As the holiday season quickly approaches, you’re inevitably going to be inundated with a plethora of social functions and festive events such as family get-togethers, office parties, and dinner engagements with friends. There’s no better reason to do everything in your power to boost your self confidence by looking and feeling your absolute best. An excellent way of achieving your goal is by getting dermal fillers in Toronto under the care of a highly experienced facial plastic surgeon.

What Are Dermal Fillers and Injectables?

Dermal fillers are gel-like materials that contain hyaluronic acid, which is a type of matter that’s naturally produced by the skin. Hyaluronic acid helps to promote elasticity and vitality in the skin cells to help them stay healthy and strong. As the skin ages, it inevitably loses its natural elasticity and begins to sag, form indentations, and develop wrinkles over time. Dermal fillers are formulated with the intent of combating these signs of aging by filling in these depressions within the skin and plumping it up to render a more youthful and radiant result. The main difference between dermal fillers and injectables is that the former works on the surface of the skin to reduce the look of or completely eliminate vertical lip lines, marionette lines, nasolabial folds, and furrows.

Injectables, on the other hand, work a lot deeper than dermal fillers in the sense that they’re injected directly into the facial muscles that have depleted volume in order to correct fine lines, wrinkles, and crow’s feet on the surface of the skin. They correct these problems internally to assure a long lasting and effective result.

Rejuvenate with Injectables

Injectables are an excellent alternative and non-surgical form of skin rejuvenation treatment, especially if you’re in the hands of a skilled local facial plastic surgeon who’s taken the time to understand your desired results. With this method, you can easily improve the look, feel, and elasticity of your skin without having to actually go under the knife. The most common form of these treatments are the use of neuromodulator injections such as Botox®, Xeomin, or Dysport Aesthetic®; the purpose of these commercial products is to ultimately correct fine lines, wrinkles, crow’s feet, and fold formations that occur in the skin on the face. Of the three of these fillers, neuromodulator Botox® is evidently the most well known.

Given the growing popularity of Botox® injections in the GTA around this time of year, it’s not surprising that a number of other notable injectable fillers have also infiltrated the market throughout years. Of course, they each work in different ways and render slightly varied results, so it’s important that you discuss your desired results and expectations in detail with your facial plastic surgeon prior to doing the procedure.

Injectable Treatments That Can Help You Look Your Best This Holiday Season

Here is a list of some of the most popular injectables and dermal fillers that are currently on the market:

Juvéderm®

Juvéderm® in injected into the worst problem areas on your face and actively works to rejuvenate, hydrate, and restore volume to areas of your face that need it most. It delivers youthful and radiant results by accentuating the natural contours of your face. The objective isn’t to fabricate new facial tissue or to manipulate the existing facial tissue, but to work what you already have and build upon it or restore what’s missing.

Radiesse® Dermal Fillers

Radiesse® dermal fillers are superficially injected below the surface of the skin and work instantly to add volume to the affected area of the skin. It contains collagen, which is a naturally occurring substance within the skin, and continues to stimulate and promote the development of new collagen cells for a long lasting and effective result.

Restylane®

Restylane® features a series of different products that are aimed at eradicating wrinkles, fine lines, folds in the skin, crow’s feet, marionette lines, and other skin imperfections. Depending on the look you’re hoping to achieve, there are specific Restylane® products available to help you reduce the look of laugh lines, worry lines, and even lip injections to help you add varying levels of volume to your mouth as well as other parts of your face that need it.

Teosyal™

Teosyal™ is perhaps one of the most effective injectable dermal fillers on the market today because it contains the highest concentration of the hyaluronic acid your body naturally creates, which means the formula doesn’t need to be fortified with as many proteins as some of the other products on this list. It also means that this product produces the longest lasting and most durable results of all the other products listed here. With Teosyal™, less is more because you can achieve the ideal results with even the smallest possible injections.

Important Things to Know About Injectable Treatments This Holiday Season

Before you make the big decision to get facial fillers in Toronto, there are a few general helpful facts you should know about how the procedure works such as how long it takes, the estimated length of your recovery period, when you can expect to start noticing results, and how long those results are expected to last.

How Long Does the Procedure Take?

Dermal injection procedures can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes for each area, depending on the number of injections required and the location of the injections. A numbing agent such as lidocaine is usually applied to the affected area first and then the first syringe is injected into the skin. Before determining whether a second injection is needed, your plastic surgeon should wait a few moments to see how the first one affected you and whether you have any adverse reactions to it. Following the injections, your plastic surgeon’s office might ask you to stick around for a few minutes to examine the injection areas and make sure that everything went according to plan. Once they determine that the procedure was a complete success, you’ll be allowed to leave.

When Will You Start to See Results and How Long Do They Usually Last?

You’ll notice results almost immediately after the procedure ends, but be forewarned that these results are temporary. Since the puncture wound from the needle at the injection site is still fresh, some of the swelling or plumpness you’ll see right after the procedure is from inflammation that occurs as part of the body’s natural healing mechanism. That said, once the swelling subsides, you should notice the actual results about three to four days after the procedure. In most cases, these results should last anywhere from one to two years, depending on a few mitigating factors such as the number of injections applied.

Dr. Andres Gantous at Toronto Facial Plastic Surgery has been a world-renowned facial plastic surgeon for over 20 years and has served as the keynote speaker at countless conferences, symposiums, and events worldwide regarding various industry-related topics and innovations. To schedule a preliminary appointment with him, please contact us.

Image credit: iStock.com/EdwardDerule