using hyaluronic acid fillers, the same component found in many topical skin care products designed for anti-aging and skin plumping.
There are, however, three categories of filler: permanent, semi-permanent, and non-permanent. The one you choose affects your outcome. Permanent fillers are made of silicone. Though silicone is safe for procedures like breast augmentation, Roskies says clients should steer clear of it for anything related to the face because anything that goes awry is not easily fixable. Semi-permanent fillers are made out of products like Sculptra, which stimulates collagen production in the injected area. While the filler itself doesn’t stay in your system, its effects last a lifetime. Hyaluronic acid, on the other hand, is non-permanent. Composed of a sugar molecule which is also produced naturally in the body, it generally dissolves and is excreted by the body in six to nine months. And if a client wants to get rid of it sooner, the area can be injected with an enzyme which will dissolve the filler completely within two hours.
“Aging won’t be accelerated once you stop using filler.”
Due to the low-maintenance factor of most fillers on the market, some of the worst fears people have about longterm use of filler are unfounded. Many of Roskies’ patients, for example, worry that they won’t be able to simply stop getting fillers. They’re afraid that, over time, their skin will sag after receiving filler and they’ll be tied to injections for life. Roskies says this isn’t a concern with hyaluronic acid fillers.
Another major worry people have is that they won’t be able to stop using fillers cold turkey because their signs of aging will be exacerbated. Roskies says it’s safe to get an injection and never have a followup appointment. “Aging won’t be accelerated once you stop using filler,” Roskies says. “But I joke with my patients that as soon as you leave my office, you’re going to start aging again. Gravity spends all of its time with you, and I spend 30 minutes with you.”
Dr. Patricia Wexler, celebrity dermatologist at Wexler Dermatology in New York, warns that there is such a thing as overdoing it with filler: in time, repeated injections can make the face look unnatural, which may not be the desired effect. That said, many people who are pleased with the results of their fillers opt to go for follow-up appointments once the acid dissolves and its effects wear off. Wexler says the time span between appointments will depend on the area of injection, the age of the client, and the state of their skin to begin with, among other factors. Generally, she says, younger people may find hyaluronic acid injections last about a year, while older folks may want to come for touch-ups every four to six months. Most of Roskies’ patients come back within six to nine.
“I joke with my patients that as soon as you leave my office, you’re going to start aging again. Gravity spends all of its time with you, and I spend 30 minutes with you.”
“As we get older we have less collagen support, less elasticity, so it’s not going to hold as long,” Wexler says. For those of us who can’t make our follow-ups for whatever reason – say, a global pandemic that prevents us from leaving the house – practicing good skincare in the interim can go a long way. Roskies says people’s skin routines should always be custom-created for them depending on skin type, sun exposure, age, and pollution contact, but he recommends using retinol, vitamin C, and sunblock for optimal care.
Wexler says there’s not a lot of mystery to fillers at this point, and doctors are aware of any risks that could crop up — with the exception, of course, of new products hitting the market.
Sidestepping unwanted side effects, in the meantime, takes research and finding the right practitioner. Both Wexler and Roskies say providers of these services should always warn patients of any aftereffects they might experience, beyond the desired ones. Both see people for follow-up appointments and provide advice for aftercare, as well as for any emergency care.
“You should always feel like there’s a safety net,” says Roskies. “It should never be that you see somebody in their basement for fillers, leave, and that’s it.
Do Fillers Ruin Your Face
Fillers are injections made with hyaluronic acid or calcium hydroxylapatite. Both are compounds that occur naturally in your body, but the filler is usually made from lab-grown cells that have been cultivated to produce more of the substance.
The results can be dramatic and long-lasting, but not everyone is a good candidate for this treatment. You should also know that fillers can be dangerous if not administered properly.
One of the biggest risks is infection, which can cause disfigurement or even death if left untreated. Other side effects include pain, bruising and swelling at the injection site.
There are many different types of fillers on the market today, including Restylane, Juvederm and Radiesse among others. However, you should always ask your physician which one they recommend for your particular needs before agreeing to any procedure.
Some people think that fillers will give them a more youthful appearance by smoothing out wrinkles and folds in their skin, but this isn’t always true because they don’t actually change how much collagen or elastin is produced by the body’s natural processes — they just add more volume to certain areas so they look fuller than they are naturally
Can Face Fillers Be Dangerous
Speak to any woman who hasn’t had fillers and we’re all terrified of fillers. More so than Botox. Fillers have become feared because we see too may photos of celebrities who have had too much and turned into puffed-up versions of themselves, with eyes sinking to the back of their heads, and an inability to produce any kind of expression – I know what you think, anyone who has fillers ends up looking like Joan Rivers!
Do Fillers Ruin Your Face?
With such negativity around dermal fillers, it seems like it should be a no-go treatment. I’m pretty sure most of us just discount it immediately as we don’t quite believe that it won’t make us look insane. I know it’s true as I had the very conversation with a Mum mate at the school gates. We got chatting about ageing, feeling haggard, looking tired and Botox and fillers. She knows I work with Glowday and asked me what would help with her hollow eyes and jowls. Now, I’m no medical pro but I know enough that dermal fillers could be one potential option. Her nose scrunched up and she made a ‘mmmmmm’ sound and then said; ‘But they’re bad aren’t they? You end up looking fake and weird – everyone would know – I’d look worse than I do now’.