Profhilo & Dermal Fillers: A Comparison
What Are Dermal Fillers Made of?
As we age, our skin produces less and less collagen and elastin – the building blocks which make up plumped up healthy skin. For many years now dermal fillers have been made of the same substance which is present in younger skin: hyaluronic acid. In dermal fillers, the product is non-animal and the hyaluronic acid is in the form of a fully bio-degradable liquid gel. Many dermal fillers nowadays also contain local anaesthetic, generally lidocaine, for a pain-free procedure.
What is Profhilo and How is it Different from Dermal Filler?
While Profhilo is based on pure hyaluronic acid technology, it is not accurate to call it a filler. Profhilo is a patented product manufactured by the world’s leading medical producers of hyaluronic acid and its producers are keen to clarify that:
“Profhilo is not a volumising dermal filler. It is also not mesotherapy. It sits between skinboosters and fillers as a SuperSkinBooster in that it offers fantastic hydration but also triggers collagen and elastin production, resulting in bio-remodelling of the skin” (Dr Ravi Jain recently speaking to the Consultingroom)
Indeed, Profhilo is the only product to stimulate all four types of collagen and elastin. So Profhilo is perhaps best-described as a ‘bio-rejuvenator’, ‘bio-revitaliser’ or ‘tissue-stimulator’ and these terms are catching on as aesthetic medicine moves in a new direction. So it really is in its own category!
How Can Profhilo Cure Wrinkles?
Profhilo is currently the only product capable of stimulating your natural production of all four types of collagen and elastin – those vital substances which are lost from the skin as we age. So it is accurate to say that it can effectively cure certain kinds of wrinkles from within the skin, by boosting and utilising your natural processes.
The more long term filling effect of Profhilo, therefore, is not caused by a foreign body reaction but is stimulated by the natural production of the different collagen types within your skin. That is to say; rather than remaining where it is placed until it naturally degrades, Profhilo interacts with your tissue and causes it to regenerate.
Profhilo for Preventing Wrinkles
It’s important to note that Profhilo is an excellent option for the earlier prevention of lines, wrinkles, and loss of volume. Beyond the age of twenty, due to genetic or intrinsic ageing, we generally lose 1% of collagen from the dermis of the skin each year and our skin becomes thinner and less elastic – it has less ‘bounce’ as time goes on.
Many of us believe that, ideally, prevention is better than cure (including dermatologists) i.e. it is best to take action sooner and prevent wrinkles from forming and becoming more entrenched. This helps to maintain the best results for longer and means there is less need for future treatment if good skin health can be maintained.
How is Profhilo Injected and is it Painful?
A specialised technique is used for Profhilo whereby “5 injection sites on each side of the face, away from major vessels, nerves etc. and in such a way as to maximise the ‘spreadability’ of the product through diffuse regions of the cheek and jawline”. The injection sites are safely away from nerves and major vessels.
The product flows and distributes itself evenly, integrating within you skin’s tissue without resistance (rather than remaining where it is placed); this makes it naturally a much less painful procedure than dermal fillers. While most dermal fillers contain local anaesthetic such as lidocaine to assist in a pain-free procedure, no such anaesthetic is required for Profhilo injections. However, we choose to numb Profhilo injection sites with high quality topical anaesthetic cream for maximum comfort.
What is ‘Spot-Filling’ with Dermal Fillers?
When we talk of spot-filling we just mean the practice of targeting specific areas of concern or what patients see as their ‘trouble spots’. These specific facial areas would be filled locally and volumised using a hyaluronic acid dermal filler product.
Typical problem areas which people contact us about and which can be safely and effectively treated with the spot-filling approach in certain situations include: underneath the eyes (the tear trough area); the chin area (where a well-placed, carefully chosen filler product can smooth and minimise the appearance of a protruding chin for example); or the nasolabial folds (those nose-to-mouth lines that tend to develop).
Is ‘Spot-Filling Becoming a Thing of the Past?’
It is true that as time has moved on non-surgical anti-ageing treatments using products such as dermal fillers and Profhilo are able to do much more and people have much less reason to seek out cosmetic surgery for these reasons. As we can see, there are now fantastic options such as Profhilo which means that we are not ‘line chasing’ but revolumising and recontouring the face as a whole.
It also remains true that ‘spot-filling’ still certainly has its place and that this approach remains the best option for the cheeks and mid-face region where a lot of volume has been lost and deeper filling is needed to replace it to achieve the desired results. But as we’ve seen above, Profhilo as an option for maintaining full facial balance and skin health is hard to beat.
You can rest assured that whatever you choose when you visit us at Beyond Skin Clinic, we consider your areas of concern and any treatment for you in partnership with you. We always look carefully at your face as a whole so that results are natural and in balance with your features.
Click Here to Book a Consultation with our injectable specialist to find out more about Profhilo or our range of Dermal Filler Treatments.
