8 Versatile Uses for Dermal Fillers
Dermal fillers are injections that contain a gel, with the content of this gel varying depending on the filler you choose. In this article, discover the 8 uses for dermal fillers.
The most common fillers are made from hyaluronic acid, but there are so many other skin-plumping substances out there that can be used. The filler you choose will also have an impact over how long your results last, with this ranging from six months to 18 months.
Dermal fillers are fantastic for adding volume to the face or the body. While they are most commonly used on the cheeks and the lips, they can be injected into just about anywhere in the skin that needs plumping up.
Here are eight popular uses for dermal fillers:
1. Adding Shape and Volume to the Lips
While some people naturally have full and plump lips, there are more people who don’t. The fact that the lips commonly thin with age doesn’t help either!
This is why more and more people have been turning to dermal fillers to add volume and shape to their lips. This simple treatment can really make a huge difference to your overall look.
Lip fillers are usually carried out over the course of a few treatments.
Why?
Because this enables you to slowly get used to the plumpness, preventing over-plumping from occurring. As you may have recently seen on a number of celebrities, over-plumped lips are a common problem, and are the main concern when undergoing lip fillers.
Doing this gradually helps to avoid this problem. An experienced surgeon will also know exactly how much of the filler to inject into each lip. Usually, the bottom lip requires more, and the top lip only requires a very small amount. This ensures that you end up with a natural look. After all, you don’t want it to be obvious that you have had fillers put in!
When it comes to lip fillers, hyaluronic acid or collagen are the most popular options.
While both of these plump the lips up, hyaluronic acid has the added advantage of being a powerful humectant. This means that it can hold on to a large amount of water, giving you an even more natural look.
2. Fading Away Laugh Lines
While laughter is great for your physical and mental health, laughing does also lead to those pesky laugh lines forming around the mouth.
These lines are also referred to as:
- Marionette lines
- Nasolabial folds
- Smile lines
Laugh lines are pretty much an unavoidable part of aging, especially for people who are quite expressive.
However, if you have taken a dislike to your laugh lines, dermal fillers can help you to clear them.
How?
The fillers are injected into the actual creases around your mouth. This then adds volume and plumpness, making the creases so much less visible.
3. Sculpting the Jaw and Chin
So many people are unhappy with the appearance of their chin and jawline.
Why?
For a number of reasons…
It could be down to age, which usually makes the chin and jawline sag. Others may be genetically predisposed to having a weaker jawline, or even a small chin that looks disproportionate to the rest of the face.
A strong chin and jawline tends to be more attractive, which is why more and more people are opting for dermal fillers to help re-sculpt this part of their face.
When used on the chin, dermal fillers can:
- Stiffen the skin
- Define the chin and jowls
- Minimize the appearance of a weak chin
- Lengthen the chin to balance out facial proportions
These fillers are usually injected into the chin itself.
When used on the jawline, dermal fillers add so much definition, leaving your face looking much sharper and more contoured.
Where about on the face are jawline fillers injected?
Usually in the chin too, as well as the corners of the jaw. Your dermatologist may also need to inject fillers into your cheekbones too to give your jawline an added lift.
4. Treating Acne Scarring
Acne scarring is more common than you would think…
Research shows that at least 40% of those who suffer from active acne also end up with scars.
Acne scars, just like any other type of scar, can be quite difficult to clear. While chemical peels and laser treatments can sometimes help, this does depend on the type of acne scar you have. Ice pick scars, boxcar scars and rolling scars tend to be the hardest to treat.
Fortunately, this is something that dermal fillers can help with…
How?
The fillers are usually injected just beneath the scars. These then have the effect of lifting up depressed scars, giving the skin a smoother and brighter appearance.
The way in which the injection needle targets the fibroblast cells in the skin also stimulates your skin into producing more collagen and elastin. This gives you longer-lasting results from the treatment, as your skin will be working harder to heal itself.
Some fillers are also able to break up the bands in the skin that cause the scars, making them even less noticeable over time.
You are probably thinking…
If fillers are temporary, doesn’t this mean that my acne scars will only return after a while?
In a way, yes. However, many practitioners have found that when the scars do return, they are never usually quite as severe as they were before the fillers were injected.
5. Clearing Tech Neck Lines
Do you spend quite a bit of time looking down at a screen?
These repeated motions will soon lead to what is now being coined as tech neck.
What is tech neck?
It’s the horizontal wrinkles and lines that appear on the neck, due to you constantly bending your neck downwards.
Of course, even if you don’t do this, you may still experience lines on your neck due to age. The skin here is much thinner and more delicate than people realize, meaning that it does not take long for it to become loose and wrinkled.
