Limits to Facial Fillers

There Is A Limit to Facial Fillers

Injectable fillers such as Restylane®, Juvederm®, and Radiesse® can offer our patients a quick and effective correction of the aging changes that occur in the area that frames the lips.  The single best correction from fillers occurs in the nasolabial fold, the depression between the cheek and upper lip that deepens as we age.  Injectable fillers provide a framework beneath the fold and make the shadow that occurs there less visible.  In my opinion fillers do nothing to stop the true aging process, which is structural descent and looseness  of the cheek  and the jaw border structures.  There is much nonsense on various websites suggesting that fillers will somehow eliminate the need for a surgical lifting, but such statements reveal an inadequate knowledge of the facial aging process.

There will come a point where limits to facial fillers occur.  Some clinicians will pretend this isn’t so and will keep pumping up their patients with increasing volumes of fillers in a desperate attempt to hold the cheek at bay.  All this will accomplish is to cause distortion and quirky motion of the lips.  In some cases the smile is affected in a negative way.

The overuse of these wonderful products is becoming all too common.  At the Whole Beauty® Institute our team of clinicians has noticed over the past year a distinct increase int the number of patients who come to us seeking to correct over treatment that has occurred at another facility.  Whether this is related to aggressive promotion on the part of the product manufacturers or simply to the profusion of practitioners with inadequate credentials is a matter of speculation.

I will put forward as simple truth: when the cheek and jaw border structures have settled significantly, they need to be lifted.  There are doctors with various gadgets that supposedly tighten the skin without surgery, but I have never seen one patient where these treatments produce a significant lifting.  Overly aggressive lifting will just turn the face into a weird balloon.

Now for the good news. Easy cheek lift under local in the office is an option.

If you would like to learn about the wide range of products and options to restore facial volume contact us at 312-751-2112 to make an appointment with a team member at our Chicago and Winnetka office.