Question: I have had Restylane and Voluma in my cheeks and deep smile lines. I liked the results but they didn’t last long. How does Bellafill, the 5-year filler, compare?

Answer: Restylane, Juvederm, and Voluma are all temporary fillers containing hyaluronic acid (HA) and last 6 to 12 months. These short-acting fillers work by attracting water from your body into the areas treated. Over time, their repeated use can give an overly smooth, puffy, or unnatural appearance. HA fillers can also get very expensive over time.

Compared to temporary fillers, Bellafill offers the following benefits:

■ Duration of up to 5 years or even longer, in some cases.
■ A high safety profile.
■ Unlike most injectable fillers which are a man-made substance, the filling from Bellafill comes from your body’s own natural collagen.
■ Bellafill can get even better over time due to its ongoing collagen stimulation
■ Bellafill can be used
in a broad range of areas including the nasolabial smile lines, cheeks and temples, under eye hollows, marionette lines, sad mouth corners, and for non-surgical nose-reshaping.
■ Bellafill defines and contours compared to the smooth puffy unnatural look seen with repeat treatments of temporary HA fillers.
■ Bellafill is more cost-effective over time due to its long duration.

It’s important to keep in mind that Bellafill is not intended for use by the generic injector. Compared to temporary fillers, Bellafill requires:

■ Higher injector skill
■ In-depth knowledge of surgical facial anatomy including the location of key nerve bundles and blood vessels
■ Experience with advanced injection techniques for filling of deeper tissue layers
■ More expansive, 3-dimensional knowledge of facial balance and proportion in multiple tissue planes

I typically inject Bellafill with the advanced micro-cannulas. Micro-injection cannulas are thinner than most needles and associated with less swelling, less bruising, and less discomfort compared to standard needles used for injection. I also offer ProNox for greater patient comfort and anxiety relief during the injection.

As a specialty filler, Bellafill is ideally performed by a BellaDiamond injector in the the top 1% of Bellafill injectors in the world. BellaDiamond injectors represent the hallmark of skill and experience with Bellafill.

Consultation with a Board Certified Facial Plastic Surgeon who not only specializes in the face and neck but also has extensive knowledge of deep and superficial facial anatomy is the first step.