This is where dermal fillers come in…
They provide pretty much instant results to tech neck, plumping this area up and restoring its youthful appearance.
Are the lines on your neck vertical rather than horizontal?
This would mean that they are bands rather than rings, and cannot really be treated with dermal fillers. Instead, you will likely need to opt for a surgical treatment if you want to clear these.
Have you noticed that the lines on your neck extend further down to the rest of your décolletage?
This is common due to how the muscles in the neck and shoulders are pretty much constantly moving. The décolletage also tends to experience more sun exposure than other parts of the body, leading to a crepey appearance over time.
Well, dermal fillers can be injected here too. This will rejuvenate your décolletage and increase the moisture content of the skin here, giving you a plumper, smoother and tighter appearance.
6. Adding Volume to Hollowness Underneath the Eyes
Have you noticed that the area underneath your eyes has appeared more hollow over the years?
This is common, and is due to the natural loss of collagen and elastin that occurs with age. This results in the skin losing its volume and structure, leading to the hollowness. This hollowness is sometimes also referred to as a tear trough.
Since dermal fillers are so effective at restoring lost volume and plumping the skin back up, they are a great option to consider if you want to treat this hollowness.
Not only will the fillers have an immediate effect, but the way in which they stimulate the skin into naturally producing more collagen and elastin will help to add volume to this area over the long term.
Fillers that treat hollowness underneath the eyes will also help with:
- Dark circles
- Eye bags
- Fine lines and wrinkles around the eyes
7. Rejuvenating Aging Hands
The skin on your hands is quite thin, with this thinness increasing with age. The hands also tend to be exposed to various environmental factors far more than the rest of the skin on your face and body, be it sun exposure, water or just wear and tear.
This is why the skin on the hands is so susceptible to wrinkles and blemishes. They also tend to take on a crepey appearance with age. While there are several treatments that can help with this, from laser resurfacing to chemical peels, dermal fillers are the only way to restore the smoothness and firmness to the skin here.
How do dermal fillers help with this?
The way in which they restore volume to the hands immediately helps to plump them up. This makes wrinkles, veins, tendons and bones so much less visible.
Where about in the hands are the fillers injected?
This depends entirely upon how much your hands have aged. Your dermatologist will know exactly where the fillers need to be injected. Once this has been done, your dermatologist will massage these fillers into place. This ensures that the fillers contour around the shape of your hands and do not restrict your movement in any way.
One tip to keep in mind when looking for a dermatologist to perform your hand fillers…
Ideally, you want someone with plenty of experience in using fillers in the hands. They should also have a solid understanding of hand anatomy.
Why?
Because this has a huge impact over the final results. If your fillers are injected too deeply, the results won’t last for very long. On the other hand, if they are injected too close to the surface of the skin, they are easily visible and will not give you the natural finish you are seeking. This is why it is important to find a dermatologist who knows exactly where in the hands to inject the fillers.
8. Tightening Up the Earlobes
Your earlobes may not be a part of your body that you pay too much attention too, but you will likely notice them more and more as you age.
Why?
Because, over time, your earlobes may start to sag, and can also take on fine lines and wrinkles. If you have holes in your earlobes from piercings, these holes can expand as your earlobes sag, which is something that nobody wants.
What can you do about this?
Turn to dermal fillers, of course!
These will plump and tighten your earlobes back up, smoothing out any lines or creases. By restoring volume to your lobes, any earrings that you wear will also sit much better against your face. Of course, in order to keep your results around for as long as possible, you should still try to avoid earrings that are extremely large or heavy.
Where about in the earlobe are the fillers injected?
They will usually be spaced out around the perimeter of your whole earlobe, focusing on areas where your skin is particularly thin or droopy. Only a tiny amount of the filler is needed to give you a natural-looking result. If too much is applied, your ears will only end up looking swollen.
Earlobe fillers also tend to last longer than fillers injected into other parts of the face and body.
Why?
Because the earlobes don’t actually move about very much, meaning that they do not disrupt or degrade the fillers. This is why people who have dermal fillers injected into their earlobes will notice results lasting for as long as 18 months.
Can fillers be used to treat low-hanging earlobes?
Unfortunately not. This is something that only an earlobe reduction would be able to help. However, after that, you can use dermal fillers to help maintain your new, youthful earlobes.
8 Uses for Dermal Fillers
One thing to keep in mind with dermal fillers is that some of them are actually reversible. If you are not happy with the results, your dermatologist can inject an antidote into your skin. This then breaks down the ingredients within the filler, returning your skin to its original state.
Hopefully, we have covered in the details the 8 Uses of Dermal Fillers.
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