What you should know about fillers......

It has been a while since I wrote anything about fillers. However, recently during one of my socializing events I was faced with a lot of questions regarding fillers and botox. There was a great confusion between the two, still, despite both being very separate and totally different entities in terms of chemical compound and function.

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1. So what Are Fillers?

Fillers are substances you use to fill up areas of your face or body which has underwent volume depletion and is also used to reduce static lines. It can be from any substance like silicone gel, collagen, hyaluronic acid, calcium hydroxypatite, PLLA, PMMA or even biological fillers like heated PRP or fats. The most commonly used in a medical aesthetic practice are the hyaluronic acid fillers which are non-permanent and lasts between 6 months all the way to 24 months depending on how the cross-linking and molecular weight of the filler.

2. Are All Fillers the Same?

Definitely not. Different chemicals form different fillers. Therefore it is really important to know what type of fillers were used on your face. Some may not be reversible. Always ask your doctor what he or she is using. Not only it is good for you to know, but it also helps the subsequent treatments if you require any.

3. If I do not like the filler effect can I remove or change it?

Only Hyaluronic acid fillers can be diluted with hyaluronidase. The other fillers are almost impossible to remove without any surgical intervention. So make sure you know what you are putting under your skin.

4. How much does fillers usually cost?

Fillers are usually quoted by per syringe of usage. An original high-end filler product can cost anywhere from RM 1600-RM 3600 per syringe. Some other lesser brands cost between RM 800- RM 1500 per syringe depending on where it was made and specifications. Anything sold cheaper than that would either be non-original products or maybe expired fillers? Or sometimes the doctor is not so experienced that they give cheaper pricing to practice. Honestly, who would charge super cheap for well trained hands? The training itself requires a lot of money.

5. Does it hurt?

Honestly, any procedure involving needles would hurt to some extent, but depending on the type of filler, some fillers hurt more than the rest. It also depends on whether there is any lidocaine inside the filler that will reduce pain tremendously. Local numbing like creams can be used although it doesn't really make much difference physically (maybe psychologically) and local infusion of lidocaine does help to reduce pain effectively although very specific filler work would be impaired as there is already tissue distortion. You can discuss with your doctor pain management techniques that can make your experience much tolerable. So apparently, you do not need to suffer too much pain for beauty. If, in event the doctor injects and suddenly there is severe pain, please speak up and tell him or her. Severe pain might mean that an artery is being hit, or other crucial vessels, or even allergy to the filler.

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6. What can fillers do for me?

I always tell my patients, imagine fillers are like cement or plasticine. You can create volume which is not there like nose, cheeks or chin. You can redefine areas of your face and make contours, you can even smoothen deep lines. You can redefine your lips to make it more prominent or replenish the younger look. You can put it at your tear trough areas and reduce the sagged eye look and make you look fresher. You can reduce appearance of scars and improve photo angles (if your doctor is really really good). 

7. If I use a good filler, will it guarantee a good effect on me?

A good filler is always recommended to get the best effect. However, the other more important component is the doctor. How good is he/she at creating the effect you want? A lot of people think that filler injecting is just about injecting, but actually it is not. The best filler injectors in the world can put fillers on to a persons face and make him or her look more attractive but at the same time make it look as natural as possible that to most people, it doesn't look like any fillers were done. (Until you compare the before picture).

