‘Fillers’ have been used to treat lines and wrinkles of the face for over 30yrs, giving an immediate effect with only a few days of possible downtime, so have been very popular. They are also used very effectively to enhance lips, cheeks, chin and in the past even breasts.
Their use in the lip area has certainly changed over the last few years, with emphasis now on a more natural, subtle look. As our understanding of how the face ages has change dramatically over the last few years, so the use of fillers has also adapted to now give far more natural improvements. The over-filled, puffy effect that we have seen on the faces of so many ‘Celebrities’ over the years, will soon become a thing of the past.
The newer techniques now used to introduce the fillers, have also resulted in the effects frequently lasting longer, which is thought to be due to the production of new collagen. It should be noted that these can result in some localised bruising.
One area where fillers have had an unexpected and dramatic impact is in the correction of imperfections in the shape of the nose. This has greatly reduced the call for Surgical Rhinoplasty (‘Nose-Jobs’), and is even used when surgery has given unsatisfactory results.