What Are Facial Dermal Fillers and How Can They Help You?

Facial Dermal fillers are injectable fillers that diminish facial lines by increasing fullness immediately under the skin. By softening wrinkles and creases, this minimally invasive procedure results in smooth, plump, and younger looking skin.

When we are young our skin is like a rubber band that can stretch but quickly snaps back into its original position. Unfortunately, this elasticity does not last forever. Our skin is at the mercy of more than one destructive force which includes the sun, gravity and time. As we get older, the depletion of subcutaneous fat and two proteins in our connective tissues causes our skin to slacken and lose its elasticity. The result is wrinkles around our mouth and eyes, euphemistically called "smile lines" and "crow's feet". It is these wrinkles and folds that are plumped up with dermal fillers.

We often use facial dermal fillers in conjunction with cosmetic dental treatments. Relatively simple procedures like bonding, veneers, and crowns can be used to close gaps, change the shape and color of a tooth, or repair chips or cracks. Because crooked, misaligned or stained teeth can play havoc with a person's self-image and cause embarrassment, these procedures can drastically improve their self-confidence.

However, plumping up thin lips, eliminating wrinkles and/or adding volume to the cheeks substantially adds to the overall result of a brighter and whiter smile. In this type of situation, we will recommend using facial dermal fillers.

How Facial Dermal Fillers Work

Dermal fillers can be either natural or synthetic. Allergic reactions to natural fillers like hyaluronic acid occur far less frequently than to synthetic fillers. However, natural fillers tend to dissipate over time, and we must repeat the procedure every year or two. On the other hand, synthetic fillers do not dissipate. Wrinkles only return as the face continues to age.

We inject a synthetic or naturally-derived material into the areas of the face that have wrinkles, which almost immediately fills in the sunken or hollow areas. This process plumps the areas up to the point where the wrinkle or fold is all but gone. The areas of the face that can be treated by a dermal filler include the deep lines that form in the space between the corner of the nose and the corners of the mouth, laugh and frown lines, under eye areas, etc.

However, we need to note that facial dermal fillers are not the same as Botox®, which does not have the smoothing plumping effect of a filler but stops muscle movement that causes wrinkles.

What you need to know

A numbing cream applied a few minutes before starting the injections, will help prevent bruising and make you more comfortable during the treatment.

While there is no recovery time and you can resume most normal activities immediately, you may experience some tenderness, redness, numbness, mild bruising, swelling, etc. in the treated areas. These are temporary and will pass in a few hours. Applying ice or cold packs to the affected areas helps alleviate these symptoms. You should stay away from direct sun until the initial swelling and redness, etc. have subsided.

While the effects of facial dermal fillers are quick and dramatic, they are also quite natural. The face will look younger and fresher, but it is unlikely that anyone will be able to tell what the precise changes are. Your new bright smile and smooth complexion will take years off your appearance.