As your skin ages, your skin loses collagen and fat and falls prey to other factors such as sun damage, smoking, poor diet and pollution. All of these things can take their toll on your anti-ageing wellness, causing your skin to appear wrinkly and saggy. However, dermal fillers are non-surgical injections that claim to restore youthfulness to your face, but how do they work? We spoke to celebrity cosmetic dermatologist Dr Shuba Dharmana, the Founder of Le’Jeune Medspa and winner of Woman Entrepreneur of the year 2012, to find out more.
According to Dr Dharmana, ‘Dermal fillers contain hyaluronic acid in a very purified form. This is used to build collagen that is lost from the ageing skin thus restoring volume, lifting sagging skin and plumping out the folds. The hyaluronic acid filler is injected in to the layers of skin, in the folds after numbing the skin with a local anaesthetic cream…These injections are not very painful when used with the numbing cream and you may feel only a slight discomfort. But the effects of the fillers last for 12-18 months and they help maintain younger looking skin.’ So which areas can be treated with dermal fillers?
1. Cheeks: ‘As we age, we lose volume in the cheeks,’ says Dr Dharmana. ‘This, in addition to the effects of gravity causes the underlying tissues and the skin to droop giving rise to laughter folds. This volume in the cheeks can be regained with thicker dermal fillers that not only create a fuller, youthful lift giving high cheek bones but also correct the laughter lines.’
2. Lips: Dr Dharmana explains, ‘The injections used in the lips will help accentuate the lip line, the cupid’s bow area, the smoker’s lines and to plump body of the lips. Depending on one’s pain threshold, they may choose to have this with a local anaesthetic cream or have a set of numbing injections called ‘dental blocks’ given into the gums inside the mouth prior to the procedure. These injections given inside the mouth are relatively painless and are similar to an injection from your dentist before a tooth removal.’
3. Décolletage: ‘We often overlook our décolletage, the most age revealing part of our bodies,’ Dr Dharmana laments. ‘It is the area comprising the neck, shoulders, cleavage. The skin around the cleavage is one of the first places women show their age. The skin is fine, thin and very delicate, and tends to show sunspots and lines easily with age. Women also tend to overlook this area when it comes to skincare, not realising they should be treating it with just as much care as their face. This area can be treated effectively with a slightly less viscous dermal filler like Juvederm Hydrate, Restylane Vital, Mesolis or IAL. You will have a series of tiny injections in the area after using a numbing cream and you will require three sessions and maintenance treatment once every three months.’
4. Nose: Dr Dharmana asks, ‘Don’t like the shape of your nose? You can correct it without surgery with this treatment. Fillers are used to non-surgically repair a crooked nose or build a higher nasal bridge. This non-surgical rhinoplasty performed with fillers lasts up to two years.’
5. Hands: ‘Hands, especially fingers show signs of ageing which can be corrected with the help of a filler that hydrates, lifts and plumps volume in to the sagging skin,’ notes Dr Dharmana.
But what about possible side-effects? Dr Dharmana adds, ‘Due to the use of needle, there is likely to be some bleeding and rarely some bruising at the injection site. Redness and swelling may occur after the injection and this reaction may last for two weeks. There is rarely any discolouration of the injection site, nodules. But if these develop, report them to the practitioner as soon as possible so they can advise on the best course of treatment.’
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