What Are Dermal Fillers?
As you age, your features may lose some of their youthful volume, and wrinkles and folds may develop around your face. Dermal fillers can address these changes non-surgically, rejuvenating your appearance in a conservative, effective, and natural-looking way.
Chevy Chase Facial Plastic Surgery provides a wide range of dermal fillers. The breadth of our product lines allows us to offer treatment for every stage of need, and the women and men in our care typically see their physical age restored by five to ten years.
At CCFPS, board-certified surgeons conduct all of our dermal filler procedures. Practice founder Dr. Jennifer Porter has over 20 years of experience in both non-surgical and surgical rejuvenation techniques. Her expertise contributes to excellent outcomes and greater comfort for our patients.
The Benefits of Dermal Fillers
Dermal fillers are injectable solutions that offer a non-invasive option for restoring fullness and smoothness to your facial features. The result is a naturally youthful appearance. Treatments are lasting but not permanent, providing you with a significant aesthetic benefit without serious commitment or downtime.
Different dermal fillers have different formulations, active ingredients, durations of benefit, and consistencies. As a result, CCFPS uses each of the products for specific purposes. Some of the most common ways we help patients are:
- Returning definition and volume to the lips.
- Reducing the severity of nasolabial folds — the facial lines that develop between the nostrils and the edges of the lips.
- Limiting the appearance of the marionette folds (lines that run vertically from the corners of the mouth).
- Softening and filling out areas that have lost fullness over time, such as the cheeks and temples.
If you are interested in immediately younger features without surgery, explore treatment with dermal fillers at CCFPS.
View Dermal Fillers Before & After Photos
Types of Dermal Fillers
The JUVÉDERM® line of products uses a modified form of hyaluronic acid: a naturally occurring substance that helps moisturize, soften, and volumize the skin. Individual products offer different consistencies so that a patient’s features feel natural and full following treatment.
If you have had problems with lipstick running, or if your lips aren’t as plump and defined as in years past, you may be a good candidate for JUVÉDERM VOLBELLA®. We recommend VOLBELLA® for patients who want to add fullness to their lips, create a starker border with the surrounding skin, and address fine lines that may have developed around the mouth.
VOLUMA can restore fullness to your cheeks if you’ve had moderate-to-severe volume loss. Most of our patients receive two doses per session — one for each cheek — to get back what they may have lost.
Drs. Porter may recommend VOLLURE® to fill in nasolabial folds, decrease the cheek-lip depression, and reduce the appearance of marionette folds below corners of the mouth. They may also use it in combination with VOLUMA® in the cheek to give a softer, more natural-looking result.
RESTYLANE® has one of the longest histories on the market among dermal fillers. While our doctors occasionally use the “standard” formulation for deep nasolabial and marionette folds, we also offer targeted treatment with other products in the RESTYLANE® line, including those listed below.
We are proud to be among the first to offer the newest product in the Restylane family, Restylane Contour®. This product is specifically designed to volumize the cheeks and midface.
RESTLANE LYFT® is one of our favorite products for patients who need a lot of filler in different places. We can introduce LYFT in areas like the cheeks, nasolabial folds, and vertical lines below the lips.
The REFYNE® product is great for reducing the appearance of fine lines around the lips and for adding volume to lips that have lost fullness over time.
DEFYNE® has a thicker consistency than REFYNE®, which makes it ideal for treating severe marionette lines and nasolabial folds.
BELOTERO® is one of the most lightweight dermal fillers on the market. It has a tendency to stay in the location where it is injected, so the results from treatment are very predictable. Dr. Porter primarily uses BELOTERO® to fill in moderate nasolabial folds and deep tear troughs below the eyes. Resolving the latter condition can help you look more rested and alert.
Some of the patients that we treat have experienced global volume loss. They might be committed joggers or marathon runners, or they may have a medical condition that has caused their features to appear less full and more angular. Using Sculptra®, our doctors can restore youthfulness to the face in areas such as the temples and around the cheeks.
The RHA collection of designer fillers is the latest advancement in hyaluronic acid filler technology. Chevy Chase Facial Plastic Surgery is proud to be one of the exclusive providers for this brand of filler. This product is intentionally made to be more like the natural hyaluronic acid in your skin and is designed to adapt seamlessly to the dynamic demands of the face to achieve a natural look.
