We love the temporary fillers we have been using for years to give us fuller lips and and fuller cheeks and fewer lines on our faces, but sometimes it seems that no sooner are we getting fully comfortable and accustomed to our new look that the filler starts to fade and we need another treatment.
Then again, whilst permanent fillers do last forever, not everyone wants to commit an area of their face to permanent filling, particularly when a permanent filler cannot be 100% removed, and when an area that has been treated with a permanent filler becomes something of a ”no-go zone” as far as other future treatments and procedures are concerned.Enter our Calcium-based filler.
Our Calcium-based filler gives you up to TWO YEARS of filling. That means only two treatments for every Olympics, rather than two every year. What’s more, this is a WYSIWYG filler – what you see is what you get. The result you see straight after your treatment is indicative of the result you get over the treatment duration.
What is this filler? The active ingredient in this filler is a calcium-based compound. It is the same substance bones and teeth are made of – a compound with which your body is already very familiar. It’s been used for over twenty years in orthopedics, neurosurgery, ophthalmology, otorhinolaryngology and dentistry.
This calcium compound is formed into tiny spheres 25-45 microns in diameter, then suspended in a water-and-glycerin gel. The filling material as supplied is 30% by volume calcium compound and 70% by volume gel, ready to inject.
How does it work?
Like any pure filler, its role is to provide volume where it is placed, and this it does right from the outset, thanks initially largely to the gel. Then over the following three months two important and complementary processes occur: 1) the gel gradually breaks down and is eliminated, and 2) the remaining calcium hydroxylapatite particles are infiltrated with collagen from your own fibroblasts.
These two processes occur simultaneously, leading over three months to the replacement of the gel with collagen. This volume substitution occurs 1:1, so that the filling effect neither increases nor diminishes, although you may notice the filler feeling more natural with your own collagen in it than with the gel.
At around the two year mark the calcium compound and the intervening collagen are both breaking down and diminishing in volume. You’ve had two years of reversible filling after a single treatment.
Where can it go?
All the fillers are different in terms of exactly how they work and where they can be placed for what effect. This filler is great for treating deeper lines like nasolabial folds and melomental folds, as well as for providing volume into cheeks and chins.
It has to be placed well under the skin rather than merely under the surface of the skin. It isn’t suitable for fine lines around the eyes, nor for the lips. It shouldn’t be placed directly between your eyebrows in the “glabella”.
What’s a treatment like?
Much the same as any filling treatment. We like to place anaesthetic cream on the skin at the proposed treatment site, then wait for the anaesthetic cream to work. We like to photograph the area we are going to treat, so you’ll be able to see in before/after photos the difference we have achieved.
After cleaning the skin we then proceed with treatment. As with all our filling treatments, we show you step by step the improvements we are achieving for you, and discuss with you our plans for every injection (Some patients prefer to leave it all to us and not discuss or view the treatment as it proceeds: that’s OK, so long as you know the offer is there).
How does it look afterwards?
Better! You’ll see immediately the filling we are achieving for you.
You might also see, on the treatment day, some tiny dots where the needle has passed through your skin. Some pinkness may be present at the treatment sites. These effects only last a few hours.
Bruising is always a possibility after any sort of injected treatment. Any bruising that occurs will itself lead to some temporary filling effect which will of course last only a few days, and is one exception to the WYSIWYG aspect of your result as noted above (The other exception is the degree of tissue swelling that occurs if you have a local anaesthetic injection prior to your treatment. The volume of the anaesthetic obviously puffs out the tissue for a few hours, and is then absorbed).
Otherwise, what you see is what you get.
What now?
Book a consultation with us so we can determine together whether our calcium-based filler is suitable for you. If not, then we’ll be able to advise you on the best approach to take for whatever cosmetic issue you may have.
Phone 9368 0100 |
