Injectable Fillers (Improving Skin Texture)

About the Procedure

Injectable fillers are a family of substances used by plastic surgeons to enhance the look of a patient’s skin. Depending on the goals of the patient, such fillers can be injected under their skin to reduce wrinkles, obscure scarring, add volume and sometimes, to make mild alterations to the contour of a region of the body (commonly the lips or face). There are a wide range of different injectable fillers in current use, some organic and others non organic, and they range in effective duration from 3 months to theoretically permanent. Regardless of the filler used, these injections are considered a form of minimally invasive surgery and as such should always be performed by a qualified plastic surgeon.

Most injectable fillers are designed around the concept of supplementing the body's natural supply of collagen or hyalluronic acid (HA), two of the main biological components that naturally keep our skin smooth and soft when we are young. As the human body ages levels of HA and collagen drop, resulting in wrinkles.

Two of the most common collagen treatments are simple injections of either human collagen or bovine (cow) collagen. Bovine collagen treatments tend to be less expensive and just as effective but may result in an allergic reaction. Human collagen is not actually pulled directly from human donors but is synthetically mass produced from human cell cultures. This is significantly more expensive but there is practically no risk of allergic reaction. In both cases, quarterly or semi annual injections are required to maintain the desired effects

HA treatments are among the most expensive injectable fillers in use. This is due to the complex chemistry behind them. Most modern HA fillers work on the concept of modifying the actual molecules of the acid to make it more resistant to being broken down, or to enhance the degree to which it tightens the skin. Allergic reactions are exceedingly rare with this type of treatment and the results typically last from 9 months to a year.

Other forms of treatment include fat grafting, which involves performing liposuction on one part of the patient's body, then processing and refining the fat and finally re-injecting it into the desired area to make it fuller. There is no chance of allergic reaction in such a case and the results tend to be very long lasting. Very recently, the compound known as polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) has started seeing use as an injectable filler. This substance has been the lynchpin of orthopedic prostheses for decades. Cosmetic results of the compound (though with limited data) show very positive results thus far and the nature of the compound would also suggest that the effects of such an injection would be permanent.

What to Know Before the Procedure

It is important to determine the correct compound for your injection. This is something your doctor can help you with. Outline realistic goals for what effect you wish to achieve with the treatment and explore any possible allergies you may have to the various compounds. Be sure to consider that some treatments will have to be repeated regularly and pick a form of treatment that fits your lifestyle and expectations. Be advised that smokers are poor candidates for this type of procedure.

What to Know After the Procedure

As a minimally invasive procedure, patients are able to resume normal activity right away. If you are experiencing discomfort, irritation or itching at the injection site more than a week after the procedure, this may be an early indication of an allergic reaction and you should contact your doctor immediately.

If you Need to Travel Outside of your Local Hospital

As the process does not require any real recovery time, any form of travel is perfectly safe after having skin enhancing fillers injected. What one must factor in is the repeated nature of many of the treatments. While new treatments like PMMA injections have a theoretically permanent duration, the most common treatments need to be repeated 1-4 times per year. As a result, domestic travel may be preferable if you foresee going with a repeated treatment, where as with PMMA or fat injections the cost effectiveness of international travel may be a better option.