Soft Tissue Fillers - Restylane and Juvederm
What happens as we age?
Young skin is smooth and elastic and contains a large amount of hyaluronic acid that helps the skin look healthy. As we grow older, the ability of the skin to produce hyaluronic acid decreases and the amount of hyaluronic acid begins to fall. As hyaluronic acid helps to bind water, the ability of the skin to retain water also declines with age. As a result, the skin becomes drier, thinner and less able to restore itself. The loss of skin fullness also means that the skin becomes looser. This leads to wrinkling and the older appearance of the skin.
This patient notes increased hollowing of her lower eyelids and a visible line along her lower eyelid fold (nasojugal fold). The red arrows show the loss of youthful fat and volume of the eyelid.
The layers of your skin
Your skin consists of three main layers: the epidermis, dermis and subcutaneous tissue. The epidermis is the outer layer that protects you from heat and cold. The condition of the epidermis determines how your skin looks and also how well your skin absorbs and holds moisture. Wrinkles, however, are formed in lower layers. The dermis is the middle layer of the skin and the skin's support structure. It is the thickest layer and comprises a network of collagen and elastin fibers. The subcutaneous tissue consists mainly of fat that keeps us warm, stores energy and protects inner organs.
What causes lines and wrinkles?
The dermis is the skin layer responsible for the skin's elasticity and resilience. The dermis functions as the skin's support structure, containing collagen, elastin and biological substances whose main function is to hold moisture in the skin. One of these substances is hyaluronic acid. As we age, the amount of collagen and hyaluronic acid decreases and the elastic elastin fibers become looser and tend to gather in formations, creating wrinkles and folds. However, age is not the only cause of wrinkles. Smoking, sun bathing and pollution damage the structure of your skin, irrespective of age.
A new look in 15 minutes
Achieving the look you desire is as easy as it is quick. The result is instantaneous. No previous skin test is needed, which means that you can have the treatment immediately. The session often takes less than thirty minutes. The time differs somewhat depending on the correction you want to have performed. During treatment, soft tissue filler is injected into the skin in tiny amounts with a very fine needle. When injected into the skin, fillers produce volume that smoothes the wrinkle or fold, shapes the facial contour or enhances the lips in a natural way. The result is immediate. The method of injecting fillers is fast and safe and leaves no scars or other traces on the face.
Stabilized for long duration
After injection, hyaluronic acid fillers generally remains for 6-12 months when injected into the skin. Due to a very effective stabilization method, the volume remains intact for a long period of time. By comparison, non-stabilized hyaluronic acid products are degraded within days to weeks after the injection.
As the injected stabilized hyaluronic acid breaks down, water takes its place. The less concentrated the gel becomes, the more water it is able to bind. This is one of the main reasons why these fillers lasts so long.
The length of time a treatment maintains its effect is very individual and depends on many factors.
After Treatment
Immediately after the treatment, you can expect a slight redness, swelling, tenderness and an itching sensation in the treated area. This is a normal result of the injection. The discomfort is temporary and generally disappears in a few days. When it comes to lip augmentation, the swelling may last longer. Some patients experience swelling for about a week. During this time, the area can look somewhat uneven. This means that the result directly after the treatment should not be regarded as the final result. If the discomfort continues or if other reactions occur, you should always contact your practitioner.
A touch-up treatment within 2-4 weeks after the initial treatment may be necessary to achieve an optimal correction.
Before and after of same patient with lower lid filler. Note the smoothening of the lower eyelid nasojugal fold.
Before and after of same patient with filler injected into the nasolabial folds.
Side effects
After the treatment some common injection-related reactions may occur, such as swelling, redness, pain, itching, discoloration and tenderness at the injection site. These typically resolve spontaneously within a few days after injection into the skin and within a week after the injection into the lips.
Other types of reactions are very rare, but about 1 in 2000 treated patients have experienced localized reactions thought to be of a hypersensitive nature. These have usually consisted of swelling at the injection site, sometimes affecting the surrounding tissues. Redness, tenderness and rarely acne-like formations have also been reported. These reactions have either started a few days after the injection or after a delay of two to four weeks, and have generally been described as mild to moderate and self-limiting with an average duration of two weeks.
Non-animal
As RESTYLANE and Juvederm are totally non-animal product, there is no risk of eliciting allergic reactions if you are sensitive to common foods, such as beef, chicken and eggs. Unlike some other injectable products for wrinkle treatment and lip enhancement (for example collagen made from cow hide and hyaluronic acid made from rooster combs), RESTYLANE and Juvederm are totally non-animal product. This means that there is no risk of transmitting disease or eliciting allergic reactions if you are sensitive to common foods, such as beef, chicken and eggs.