Dermal fillers are being used more and more to help reverse the changes associated with aging. Because the goal is to return the dermis to its original youthful state, dermal fillers can give a more natural appearance than surgical face lifts. Dermal fillers are being used to reduce or eliminate wrinkles, raise scar depressions, enhance lips, and replace soft-tissue volume loss. 

Types of Dermal Fillers:

Several classes of dermal fillers are marketed in the United States today. They include: collagen based fillers, hyaluronic acid based fillers and calcium hydroxyl apatite fillers. Moreover, promising dermal fillers are in development that will offer superior capabilities in the future.

The ideal dermal filler should be easy to administer, provide reproducible cosmetic results, remain in the dermis for a significant period of time, and have a superior safety profile. Injection of fillers usually requires the use of either a topical numbing cream or a local injection of numbing medication. Then, using a small needle, the dermal filler is injected into each wrinkle or scar that requires treatment. Some mild burning and stinging is normal and quickly resolves.

The results can last from three months to five years, depending on the filler being used. Collagen provides the shortest duration with effects lasting anywhere from three to six months. Hyaluronic acid based fillers tend to last a bit longer with effects lasting from six months to one year. Calcium hydroxyl apatite fillers can provide results that last greater than 3 years.

Side effects are uncommon but can include limited allergic reactions (hypersensitivity), ulceration, and reactivation of herpes infection, bacterial infection, localized bruising and granuloma formation.

Hypersensitivity reactions to the older collagen-based dermal fillers were frequent and required skin testing ahead of the treatment, but are becoming less common with the use of human collagen instead of cow derived collagen.

Ulceration is rare and occurs when the filler is injected into a blood vessel; cutting off the blood supply to the overlying skin. Bacterial infections are rare and may be treated with antibiotics. Localized bruising is temporary and may be reduced by applying ice before and after injection. Granuloma formation is a rare complication that may require steroid injections, or surgical extraction of the granuloma. 

What are Dermal Fillers?

Skin starts to sag and wrinkle naturally with age, as underlying fat and collagen diminishes. Injecting dermal fillers into the skin plumps it up, makes it firmer and smoothes out lines and wrinkles. Dermal fillers, based on hyaluronic acid, a naturally occurring substance is widely used in medicine. Other types are made with collagen, produced from cows' skin. Newer types of filler with other ingredients claim to have a longer lasting effect, but aren't widely available.

What dermal Fillers can do?

Frequently used to fill out the lips, dermal fillers are also highly successful in reducing crows' feet, wrinkles around the lips, nose and mouth, and lines on the cheeks and forehead. They can also plump out hollow cheeks, reshape the chin or nose tip, or fill acne scars.

What dermal Fillers can't do?

Fillers can't alter the actual size of the nose.

What happens during treatment?

As with any cosmetic treatment, you should consult a qualified dermatologist or a physician before deciding to go ahead. Around 3% of people are allergic to bovine collagen, so a skin test is always given to patients being treated with collagen-based fillers.

Before treatment itself begins, the face is sometimes numbed with a local anaesthetic cream or injection. Fillers are applied under the skin with a series of injections – a mildly uncomfortable process, with injections close to the lip or nose the most likely to be painful.

Treatment takes up to one hour, and many people go straight back to normal daily life afterwards, although if a large area is treated it can take a few hours or even a day or two to recover. There may be slight bleeding where the needle was inserted, plus mild bruising or redness which will disappear in a few days. Repeat treatments are needed every six to nine months to maintain the appearance.

Results

The results are visible immediately, with the full effect showing once any swelling and bruising has subsided.

Risks

Avoid dermal fillers if you have active acne, or show even a slight reaction to the filler on skin test. After treatment, allergic reactions sometimes crop up, including itching, puffiness, and red or bumpy skin. Patients who have had cold sores in the past can suffer an outbreak. Rarely, red lumps appear under the skin some months after treatment.

Where to get treatment?

Dermal fillers can be given by Physicians and Dermatologists. Although fillers are non-prescription preparations, manufacturers recommend that they should be used only by medical professionals.

Cost

Sometimes a combination of different fillers is used, or dermal fillers are used alongside botox. There's a wide variation in cost, depending on the type of filler and depth of filling needed. Prices are based on the number of syringes of filler and to get the prices please consult your dermatologist.