Treatment with Dermal Fillers
When you come in for your initial consultation at CCFPS, you’ll have the opportunity to speak at length with your doctor about your aesthetic concerns and goals. Because we provide a range of solutions, we can recommend an approach that is based on your needs rather than limited by our offerings. If possible, bring in photos of yourself at an earlier age, as this can help guide our treatment planning.
In most cases, patients can get dermal fillers on the same day as the consultation. Here’s what you can expect in our care:
- We will clean and apply ice to the areas that we will be treating. This will desensitize the skin for a more comfortable experience. All of the dermal fillers that we use also contain lidocaine, an anesthetic that leaves the injection site numb and pain-free for about an hour.
- Your doctor will add the dermal filler in the areas that you discussed in your consultation.
- Depending on the location and number of injections, we may apply a special cream afterward to limit the possibility of bruising.
Treatment with Sculptra is a little different than with other dermal fillers. You will receive a topical anesthetic beforehand, and we will also use a “chiller” device during the process to make your experience a comfortable one.
Whether you get Sculptra or another dermal filler, the appointment won’t take long, and you should be able to return to most of your normal activities afterwards. Following your appointment, CCFPS recommends that you ice the areas where you received filler. We will see you back in our office two weeks later so that we can review your results. Knowing whether and where we need to add more filler in future sessions helps us fine-tune your treatment over time and give you the best results possible.
Dermal fillers vary in their duration. For example, BELOTERO® and “standard” RESTYLANE® last about six months, while REFYNE®, DEFYNE®, and most JUVÉDERM® products last about a year. With SCULPTRA®, patients usually have a total of two or three treatments spaced 6-8 weeks apart, and their improvement lasts about two years. When you feel like you need a touch-up with any of these dermal fillers, we welcome you to schedule a follow-up visit with CCFPS.
Dermal Fillers Frequently Asked Questions
How Can Dermal Fillers Restore Lost Volume in the Face?
As people age, one of the first major changes they might notice is a loss of volume in their face. This often happens because of a combination of the skin losing elasticity, a change in the composition of fat, and the way that muscle tissues interact. Over time, the result of these factors is a hollow, sagging appearance in the face.
Dermal fillers are one of the best ways to replace the hollowness that can naturally appear when a person ages. They are a series of gels that Dr. Porter injects under the skin in order to restore plumpness and fullness back to the face. The procedure itself is quite simple. Patients arrive at Dr. Porter’s office, and then the areas that require treatment are marked. Dr. Porter will then inject the fillers into the targeted spots, where they will take the place of lost tissue and provide a more youthful shape. Some dermal fillers even encourage the production of collagen or reverse the appearance of wrinkles to give the face a natural boost. In particular, dermal fillers are good options for:
- Filling out hollow areas in the cheeks
- Restoring volume and definition to the lips
- Eliminating nasolabial folds and marionette folds
Because dermal fillers are injectable, they provide immediate results for patients without the need for surgery or other procedures. Patients simply need to take 15 minutes out of their day to receive the injections, after which they’ll leave with a face that looks plumper and younger.
What Are Some Benefits of Considering Dermal Fillers vs. Other Options for Facial Rejuvenation?
Dermal fillers aren’t the only method of restoring fullness to the face, but they are one of the best. While every patient has slightly different needs, dermal fillers answer the call for many situations, including filling in hollowness in the cheeks and temples, reducing the appearance of certain wrinkles, and helping to plump the lips.
One of the biggest benefits of dermal fillers is the lack of downtime paired with immediate results. Patients can get dermal fillers at Dr. Porter’s office on their lunch break and return to work that very same day without missing a beat. It won’t take days or weeks for results to reveal themselves — patients will be able to see a difference in the mirror right away, while some other facial rejuvenation procedures are more invasive, have a longer recovery time, and take an extended period before the final results can be seen.
Results from dermal fillers also last longer than many other procedures. Patients simply need a single appointment to achieve success, after which, they won’t need to return to Dr. Porter for a touchup for six months or more. Other procedures can require multiple touchups over the course of a few weeks or months.
Finally, results from dermal fillers are subtle and reversible. If the patient is unhappy with the look, Dr. Porter can often dissolve or touch up the filler to adjust the result. Other facial rejuvenation procedures can be irreversible, which is a major problem if the patient isn’t happy with how it looks.
Get immediately smoother, fuller features with no downtime. Schedule an appointment for dermal fillers online or by calling our office at (301) 652-8191.
