Fillers delay need for facelifts

FAT…it’s a hate-love relationship.  We hate it on our bodies but love it in our face.  In our youth, our face is loaded with numerous fat pads adding just the perfect amount of volume where our face needs it.  Mother Nature knew exactly where to put those fat pads to add youthful curves to our facial structure.  Thanks to the natural aging process caused by GRAVITY, WEIGHT LOSS, DIMINISHED COLLAGEN, and many other factors, our facial fat and underlying bone diminish with age, leaving the overlying facial skin loose.  Oftentimes, doctors are heard giving the following analogy of the shrunken bone and fat in the face: the face is like a table that has shrunken with a loose tablecloth remaining on top.  Essentially, this is the process which takes place in our facial anatomy with aging.  In our early 40s, and sometimes starting earlier in thinner people or athletes with higher muscle mass and lower fat composition in their bodies, we notice the loss of fat and laxity of skin in the areas around the mouth, upper lip, and lower lip, called the nasolabial folds and marionette lines.   The folds are caused by loss of fat or fallen fat pads, which push downwards and create the deeper wrinkles or grooves in these areas.   In the cheek region,  we often see sunken cheeks where once youthful curvaceous cheeks lived, we notice the loss of the S-curve (or Ogee curve as doctors call it) in our cheeks and a flattening of this area when we view our faces from a 3/4 angle.

Facial fillers are the best and most instantaneous remedy to the loss of fat on our faces, where even facelifts cannot recreate the lost volume on our faces.  Unlike facelifts, which only tighten the loose skin, fillers replace the plump and curvaceous silhouette to the face and in the hands of an experienced injector with a good aesthetic sense of the natural curve of the face, results are dramatic and beautiful.  Fillers are injected underneath the surface of the skin (depth of injection depends on the filler used and the area injected), and they replace lost volume where our fat pads have disappeared.  Replacement of volume underneath the skin surface re-drapes the skin and fills it back up, thus tightening the skin similar to water being filled into an empty balloon and stretching the elastic out.  During the injection process, we show the patients their results in a mirror as filler is injected, allowing our patients to take an active role in the skin rejuvenation process.  Results are instantaneous and patients walk out the door looking years younger (this is a great way to look more youthful instantaneously if you are going to a wedding or reunion in the coming weeks).  The fillers used at Derm Clinic MD are all FDA approved,  manufactured by reputable U.S. companies, and injected by a board certified physician or surgeon who carefully evaluates each patient’s facial anatomy and aesthetic goals, making sure the results are natural and approved by the patient.