We have found that only certain injectable products offer worthwhile benefits, as follows:
Hyaluronic Acid Injectables
Restylane and Juvederm are brand names of a form of hyaluronic acid (the jelly-like substance found in our joints), first developed in Sweden as a replacement for Collagen (see below). The material comes in pre-filled syringes and is injected into lips, wrinkles, and folds to smooth out surface contour irregularities and to provide fill as a temporary maneuvre which can be done easily under no or local anaesthesia only. Because it does not contain materials which might cause allergy, pre-testing is not required.
Typically, the area treated is not bruised after treatment, swells during the first two to three days after treatment, and reaches its optimal form after about three days.
Experience with these fillers is now considerable, dating back for cosmetic use to the late 1990s in Canada, and even earlier in Europe
Fat injections
Fat injections have limited benefit in the treatment of fine and medium wrinkles, but recent work has shown that part of aging is the gradual loss of fat from the face and therefore the fullness of the face. In a short operation, requiring between one and two hours, fat, is injected where it is needed in the face, filling out contours and plumping up the skin. It is taken by liposuction from another part of the body.
We do not recommend the following injectable products:
Collagen
Collagen in skin care creams and lotions is of absolutely no value. As a large protein molecule, it cannot penetrate through the upper layers of the skin.
Purified collagen protein has been injected into fine and medium wrinkles for about twenty years. A simple office visit is required and the injection takes only a few minutes. A skin test for allergy to the collagen is required, prior to treatments. It takes several days to see the results of the test, and many doctors feel a second skin test is worthwhile, to prevent allergic reactions to the injected collagen. Collagen treatments are moderately effective but the effects are relatively brief, lasting only three to six months. Most patients want more extensive and longer–lasting improvement than collagen offers and are better waiting until they are prepared to undergo more definitive treatment.
I do not use injectable collagen to fill wrinkles and fine lines of the face. It certainly is not “replacement therapy” as described by the advertisements promoting it. It is made from animal collagen, and is broken down in human skin once injected. In fact your own collagen is in a balance, being constantly made and broken down.
Artecoll
Artecoll was another injectable which is now no longer available. Our concerns about it related to its content. It was is made up of acrylic (plastic) micro-spheres in a collagen base. Because of the microspheres, once injected, the selling point was that it was permanent ( perhaps an advantage). But the “flip side” of this was it is very difficult to remove. While this offered a hope of permanent change, it makes problems difficult to treat, and we have seen difficulties arising from the injection of silicone in the past which make a less permanent injectable more attractive.
If you have had Artecoll® injected in the past:
We have some limited experience in removal of unsatisfactory results of Artecoll from lip injections. while final results have been satisfactory in the few cases we have done, the surgery can result in prolonged healing problems requiring months to settle and a final result which has ranged from excellent to merely “acceptable”.
For advice on the use of injectable fillers, please don’t hesitate to call our office or email us for our appointment with our Botox® and injectable fillers nurse Susan Mackenzie. You can email Sue at
