No matter how hard you work to keep yourself healthy and well, age can take a toll on your skin. Fine lines, wrinkles, and lost facial volume can add years — even decades — to your appearance.

About your aging skin

There are basically two types of wrinkles: static wrinkles and dynamic wrinkles. Static wrinkles — which is what dermal fillers treat — form due to aging and the environment. With aging comes a decrease in the production of collagen, elastin, and hyaluronic acid.

These substances help plump up and smooth out skin. With their decline, your skin can begin to sag and lose fullness. And when you add in environmental factors, such as sun damage and gravity, skin can begin to look less and less youthful.

The second type of wrinkles — dynamic wrinkles — form due to making repeated facial movements. Over time, the muscles that make these facial movements can begin to stay in semi contracted state, thus pushing the skin above them into wrinkles.

While this blog is focusing on static wrinkles, we can treat dynamic wrinkles, too, by using botulinum toxins which cause these semi-contracted muscles to relax, which then allows the skin above them to smooth out.

How dermal fillers work

Dermal fillers have a gel-like consistency, and they’re injected just below the surface of your skin. Most fillers are made from hyaluronic acid and collagen, substances your body makes to support lubrication, cell turnover, and elasticity.

Once your provider injects the dermal fillers, the hyaluronic acid and/or collagen go to work smoothing away lines and wrinkles, restoring volume and tone, and rejuvenating your skin. Depending on your aesthetic goals, you can use different fillers to achieve different effects.

For example, if you’re worried about lines along your lips, we can use dermal fillers to smooth them away. If, on the other hand, you want to restore fullness to your cheeks, temples, or the backs of your hands, we can use fillers to plump up these areas.

Though rare, some patients may experience temporary redness, swelling, or bumps at the site of their injections.

• Issues dermal fillers can treat:
• Skin laxity (looseness)
• Sunken or hollow cheeks
• Fine lines and deep wrinkles
• Lip lines
• Parentheses lines
• Nasolabial folds

While you’ll notice improvements immediately after your dermal fillers are injected, it’s not uncommon for patients to undergo more than one treatment to get the results they want.