As you may have discovered about Botox in a previous blog, it’s important to have more knowledge about cosmetic treatments. It’s also true for any kind of medical treatment. An important question is: How you can trust your doctor? Whenever I go see a new doctor, I’m always careful to listen and see if he or she’s being honest. Obviously I’ve chosen to see that doctor for a reason. Nowadays, we research online and make a decision based on information that we can get from a doctor’s website or YELP and Google. It could be a referral or recommendation from a friend, family member, or another doctor. However, it doesn’t matter if my friend says, ‘Oh go see my doc, she’s the best!’ My question is: Best at what?
A filler is a generic term for any product that increases volume, wherever the filler is injected. The most common facial filler is the hyaluronic acid gels: Juvederm and Restylane are the main players. Another filler that works in a similar way is Radiesse, which is a calcium hydroxylapatite. Sculptra is not as well known and works very differently. It is a poly-L-lactic acid polymer that stimulates your body to make collagen. I’ll go over these products in much more detail in Parts 2 and 3. Just because one type of filler is used a lot doesn’t mean that it must be amazing or better than the others. Each filler has benefits and disadvantages. Does your doctor or nurse know? Does he or she share this knowledge with you?
It used to be that fat grafting was the only real good option to increase volume in the face, but the recovery is much longer than you would want with less predictable results. If you need more volume somewhere on your face, injectable fillers are really good options but only if they are used properly. Quality of the work will depend on what type of filler is used, where the filler is injected, how much is injected and the skill of the doctor injecting the filler. If injected properly, you will be happy with the results without anyone really knowing what was done. If injected in the wrong area or too much of the product is used, then you will look worse, not better, and it will be obvious!
Even more than Botox, fillers can make someone look very strange. Some of the adjectives to describe a distorted face from too much hyaluronic acid being injected or injected in the wrong area are the following: swollen; chipmunk, chunky. So, why would anyone inject too much or in the wrong area? How can you prevent getting messed up and avoid getting botched? You can go to my website, westvillageplasticsurgery.com, for more information.
Fillers Parts 2 and 3 will be available for subscriber’s only. So, if you’d like to read on, register and subscribe to the Natural Look Blog. Stay tuned for Part 2!