Soft Tissue Fillers
Cosmoderm®, Restylane®, Captique®, Radiesse®, Sculptra®, and Fat Transplantation.
Overview of soft tissue fillers
Many aspects within the field of plastic surgery are changing. One of the biggest changes is our understanding of what causes facial aging. First, we thought the process was mostly limited to skin and, therefore, most of the procedures were skin rearrangement procedures and tightening. Now, we know that aging actually involves all layers of the soft tissue within the face. We now know that facial aging is actually the result of fat loss and fat descent as well as skin and muscle laxity.
Regarding soft tissue fillers, what we are mostly concerned about, in terms of facial aging, is fat loss and fat descent as we get older. Once we believed that all wrinkles and skin excess were caused from skin stretching. Now, we know that many wrinkles, skin excess, as well as the general appearance of aging are caused by the volume loss of fat and soft tissue underneath the skin. Just like when you remove the volume (water) of a grape you are left with a wrinkled raisin. By injecting volume, many wrinkles can be eliminated or at least reduced.
Soft tissue fillers are growing dramatically as physicians find that many signs of aging can be improved by injecting volume. Ten years ago all we basically had was collagen. While collagen is still extremely useful for fine wrinkles it did not fill in larger areas and had several draw backs. One of the major draw backs was its longevity. It only lasts 2-3 months. Another draw back was that patients needed to be allergy tested 3 weeks before the injection.
With advancing technology these problems have been improved. The newer soft tissue fillers last longer and do not require allergy testing. How much longer? Which filler is best for what area? These two issues are what is exciting in this aspect of plastic surgery. This is what the bulk of this educational presentation is directed toward.