A short educational video by Dr. Shervin Naderi summarizing common injectable dermal fillers. He groups fillers into collagens, hyaluronic acids, and miscellaneous other fillers (e.g., Radiesse, Artefill), and describes each group’s source, typical duration, typical uses/limitations, and examples of brand names.
Chapters
The next common group of injectables are the fillers. And the fillers fall in several main categories. The oldest types of fillers that we have that are still available today are the collagens. The next group are the hyaluronic acids. And the third group, I like to include other fillers and materials that really don't fit into the first two group that I mentioned. Collagen is a natural substance. It comes either from cow or pigs or from human sources. And depending on which source you choose, the cost varies and also the need for skin testing varies. Human collagen does not require any skin testing before injection. The injections are relatively painless compared to the other injectables because there's a little bit of lidocaine within each syringe. The downside of collagen is that it only lasts about two to three months at most. The upside is that it's one of the finest as far as molecular structure. So you can place it into very fine lines effectively. Especially little marks such as chickenpox or acne scars can be treated very nicely with collagen. The second and the most popular group are the hyaluronic acids. Restylane, juvederm, purlane, hyloform, captique. All of these fall in this group. It's also naturally substance within skin, and the duration lasts somewhere between four to six to eight months, depending on the product. Finally, the last group is a hodgepodge of different fillers. Radies, which initially came out under the name radiance and then changed to the word radiesse. It's hydroxyapatite, which is bone cement. It's a fine substance. However, it cannot be placed into fine lines and it should be avoided into the lips because it has a high chance of color causing nodules. Radius advantages that it lasts about a year or slightly longer. The next filler, which recently became FDA approved and is the only FDA approved filler of a permanent nature in the United States, is Artefyll. Artifil is a mixture of polymethyl methacrylate or minuscule glass beads swimming in a matrix of collagen. It takes typically two to three injections. The costs are a little bit higher, but since it's per and long term, it does become cost effective. Again, it should be avoided into fine lines and not placed into the lips. There are other forms of injectables, but really the workhorse of injections are the hyaluronic acids, with restylane and gingoderm being.
