How Long Do Fillers Last?

It used to be that the only road to a more youthful appearance came at the edge of a knife, but now dermal fillers are offering a gentler approach to anti-aging. While nothing is quite as effective as a facelift for tightening sagging skin, we can now tackle some of the more problematic areas (cheeks, lips, and chin) using a few simple injections that provide you with a temporary reprieve from the forces of aging.

At McHugh Plastic Surgery, Dr. Thomas McHugh is one of the leading plastic surgeons in the area, and he has helped scores of clients turn back the effects of time on aging skin. While our plastic surgery services are effective and long-lasting, we recognize that surgery isn’t for everyone, which is why we offer the latest, nonsurgical anti-aging tools, including cosmetic injectables.

Here’s a look at what we can accomplish with dermal fillers and how long you can enjoy your great results.

Filling it in

As you age, your skin loses its structural support — namely collagen and elastin — which causes the skin to thin and sag. The effects of this are especially pronounced in certain areas, such as your:

• Nasolabial folds (the parentheses lines around your mouth)
• Marionette lines from your lips to your chin
• Lips
• Cheeks
• Under your eyes
• Around your jowl line

With dermal fillers, we can restore volume in areas where the thin layer of fat has disappeared, namely around your cheeks and under your eyes. We can also plump up thinning lips, which also reduces any vertical lines that may have formed around your mouth.

Lastly, with dermal fillers, we can fill in those deepening lines around the bottom half of your face, especially around your mouth and chin.

A temporary solution

At our practice, we offer industry-leading dermal fillers from Juvéderm®, Restylane®, and Belotero®, and they all contain the same key ingredient — hyaluronic acid.

Hyaluronic acid is the go-to ingredient for dermal fillers for several reasons, not the least of which is that it’s a substance that’s naturally found in your body, which means your tissue readily accepts the filler.

What this also means is that your body naturally absorbs the hyaluronic acid over time. The rate of absorption varies from one person to the next, but most of our patients enjoy anywhere from 6-18 months of results from our dermal fillers. These results also depend upon the brand and type of filler we use, and we’ll be sure to explain each to you.

The good news is that when your results begin to fade, all you need to do is return for another round of injections, which takes us only minutes to administer.

We should note that there’s no treatment that can stop the march of time. Even after a facelift, your skin will continue its aging process and the signs of aging will inevitably reappear. Granted, a facelift turns back and restarts the clock, which buys you far more time than our dermal fillers.

For those who are not keen on the idea of surgery, however, dermal fillers offer a great alternative that provides you with excellent, short-term results that you can renew.

To schedule your dermal filler appointment today, contact our office in The Woodlands, Texas, today.