Permanent Cheek Fillers

Fillers have become increasingly popular to conceal early signs of aging on the face. The area of greatest use is for improvement of the hollows that develop at the top of the cheek associated with early bags of the lower lids. The only people who are spared these aging changes are those who have strong cheekbones.

Soft tissue fillers are injected through the skin to plump out the hollows so that the shadows are diminished and the bags camouflaged. Fillers offer convenience and are quite effective, particularly when the bags are early, but they are inherently a stop gap measure that needs to be repeated every 6 to 12 months or so to maintain the result. The thought of this, with the repeated discomfort and swelling, not to mention cost is of concern to an increasing number of people.

Most people would prefer to have the problem simply “fixed” once and for all, but this has not been an easy option until now. The logical remedy is to correct the cause of the changes, which we know is shrinkage of the underlying bone. Accordingly, the logical correction would require the use of a hard material that is like bone and is lasting.

The use of Hydroxyapatite

Fortunately, an excellent material is available, and has been used extensively as a bone substitute for over 25 years. This material is hydroxyapatite, which is structurally the same as human bone, and is obtained from treated coral. However the coral, which is granular, cannot be simply injected as is done with soft tissue fillers. It must be precisely placed directly onto the surface of the deficient bone to which it adheres and fuses to hold the correct shape. Although the procedure is more involved than a filler injection, it is less involved than real surgery and is performed with either a local anaesthetic or a light general anaesthetic in a proper operating theatre.

The procedure

Dr Mendelson has developed a method for this using a tiny incision that is concealed inside the mouth and the procedure is completed in about an hour. Bruising, if any is minimal, although there is some swelling of the cheeks for a few days.

Provided the coral is placed before the tissues have sagged, this procedure is all that is needed to almost permanently correct the aging changes of the mid cheek and slow down future aging.

To be able to perform this more limited procedure for people wanting to avoid the ‘merry go round’ of temporary cheek fillers is a natural evolution of the technique and is immensely satisfying.

Dr Mendelson has extensive experience with the use of hydroxyapatite coral having used it in nearly 400 cases of cheek enhancement, and more on other areas of the facial skeleton.