Dermal Fillers
Patients in Ohio Can Smooth Lines & Wrinkles, Augment Cheeks & Lips, and Rejuvenate the Face
How Do Dermal Fillers Work?
What are Dermal Fillers?
Starting in our 20s, the production of essential building blocks such as hyaluronic acid, collagen, and elastin reduces significantly, leading to the development of creases, folds, and hollows. Dermal fillers can help restore lost volume and improve facial appearance from the inside out.
What Do Dermal Fillers Treat?
Static wrinkles that can be addressed include:
- Smile lines or nasolabial folds
- Vertical lip lines
- Marionette lines
- Corner lines
Lack of volume in certain areas may seem less obvious but is often what contributes to a less youthful or vital appearance. Dermal fillers can quite literally “fill” in such areas to correct issues such as deflated cheeks, weak chins, hollows under the eyes or at the temples, or even some external nasal imperfections. Lip injections are particularly popular with both young and more mature patients, to augment either naturally thin lips or thinning lips due to aging.
Which Filler is Right for Me?
For example, Dr. Hartman might use a stiffer filler for the apples of the upper/outer cheeks, and a thinner, more pliable filler, such as Restylane® Silk for the lips. Recognizing these needs, manufacturers formulate variations under their umbrella brands. At our practice, we use Juvederm Voluma® and Restylane® Silk, Refyne, Defyne, and Lyft.
Filler to restore youthfulness to the cheeks will generally require one to two cartridges to achieve the desired beautifying effect. However, a single cartridge is generally more than sufficient to restore and beautify the lips – in fact, for many women, only half (or even less) of a filler cartridge to the lips is the perfect amount.
Depending on the brand of dermal fillers, prices typically start at $550 to $650 per cartridge (note that these are subject to change with manufacturers’ prices).
Is Filler Treatment Painful?
Our fillers also all come with lidocaine, a numbing agent, to further reduce discomfort during and after treatment. For patients concerned about an allergic reaction to lidocaine: true lidocaine allergy is so exceedingly rare as to be considered non-existent. Many experts, in fact, believe true lidocaine allergies do not exist at all.
Any reactions experienced with lidocaine are very likely related to the epinephrine medication which is frequently mixed with lidocaine. Epinephrine may cause racing heart rate, shivering, or other nervousness-like symptoms. Note that the lidocaine in our fillers does not contain epinephrine.
Are There Any Side Effects?
The most serious concern with fillers is inadvertent placement into a facial artery, which could lead to dire consequences. For this reason, fillers placed along the side of the nose or under the eyes should be placed only by a well-trained and experienced board-certified injector. Also, it is critical that both the client and the injector understand what fillers can and cannot reasonably accomplish. Misuse or overuse of fillers can lead to disappointing results. Therefore, at Fine Arts Skin & Laser, only Dr. Hartman performs filler and neuromodulator injections.
– Dr. Hartman
Alternative & Complementary Treatments
Trying to erase lines with fillers from very loose skin, particularly in the midface, often leads to results that do not look natural. To properly address moderate to severe skin laxity, a facelift or neck lift may be more appropriate.
Fat transfer is also gaining popularity as a permanent, all-natural facial volume restoration treatment. In a fat transfer procedure, the patient’s very own living fat is harvested via liposuction from the extra subcutaneous fat deposits of the tummy, love handles, or outer/inner thighs. Fat transfer can be performed as a “stand-alone” procedure or can be combined with surgical rejuvenation procedures such as facelifts, eyelid rejuvenation, or breast lifts.
