What makes filler look natural instead of overfilled?

Structure first

From about thirty, the face starts losing the structure that holds everything else in place. Dr. Ourian looks at that loss before he looks at lines.

“With the age of 30, we start to lose our bone structure and I need to replace that.”

Filler then goes where support has been lost, such as the cheeks, the under-eye area, and the lips, rather than into every place that looks a little empty.

“And I use fillers some fillers depending on exactly which product I use to perhaps make the lips fuller or lift the cheeks a little bit up or fill the under eye area. Again, all of them I look at them as a tool in my toolbox.”

What overfilled actually means

Overfilled is not only too much product. It is product placed too superficially, or volume added to make up for a change in shape.

“So, the goal is not to make someone look filled, and the goal is to restore contour, balance, and the structure in a way that it looks very natural.” “I can give a series to anyone and they can overfill your face, and that's the easy part. The difficult part is creating a result where someone looks healthier, more more rested, fresher, but nobody can really tell exactly what changed in their face.”

Why filler is not the answer to everything

The problem starts when every change in a face is treated as something filler can fix.

“So, filler and Sculptra and all these products are just one of the tools we have in our toolbox. And luckily we have them. So, the problem is that when people start to treat everything as though it can be fixed with a filler or everything can be fixed with Sculptra or another product.”

Some changes are skin quality, some are muscle movement, some are excess fat. Each has a different tool, and a plan usually combines several.

The two myths

Patients arrive with one of two opposite beliefs. The first is that creams, lasers, and filler can do the job of a facelift. The second is that filler always moves, lumps, or looks like too much.

“Uh another thing that another myth that is on the other side is that people will say, 'Well, fillers are going to make you they're going to move or they're going to make you look lumpy or they're going to be too much.' The truth is, like anything else, too much is too much.”

Filler also does not rule out surgery later.

“So, just because you're getting fillers, as long as you do it right, doesn't mean that you cannot get a facelift later.”

How long it lasts

It depends on the product, not on a single number for filler in general. Dr. Ourian has described hyaluronic acid fillers such as Restylane lasting months and longer-acting products lasting years.

“Dermal fillers can be short, lasting, something collagen Restylane that anywhere from three to six months, all the way up to permanent such as Artefil or Radiesse which last for a long, long time.”

Fixing filler from elsewhere

When filler from another clinic has moved or lumped, he corrects it without judging the first injector. Dissolving everything completely is hard, so the work is slow.

“I like to find a solution for it. I like I don't like to I don't like to judge and say, 'Well, you should have come to me first.' It base you know, people even the best doctors make mistakes. So, you could have something could have gone wrong and I'm happy to fix it and that's my job.”