One of the first things we notice as we age is the loss of facial volume, often the result of a lack of collagen, which keeps the skin full, luminous and elastic. However, the first places we think of for fillers, the central face and smile lines, aren’t the only ones that could benefit from fillers that replace lost volume, and, in the case of hyaluronic acid fillers, increase collagen production. The lateral areas of the face-temples, cheeks and jawline-should be considered as well.
“When Restylane was FDA approved and other fillers became available in the U.S. market, people were very focused on the central face, the smile lines and the lips. As time has progressed, people are becoming well volumized. What I find most exciting now is sculpting the lateral aspects of the face-the temples, the lateral cheeks, the jawline and doing it in a way that completes the picture for the patient,” says Sarasota, FL, dermatologist Elizabeth F. Callahan, MD.
If you’re thinking that this will leave you looking distorted, the opposite is true. “It’s a natural look,” Dr. Callahan says. “The tendency over time with central volumization is that the face gets more square and rectangular. What lateral volumization does is bring the face back to its natural form-gentler, rounder, softer and very hard for the naked eye to detect that something has been done.”