8. So say that I am interested, how sure can I be safe to do the procedure?

For newbies and virgins, I usually tell them to stick to hyaluronic acid fillers for any work because at least if you do not like it, we can dissolve it or wait for the effect to go off. The other most important thing is how well the doctor is trained because not all doctors are trained to do fillers. In my years of training other doctors practical filler techniques, I notice that even the way a doctor holds the syringe is enough to tell me how experienced they are. It is not the same as blood taking or other hospital procedures. Furthermore, to train the hand to be steady enough to evacuate the product from the syringe equally is quite a task if you are not use to it. To create beautiful natural looking work requires an additional artistic eye to detail which not all doctors have. Furthermore, if any problems from the procedure were to arise, a trained aesthetic physician would know what to do. Beautician filler injectors are the worst because for 1, you do not know what are they really using (they have no access to original medical grade products), 2. They are not trained to understand surgical anatomy or deal with complications, 3rd, if you allow a beautician to inject you, you cannot take any action on to them if the job is not done well, as they are not regulated by law, and you would have committed the first offence of going to a non-professional. Furthermore, there is a science and mathematical equation when we put fillers on to a person's face that is being taught in our training so that you remain looking like a human (and not some weird alien from star trek or some other sci-fi movie).

If you have any more questions on fillers, feel free to contact us at drmmclinic@gmail.com or 03-21106608.

Mother's Day Promotion....

     Last week we had a nice event in Faceworks Clinic for Mother's Day. Although it was a week earlier, but the thought that counts and we had a good turn up of guests. You can see pictures on our Facebook Faceworks Clinic Page - http://www.facebook.com/FaceworksClinic (Do like our page if you could :) ). It was a wonderful event. I gave a talk on medical aesthetics and what we can do with the current technology and medical advancement that we have. Mr Terry from Dermaqueen gave an interesting overview about our latest service called Dermaqueen, and Mrs Nazli gave a nice talk and short demo on Nutrilite organic nutrition as an important supplement to keep healthy. Then we had the nice delicious home cooked variety buffet. I personally made the marinara and buffalo wings. Whilst we had Kak Nora prepare some traditional lontong. Kak Nora is excellent with traditional menus and she even had some of the AFC chefs come down to learn her recipes. (Yes, if you want to try her cooking or learn you can ask me how to contact her). Bite Size kitchen prepared the colourful and beautiful muffins. (Thank you Ayu) and Mrs Haze prepared the delightful Tiramisu. (Yes, she also takes orders for her cakes). Dessert was delightful with Mr Belo's puddings that was delivered by Mr Belo himself - Neatly placed puddings for any occasion. As usual, Faceworks Clinic Events have the most wonderful palatable tastes, so it is definitely an event worth going to.

     After most of the guest indulged the food, we had a lip filler demo with Juvederm Ultra XC - the new range of hyaluronic acid filler with lidocaine to reduce pain, bruising and swelling. Our model was very brave, as she did not request for any nerve block, just some numbing cream, but with the new XC, you do not really need any nerve blocks since pain is reduced up to 70% compared to the previous fillers without lidocaine. And the best part is that it is already infused in the gel so that the filler does not get diluted and hence the efficacy of the filler remains the same. So say bye bye to painful lip fillers, because that is the thing of the past.

     I also demonstrated Obagi Blue Radiance Peel which gives instant radiance and evening of skin tone even after 1 application. We applied a complete 4 layers on the Model (a different one) and he was able to tolerate the pain (scored around 6 and improving to 0 over 5 minutes). We then left it on for 15 minutes, and applied a soothing mask afterwards for another 15 minutes to reduce any redness. Instantly after the procedure he looked more refreshed (well, who wouldn't after a nice 15 mins of lying with a mask and lavender pillows on the eyes in a dim room). I called him a few days later and he said he was okay, with minimal skin peeling but looking a lot more refreshed, with even skin tone and less oily compared to before. Yes, the Obagi blue peel radiance although is very good, does have a social down time of around 3-5 days, so I would normally tell my patient to do it on a social clear calender. It only takes 20 minutes to do anyway, so you can run in during lunch time. You only start peeling during day 2 onwards.

     The last demo was the highlight of the day, i.e. the Dermaqueen Demo. I had one of my friends as Demo i.e. Mr Ed (The Nutrilite guy). We numbed his face for 30 minutes and did the treatment on his face. There was a slight tingling sensation, with a pain score of maximum 2 - merely negligible. You can see pictures of him on our Faceworks Clinic Facebook Page. Immediately after the procedure, he felt his skin feel so hydrated and lifted. I met him yesterday and today and he looked fairer with better skin tone and he still feels the hydrating effect. He also noticed that his pores appeared smaller and because his skin is tighter, he looks better. Not bad for a guy who just went through a swimming marathon. (Which was why he got so tanned in the first place). For those interested to try this treatment out, we are giving a 1st trial special price of RM 1080/=. (Normal price RM 1800/++ session). 

