Cosmetic Surgery Blog

As you all know, when we age our skin thins we lose the plump, youthful look we all love. Obviously genetics also play a huge roll, as does lifestyle and health afflictions. Getting a lot of sun, smoking, drug-use and not generally taking care of yourself can speed up this aging process and cause us to look older than we truly are.

Apparently I have always had a slight hollowing under my left eye. Joy. I had noticed it a few years ago when looking back at some photos of me when I was about 25. Well, you don’t realize if you have hollowing so much until you see it in the photos or someone ‘politely’ points it out to you (thank you, unnamed plastic surgeon). What’s worse is that having cheek augmentation (although the fat did not last) can accentuate that wonderful little hollow, and it did. What to do?? Undereye injections!

But which product? I wanted something that lasted a little longer than the usual injectables so I started doing my research. My long-time friend and physician, Gail Humble, M.D.,  was involved in the trials for a product called NewFlil so I started looking into that. NewFill, (now called Sculptra in the states) was a product being used in Europe for lipodystrophy in HIV patients.  You can find out more about this procedure and Dr. Humble at www.bpacific.com

Sculptra is a suspension of poly-lactic acid and when injected into the tissue works by irritating the tissue at a cellular level, thereby triggering fibroblastic activity, this increases the thickness of collagen in the area treated. Sculptra is not an injectable filler, but rather a catalyst which causes your own tissue to grow. Since this is dependent upon your own body, the amount of collagen growth and retention/longevity varies from patient to patient. Sculptra is now approved for the treatment of lipodystrophy in HIV patients, however since it is FDA approved it can be used off-label to treat any patient cosmetically—like me!

Marking for Sculptra Injections

A Regional Block for Pain Relief

Sculptra Injections

Post-injection Massage

Comparing Immediately After

1 day-post Sculptra Injections (note Radiesse Lump removal from prior lip injection)

Sculptra is not perfect, the varied results, the time it takes to see the results, the costs involved (it’s expensive!) and the possibility of granulomas (little lumps/bumps of inflamed tissue) make it not so much the ideal product in my opinion. But it does work. Just be sure your doctor has a lot of experience injecting the product.

So, how long does Sculptra really last? There is no definitive amount of thickness gained or length of time it stays around, but there are averages in the average, healthy patient. The average amount of longevity for your Sculptra injection results is about 1 to 2 years. I noticed almost 2 years. The granuloma I received, however, is still there three years later.

I have since had fat and Restylane injected under my eyes. Sculptra has lasted the longest, but I found Restylane was the easiest.   The fat injection result didn’t last, but the swelling looked phenomenal. Restylane is probably my favorite because it is so quick and natural looking and I have not had lumping problems with it thus far. In fact I will be getting more Restylane injections again very soon!

But if you feel you need some thickening of the skin or some filling out of hollows, you may want to look into Sculptra for long-term results. Oh, an unexpected side effect was that when it thickened the skin under my eyes (not just filled them out), it reduced the appearance of my dark circles. That was an added bonus!