Are Dermal Fillers Right For You?

How dermal fillers can enhance and augment the results of other rejuvenation treatments as part of a holistic approach to ageing  

Dermal fillers are one of the pillars of facial rejuvenation here at The Secret Garden, Winchester, but they are something many patients are still, understandably, wary of.

So I thought I would use this blog to go beyond our general dermal fillers FAQ https://thesecretgardenwinchester.co.uk/dermal-fillers to explain how fillers fit into an overall 360 approach to ageing well and to address that fear factor that some people have around injectables.

The skin-up approach

No other treatment can replace lost volume the same way as fillers, but, for me, they are a part of the jigsaw puzzle, not the whole picture.

At our clinic, we take a skin-up approach. Why? Because making sure your skin is looking healthy and glowing is not only a great first step into aesthetics but it also enhances the results of any other treatments you may go on to have. There’s no point having a face full of filler if the canvas, your skin, is in poor condition.

And, on that note, faces full of filler are not what we do here!

Fillers are a tool for enhancing volume or providing contours in the face that have been lost due to ageing or were never there in the first place. Some people have naturally thin lips, for example. Fillers should be used to enhance and restore. What they should never do is distort and completely change your natural features.

If you’ve been put off by overfilled pillow faces and so-called Russian Lips on social media or reality TV shows, I don’t blame you, but those are extreme examples of too much product being used that make people look almost alien-like. This is not the norm. We are not aiming to create an army of clones. Most patients seeking dermal fillers want to look like themselves, just fresher, younger, good for their age and/or less tired, and that can definitely be achieved. In fact, it is the goal of filler treatments here.

And this is where I circle back to the skin-first approach because skin treatments are the Holy Grail when it comes to making sure you are using the minimum amount of filler you need to get the best possible result.

Choosing the right practitioner for your dermal filler treatment

This is also where choosing the right practitioner comes into play. Choosing the right clinic is a high priority if you want natural results and safe outcomes. Dermal fillers are generally very safe treatments, particularly hyaluronic acid fillers, which can be reversed if necessary. However, there are risks and side effects associated with dermal fillers, risks I believe are enhanced when the treatments are performed in untrained and unregulated hands.

If complications do occur and reversal is necessary, then you need a practitioner who can prescribe, such as a doctor, dentist, nurse prescriber or a prescribing consultant pharmacist, like me.

That is why making sure you go to a registered, accountable clinic where safety is a top priority and where the products being used are from reputable manufacturers is of key importance. As a Save Face registered clinic and practitioner registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), that is precisely what we offer at The Secret Garden, Winchester.

To sum it up

Dermal fillers are a great way of augmenting the results of other treatments as part of a holistic 360-degree approach to rejuvenation.

They can provide scaffolding and support where gravity has taken its toll, and your face has begun to sag. They can add plumpness and fullness to the face and smooth out lines and wrinkles in the process, and they can give contour, definition and shape to lips, cheeks, chins and even noses to enhance natural beauty. However, you are missing a big part of the overall picture without the skin treatments. The two go hand-in-hand.

By investing in your skin, doing the skincare and the skin treatments and then doing the filler (if necessary), that’s when the magic happens. And it’s the magic we are aiming for. That sweet spot where you look in the mirror and think, “Wow, I feel like myself again, only better”, and where other people say, “Wow, you look great”, but they can’t put their finger on why.