Let's get right into this week and talk about a forever hot topic, Lip Fillers. We can talk for days about fillers in general but in particular we wanted to discuss lip fillers. People have been doing them for years, some look great, some look not so good but really it’s all about a nice balance. We love to look at all the pictures and see how women look. It really does change the face if done right!
Lip fillers in general though can be a hit or miss because sometimes we have a false perception of what will look right on your face. And let us not forget that what it looks like in pictures is completely different than what it looks like in real life. For us, natural is key but again each patient has their own needs and we try to fit those needs as much as possible. But we will say we will never put our finger on something that we don’t agree with for financial gain. Your face is a work of art and if what we are doing is not exhibiting that then why are we doing it at all?!?!
We know that people fear getting work done but if you go to a professional then you know you are in good hands. Do your reviews see who aligns most with what look you are going for and go for a consultation it never hurts!
Lip fillers in general is a quick 15 to 20 minute procedure and depending on who is doing it as well as what your end result is can be done in one office visit or in multiple. The logic for more than one office visit is usually for the fact that you can build a more natural, subtle look and for those who also require more plumping than usual without looking overly botched.
You can expect to feel stinging or burning sensations which can be minimized with the local anesthetic but still it depends because everyone has different levels of sensitivity. You also should be aware of any allergies. I feel like we have discussed this before and your doctor will ask you if you have allergies to latex or any of the anesthesia properties.
Now onto the good stuff, there are different fillers. You can use your own fat and this treatment can usually be done in one day! How this works is by taking a little bit of fat from one part of the body and process it to be injected into the desired area. This whole process is known as tumescent liposuction. Cool name right? But it is exactly what it sounds like, a type of liposuction.
After the procedure you go back to your normal day to day. In order to reduce redness or swelling you may want to ice the area. Those with more sensitive skin can stay back immediately after the procedure for another 10 to 20 minutes to ice the site and to be monitored. Please don’t exercise till the next day like with botox and avoid any tanning. You should try not to touch the area for 3 days but in some cases there are fillers done where massaging the area is helpful so your doctor will tell you if and when that is okay. For example the filler poly-L-lactic acid requires you to massage the area for 5 minutes multiple times a day for 1 to 2 weeks.
With most of these procedures there is no downtime and the results vary with each filler. Although we have noticed you will see immediate results of course it won’t be the complete one given there will be some swelling and redness. Filler also stimulates your body to produce collagen but this is not an effect you will see immediately.
Let’s talk about each filler in particular and when you see the results. The immediate ones are seen with your own fat, collagen, hyaluronic acid gel, calcium hydroxyl apatite, and PMMA. The Poly-L-lactic acid may take 2 to 3 weeks to reach peak effectiveness.
You always want a natural result and again because of that you should have an expert doing the filler. It also needs to make sense for your face! The results last depending on the filler type. Temporary fillers will require repeat treatment to maintain results but you can do it as needed to replace the lost fullness which is great as our skin ages. But the breakdown is like this, collagen lasts 2 to 3 months (longer if it’s done for scar treatment), hyaluronic acid gel lasts 4 to 12 months, calcium hydroxylapatite lasts 6 months to 1 year, Poly L lactic acid lasts around 1 to 3 years, body fat can last 1 to 3 years or longer if used for scar treatment and PMMA is the permanent one. Remember those lip injections everyone would get that you couldn’t removed.. Yes us too that was the PMMA.
Side effects can include redness, swelling, pain, sometimes bruising and these are temporary. They can go away right in the office or it can take a week or two to completely resolve.
More serious side effects such as lumps, ridges, over-filled, allergic reaction, infection, skin discoloration, severe swelling should be mentioned but are more rare. Remember to go to someone qualified!
In today’s world, hyaluronic acid fillers have become the most popular and they are designed to provide subtle enhancement of the lips. How it works is you inject small particles to increase the definition of your lips without increasing the size.
Hyaluronic acid is meant to hold in moisture in the skin. Today most of these lip fillers also have lidocaine already premixed which helps in making it less painful. The goal is to make thicker lips with volume and this typically can last up to 9 months.
Lip filler in particular is meant to create more plump lips that you are currently missing! People use lipsticks and lip liners to create this image but it does not last. Also most of the things marketed as a lip plumper that you see over the counter are actually products that are meant to irritate the lips making you look temporarily more plump. For years people have used at home ingredients to create this look. For example, noticed that when you eat spicy food your lips have more added color to them and look better? Along with that goes the burning effect you feel. There are other products like the Dr. Brandt needles no more lip plumper that people swear by. Don’t worry we will try it and give you a product review.
This might make more sense by now that different fillers do different things. So here we focused on lip fillers in particular and with that said the particle size that we use will lead to different results depending where you use it! Restylane silk for example works best at plumping lips and this is a smaller particle size than what you use for your cheekbones.
With hyaluronic acid fillers the look is usually more natural, again this depends on medical expertise but doing a less is more approach and coming back for touch ups will usually produce better results. Furthermore, with these types of fillers you can always dissolve it via an enzyme that is injected into the area and it goes away. This way you can always start over as opposed to back in the day when people had permanent fillers which left them stuck with the initial job. If you want to keep your lips as is, touch ups once or twice a year for maintenance is important.
Some of our Secret tips for this episode is:
1. Ice, ice baby
2. Lidocaine (topical may be enough) - make sure you give yourself enough time for the lidocaine to be effective. In some cases, a nerve block would be beneficial if you more sensitive near the area. For lips, it may be helpful since it’s more painful than botox usually.
3. Don’t go to places that offer cheap fillers it really just does not make any sense to take that risk with your face. Not all damage is reversible. As we said before we would rather pay top dollar than be stuck with something we don’t know. After all this is your face and it is the first thing you see so why not treat it as special as you would want to treat yourself.
4. Don’t get filler before dental treatments (like for example, teeth cleaning can misplace fillers) so you want to wait a few days to a week before undergoing this. Also avoid fillers if you’re pregnant, breastfeeding or have a sinus infection
Finally, for cost, treatments typically run from $650 to upwards of $2000 depending on what you’re doing, location, the product used and who you are going to.
That's all for this week, don't forget to leave us feedback, rate, review, subscribe and send in your questions so we can continue to improve as well as, provide you high quality content!
Disclaimer: The Content on our podcast/website is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website.