Collagen
The ability to inject materials into facial wrinkles and scars as filling
agents has been around for along time. We have been offering our patient's
the Injectable material collagen. Collagen is available as
Zyderm and
Zyplast which are manufactured from Bovine skin. Patient's who wish to try
collagen must receive a small test dose of the collagen to check for an allergy
to this product. Only a few individuals will be allergic to the product
and therefore can not receive it. There is an interval of one month to see if
the skin will react before we can inject collagen into the face or lips.
Collagen is a natural protein and therefore will be metabolized. The
effects of the collagen may last for 2-3 months. The injections can be
repeated as often as necessary to maintain the desired effects. The most
common areas to inject the collagen are: Lips, nasal-labial lines and fine
lines and wrinkles around the mouth. The injections are done using a
topical anesthetic agent or pre-injection ice. Minor swelling and
infrequent bruising are sometimes seen.
Read more about this product.
Improved collagen products are also now available.
CosmoDerm and
Cosmoplast are human engineered collagen fillers. They are
clearly less immunogenic than bovine collagen. Theoretically, they may
degrade more slowly and last longer. No test dose is required and the
product is now currently available.
In February, an FDA advisory panel recommended approval of the filler
Artecoll, which will be sold under the brand
name Artefill. This is a permanent collagen implant product. It
combines polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) microspheres and bovine collagen as a
permanent treatment for wrinkles and soft tissue defects. The manufacturer
says that when bovine collagen is reabsorbed into the body, the presence of the
PMMA microspheres generates new collagen production in that same spot. It
has been used in Europe for close to a decade and is available in other
countries. Artefill is supposed to last forever, but we will have to see
what happens with it.
What else is available?
FAT
Another alternative to collagen is your own fat. A surgical procedure
that can be performed under local anesthesia or a mild sedation is offered to
help correct lines and wrinkles of the face, fill hollow areas of the face, add
to the hand to give a more youthful appearance and anywhere else that is
deficient. The procedure involves harvesting fat from the patient, usually
from the inner thigh or abdomen. The fat is processed and re-injected into
the area using a fine needle and syringe. The most common areas of fat
graft placement are the lips and the nasal-labial fold lines of the face. The
procedure can take anywhere from one to a few hours. There is usually
swelling and mild bruising noted which resolve over the first week after the
injection of the fat. Keep in mind this is your own tissue and therefore
no test dose is required. The fat tissue is a graft and therefore must
acquire a blood supply to survive. If this occurs and usually is does, the
fat is permanent. This means that the fat injected into your lips will
stay forever. Usually half of the fat graft will survive. A second
procedure may become necessary or desired to further augment the area if some of
the fat graft goes away. Some patients do require 2-3 sessions to achieve
the desired look they are after. Keep in mind that the fat is a living
cellular structure and will change with you. If you gain weight over the
years, the fat graft may also enlarge and if you loose weight, the fat graft may
decrease in size. There is nothing like your own tissue--a truly natural
product!
Artificial Materials-- Radiance®
New and different materials are always being tested for use as facial fillers.
You may have heard about a material called Radiance®.
This material is FDA approved for use in the human body. It has been used
in the vocal cords as a filler and as a marking material. It is made from
HydroxyApatite which is the building block of bone. Since it does not
contain calcium the product is soft and moldable. It is available to us only for
off-label use. We think this product will be useful as a filling material
in the nasal-labial folds of the cheeks and in the lips. It may also
prove to be useful as a filler for the cheeks and for facial scars. This
product does not need a test dose as no allergic reactions have
been found in patients. The exciting thing about this product is the
duration of its effects. Reports by physicians show it may last for 5-7
years. Read more about this product.
Artificial Materials-- Restylane®
Another product, Restylane®, now available in the United States has
been used in Europe, Canada and Australia as a filling agent. Restylane is made from
Hyaluronic acid. Hyaluronic acid is a polysaccharide (sugar) that is found
in all living structures. Hyaluronic acid may offer advantages to patients
who are intolerant of proteins (and collagen). In gel form, it binds to
water and provides volume for filling in areas of tissue loss, such as the
nasalabial folds. Read more about this product.
We are entering an era of much competition with these new products.
Time will tell if they offer improvements over currently available products.
None of the products will be perfect and they all have slightly different uses,
different adverse event profiles, and different aesthetic utility in that one
may work better in one location than another. Please join us for a
consultation and learn more about this unbelievable new product. You can
have it injected on the same day as your consultation and there is no down time.
You will see the results immediately.
Artificial Materials-- Hylaform®
And yet another product containing hyaluronan. Hyaluronan is a
naturally occurring polysaccharide of the extra-cellular matrix in human tissue,
including the skin. Manufactured by genzyme and distributed by INAMED
aesthetics. We also have this new product available for immediate use.
Schedule an appointment now
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