Overall, the event was a definite success. A lot of my guests were impressed by the instant results from the demos, and of course the wonderful food. We had fun, and I hope my guests had fun too. Thank you so much to all my suppliers who helped sponsor goodies for my guests, and thank you to all my guests who came till the final hour. Thank you also to all my food providers for the wonderful food. Can't wait for the next event.

Well, for those who missed it, these are the promotions that we launched that day.

For more information please call us at 03-21440080 or email us at info@faceworksclinic.com

   

Sexy Lips......... In 15 minutes...

Lips... Lips... Lips..... Everyone is so obsessed with lips. Which is why cosmetic companies make so much creating lipstick and lip conditioners from various types to various colours. When a person looks into your face, the 1st thing that catches their attention would be eyes than lips, hence it is normal for us to want to have perfect lips. But lipsticks can only play with colours and some enhancement which is gone by the end of the day. And as we age, our lips start losing its shape, colour and more wrinkles are seen, especially if we smoke. So what can we do? Fillers of course. But which one?

Lip filling with fillers is not really something new. It has been around from years and was especially rampant in the United States. But in the past, most people used silicone or collagen lip fillers and the idea of enhancement was to have bigger lips. But bigger did not always meant better.

(Borrowed From Top 10 Worst Celebrity Jobs)

Looking at the celebrity botch jobs makes people feel scared to even think to try, but we all know that when it comes to tabloid, everything is blown big out of proportions. The other issue when dealing with lips is pain as the lip receives multiple nerve supplies in the face hence explain why the lips is a very sensitive organ. The saying before Beauty is pain. I personally do not believe that.

Which is why when Juvederm came out with their XC brand, I was excited. So what is Juvederm? Juvederm is a brand of hyaluronic acid filler which claims to be the number 1 brand in the world. Now they have preparations with lignocaine premixed in the syringe to reduce pain and inflammation. I have been using Juvederm for years, and it is my filler of choice when it comes to dealing with lips because of less problems when it comes to lumpiness. (Yes, fillers can get lumpy at times). Plus it softens within 2 weeks and now with lignocaine in it makes it less painful. Prior to this, I would need to give a complete nerve block around the lips which would involve additional 7 injections to get a good block - but with this, I have an option to reduce the block injections or not use blocks at all. (For first timers, I'd rather use blocks)

Furthermore, since it is a very soft and smooth product we can inject with a small 30G needle to allow better control and shaping. It is FDA approved to last 12 months, so for a non-permanent filler, this is ideal. Yay, great - now we have no pain and temporary. What else to consider?

Before you want to get your lips done, you need to have a clear idea what you want or at least discuss it with your doctor. From my observation, most young ladies prefer to increase the size, and more matured ladies prefer to return their original shape. Having a non-permanent filler the first time round is good, as you will have a look and feel of how it will be in case you do not like the change. I would normally advise, less is more. Its never good to look done, the more natural it appears makes a lot of diference. How many syringes? Usually for lip defining and contouring takes only 1, but if you are thinking of adding up volume then maybe 2 or more. How much is it? Well in US roughly around $600++. In Malaysia, the price starts RM 1500 onwards for the XC range. In proper hands, you can get marvelous results.

 

2 syringes of JUVÉDERM^® Ultra 1 week after treatment

Interested? Please call 03-21440080 for consultation and appointments. Especially for our Mother's Day Open House on this coming 5th of May, we will be having a Juvederm XC lips demonstration and will be selling RM 1200 coupons for Juvederm lips only on that day. This coupon can be used any other time till 1st Jan next year. See you there.