What are dermal fillers and what should you know before booking in?
Some people are blessed with full cheeks, smooth skin and plump lips from the moment they are born, whereas some people just aren’t. For the latter, it’s not unheard of for them to get a little bit of help from a dermatologist or aesthetician in the form of dermal fillers (which are designed to help with these exact issues).
It’s hard to tell which category some celebrities or even some people that you know fall into, but this is the entire point of this form of treatment. These dermal filler treatments are quick to get, last for a while and are designed to achieve a subtle and indistinguishable result. They’re also (providing you’ve done your research and don’t get them done by a friend of a friend who knows someone who does them) perfectly safe, so what exactly are dermal fillers and what do you need to know before you book in for a treatment?
What are dermal fillers?
Let’s start from the top then, dermal fillers are made from hyaluronic acid which is something that is naturally found within the skin. These differ from other solutions such as Botox® (which is technically a neurotoxin) as these relax the muscles to reduce the wrinkles, fillers smooth them out by filling the wrinkled areas with the hyaluronic acid solution.
Thanks to the natural ability of hyaluronic acid to store moisture, it’s responsible for giving your skin that plump and hydrated look. You’ll often find it in beauty creams and lotions to moisturise the skin but this can’t restore any lost volume, only when it’s injected into the skin can you get these results. This is something that becomes more and more important as you age as the body’s production of hyaluronic acid decreases as you age (which is why we all get wrinkled as we get older).
So the wrinkles that start to plague your face and cause you to feel annoyed when you see your own reflection can be fought off, in fact you can have a dermal filler injection in multiple different parts of your face including around the eyes, your cheeks, nose, jawline and even directly into your lips to give them a plumper and firmer appearance.
So, what should you know before booking in?
Well for starters, just one dermal filler injection can give your skin a plumper, firmer and smoother appearance that can last for months. One of the reasons that this form of filler is so popular is the fact that they can increase volume AND decrease wrinkles in just one visit. It also helps that they typically last for anywhere up to around 6 months (depending on the injection location) and in some cases can last even longer.
It’s also important to know that a good sign of filler is that it is subtle enough to look completely natural. The infamous “trout pout” and “duck lips” are an instant and sure-fire way to know that someone has had their lips filled, but if the dermal filler is injected properly by an expert, your results will be noticeable but at the same time, you’ll look like you could have been born that way.
This is partially due to the fact that dermal filler techniques (and the technology/filler used) have gotten much better over the years. As an example, we’ll use the smile/frown lines around the mouth. Even going back by just a decade, dermal fillers were injected into the nasolabial folds to fill the wrinkles themselves whereas nowadays, the ultimate goal is actually to plump and lift other areas to create a smooth and natural looking result. If the skin starts to sag in your cheeks (for example), rather than injecting filler where the wrinkles appear, you’ll now find that the injection is made around the cheekbones which provides a lift to the whole face and reduces the appearance of wrinkles in the same process.
You can even use dermal fillers to prevent the appearance of wrinkles in addition the getting rid of the ones you already have. This isn’t to say you should come running down and booking in right away to make sure they won’t show up, but it is now more common to see people between the ages of 18-30 booking in for a dermal filler treatment. Although this could be down to celebrity influence and pressure (with people such as the Jenner’s and Kardashian’s responsible for a lot of it), a number of patients actually just want to get the look that they’ve always wanted and in a lot of cases has even caused them a huge lack of confidence in themselves.
The last thing you need to know is that if you love how they make you look and feel, then you will need to keep going back for more. The hyaluronic acid found within the body is naturally broken down by the body and as such, the hyaluronic acid within a dermal filler will also be broken down by the body. This normally takes around six months (although in some cases it can last longer) and as such, regular touch-ups are required to maintain the look. Think about it as if you’ve had your legs waxed, eventually the hair is going to grow back and you’ll need to get your legs waxed again, it’s the exact same principle (although on a much longer lasting scale).
That also means that if you don’t like the look, you’re not tied to it forever and after the couple of months it takes the body to break the hyaluronic acid down, the look will fade with no long-term use or risks required.
So there you have it, now you know exactly what dermal fillers are and how they work (as well as knowing a bit more on what you need to be thinking of before booking yourself in). If getting rid of wrinkles and sagging skin is your goal, or you’re simply just wanting to plump your lips up to raise your own confidence in yourself, dermal fillers are the perfect solution to achieve this.