Facial Fillers: Lips, Cheeks and Chin

Diverse products can be injected in the skin to correct expression lines, creases and wrinkles. We use them as well with great success to give volume to lips and cheeks or for facial shaping. It is possible too to rejuvenate hands with this type of injectable implants.

The substance to be used will depend on the medical evaluation, the patient and doctor’s preferences.

There are products available like hyaluronic acid, (Restylane Fine Lines ®, Restylane ® and Perlane ®); a natural component of our body that fuses water with tissues, giving firmness and volume to the skin.

It is stabilized, biodegradable hyaluronic acid. It doesn´t require an allergy test because it is totally “non-animal” so there´s no risk of transmitting diseases nor of causing allergic reactions.

It´s not permanent. Its duration is of several months, depending on factors such as patient´s age, skin type, lifestyle, muscular activity and skin’s individual structure. Therefore it requires a maintenance treatment.

Usually every 6 to 12 months.

Collagen is the most abundant natural protein in the body, and provides structural support to the skin, muscles, sinews and bones.

The filling products with collagen base (Zyderm ®, Zyplast ®) are an alternative. As they are of animal origin, they require an allergy test to prevent body´s rejection.

The duration of the effect is less than a year.

The methacrylates are an interesting group of filling substances that come combined with hyaluronic acid (Dermalive ®), collagen (Artecoll ®) or other substances (Metacrill ®).

They have the particularitity of being retained indefinitely by the skin. This allows a prolonged effect in the correction of wrinkles, lines, creases or facial shaping.

Dermalive ® and Metacrill ® don´t require allergy tests, for being implants of “non-animal” origin. Artecoll ® must be tested, tho, due to its collagen component.

Another alternative is calcium hydroxyapatite (Radiesse ®), an injectable bio-compatible implant, which is normally found in our body and doesn´t require a previous allergy test. It´s not permanent, but its effect is of long duration, approximately 2 years.

It should be noted that these treatments do not replace a facelift, but that combined with complementary laser, Botox®, microdermabrasion or other cosmetic treatments, let us achieve excellent aesthetic results without using the scalpel.