Since I have been in the cosmetic medical industry, I have noticed so many fashions come and go. I am noticing one currently with regards to dermal filler nasolabial folds.
The fashion I am noticing, is that I am seeing many patients coming in and saying “I went to injector X and asked them to put dermal filler in my nasolabial folds, but they wouldn’t do that and told me instead to fill my cheeks”. This is a common story.
I am not sure why. Is it that:
- at some recent series of cosmetic conferences the fashion may have been to say,”patients don’t need their nasolabial folds treated, it is caused by volume loss and so they just need their cheeks lifted instead” ?
- these injectors are new to the industry and work at a clinic where they have been told for safety reasons not to inject the nasolabial folds?
I’m not really sure.
What I am sure, is that it is damn important for ageing to get some dermal filler substance under the wrinkle/fold to make it look better and also to prevent it from worsening.
I am not saying that cheeks shouldn’t be injected. Of course I’m not, if cheeks need filling, they need filling (and they almost always do!). For anti ageing, volumisation, cheek correction in the mid face is often the most important treatment of all. I just think that both are important. A nasty deep fold looks old, and the fact of it is that the deeper a fold gets, the more difficult the fold is to treat, so it is important to treat it early and never let it get too deep.
What are nasolabial folds?
Nasolabial folds are the lines between the corners of the nose down to the beside the mouth.
How do they occur?
They are a formed by a combination of volume loss and the regular smiling movement
Should we treat them?
The question should be,” if I treat this patients NLF, will the patient look better?” If the answer is yes, then go for it!
Risks of treatment
There are the temporary and not very worrying risks of swelling and bruising and temporary lumpiness. The area of the nasolabial fold is at risk for tyndall effect, particularly in an older person’s skin or with thin skin.
The worst possible risks are of blindness or necrosis, which are very rare.
Cost
Typically 1ml is used in the nasolabial fold, price starting at around $750. Please see current pricing