In Fillers Part 1, I wrote that fillers could distort the face much more easily than Botox. That’s because adding volume and shaping the face is a lot harder than how doctors make it seem. Why do doctors offer fillers so easily, enticing you with the possibility of looking so much better without going over the possibility of making you look swollen like a chipmunk? You probably know the answer: money!
In Fillers Part 2, I described the important factors that determine whether or not you will look better in a natural way or look fake. I went into detail about the hyaluronic acid gels like Juvederm and Restylane and how these gels can be used to improve specific parts of the face. I also described how too much of this gel or improper injection could lead to a bad outcome.
In Be Careful of What You Want Part 1, I emphasized the importance of knowing the official residency training of a doctor to understand his or her foundation of skills. This is an area that will take many more posts to flush out. Why is this important? When a doctor DOES NOT KNOW that he or she IS NOT GOOD at injecting fillers and does not know how quickly he or she could make someone look weird, what do you think will happen?
SO, WHAT CAN YOU DO TO PROTECT YOURSELF??? Get more educated!
Here’s a question: If you got severe lacerations of the face with pieces of ear or nose or lip missing, who do you want to fix them?
When I look at the face, I am not just seeing what you are seeing. I am evaluating not only skin quality but volume of soft tissue, proportion of each part of the face (e.g. anterior cheeks, lateral cheeks, malar eminence and zygomatic arch (which is the arch of the cheek), upper and lower eyelids, lower face, neck, lips, and the facial skeletal anatomy. I can do this quickly because I’ve been doing this ever since my first day of Plastic Surgery Residency and throughout my 18 year career as a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon. Plastic Surgeons are trained as anatomists of the face (eyes, ears, nose, lips, etc), craniofacial skeleton and body (e.g. breasts, abdomen, etc), the muscle anatomy of the face and body, hand and wrist anatomy, soft tissue (which include fat and collagen such as dermis) and much more. So, when you decide on who to go to for improving the anatomy of your face or body, just ask yourself is the doctor qualified to do the work based on PROPER TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE or is he or she JUST WINGING IT?