A New Direction with Dermal Fillers

We’ve known for a while that ‘volumising’ the cheeks, or placing dermal filler in the cheeks can lift the lower face. This procedure is known as the ‘liquid facelift’. It can achieve a beautiful natural lifting of the marionette lines and jowls, simply by filling the areas of the cheeks that have lost fullness over time.

Another area that can be amazing for retracting the jowls or tightening the jaw-line is the masseter, or chewing muscle area. By filling this in men, it can give a squarer, broader jaw and pull back on jowls at the same time. We use smaller amounts in women in order to pull back jowls, or tighten the jawline, without squaring off the jaw.

Dermal fillers are a natural product, created by bacteria in a laboratory. They are almost identical to the hyaluronic acid that is through-out our body. This means the rate of any allergic reaction is miniscule, about 1 in 25,000. The most common risk is that of bruising. In most cases, it is nothing more than a pin-point, but I always recommend that patients not have anything important on in the week following treatment, in case of more serious bruising.