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Fillers and implants are both great ways to touch up your appearance and give you the fresh, youthful appearance you long for. While both can bring about change that you’re both excited and proud of, there are profound differences as to what both fillers and implants offer and what kind of lasting change they bring about.

Let’s explore a little bit further.

What are facial fillers?

Facial fillers, or dermal fillers, are used to improve the appearance of moderate to severe wrinkles and add youthful fullness to eliminate signs of aging in the face. The most common areas to apply fillers are the smile lines around the nose and mouth, marionette lines at the corner of the mouth, frown lines between the eyes, and fine lines around the mouth.

Unlike Botox, which reduces wrinkle-causing muscle activity, facial fillers respond to trouble areas with collagen, stimulating collagen growth in the face while adding definition to lift the skin. Fillers battle collagen loss while giving your skin a firm, youthful, and well-hydrated look.

There is no one ideal filler, and each is used for different areas of the face, different skin types, and different indications. Collagen fillers such as Zyderm®, Cosmoderm®, and Restylane Fine Line® are all designed to treat small or shallow wrinkles and scars and can be especially effective in smoothing delicate frown and smile lines, as well as helping to correct certain kinds of acne scarring.

Hyaluronic acid fillers such as Restylane® and Juvederm® naturally hydrate the skin by naturally attracting water molecules and acting as a cushioning agent by holding in water, giving the skin a smoother, healthier glow.

Thicker fillers such as Juvederm® Ultra Plus, Perlane®, Sculptra®, and Radiesse® are better for volume enhancement and treat areas of the face that need plumping up through fat and dermal-fat transfer.

The benefits of fillers include immediate results, no surgery or anesthesia necessary, and they are safe and cost-efficient. The effects wear off on their own after about 12 to 24 months and are often implemented as a trial procedure of facial improvements. In order to maintain results, periodic re-treatment is often necessary.

What are implants?

While fillers are a great way to try a new and improved look, implants are an option when you want lasting, effective change. Implants are custom-made solid materials used to bring symmetry and balance to the face, namely the cheeks, chin, and jaw, and the surgical route for substantial changes in your facial structure.

Cheek implants give a more pronounced appearance to the width of the cheeks, chin implants increase the size and projection of the chin, and jaw implants broaden the lower third of the face. Cheek augmentation has risen 126% amongst males alone in the last two decades.

The implant surgery allows custom-designed facial implants to be inserted through incisions into pockets in the facial tissue. These incisions may be bandaged or taped for protection in the healing process. With proper care, any scars at the incisions will be hardly visible and can be easily concealed with cosmetics. For many chin implant surgeries, for example, the resulting scars are found inside the mouth and not visible after surgery.

Advancements in 3D printing have allowed the majority of the work to be complete before surgery even takes place. A 3D model of the patient’s skull and facial bone structure is uploaded to a computer, which a surgeon then uses as a detailed reference guide. This vastly reduces surgery time, while innovation in 3D scanning gives the patient the tools to be more intimately involved in the entire reconstruction process.

3D printing has also allowed hyper-customize to fit implants that have proven to result in minimal complications with a very high satisfaction rate.

Chin and jaw implants are incredibly durable devices that are designed to stand the test of time in their permanence. While the natural aging process affects appearance in different ways, an enhanced contour will not chance. Trauma to the face could result in damage to an implant that would require another surgery to replace it.

What are the major differences between fillers and implants?

Cost: Fillers range from $1000 to $3000, while facial implants can range from $2400 to $5000.

Time: Filler injections usually take five to thirty minutes per area, while most facial implant procedures take between thirty minutes to two hours and may require general or local anesthesia.

Construction: Dermal fillers are injections that add volume to key areas beneath the skin and enhance facial contours and definition, usually lasting for 12 to 24 months. Implants are materials that are inserted into a pocket made within the facial tissue by a surgeon.

Materials: Fillers are made out of collagen, hyaluronic acid or fat grafts and are injected into areas of the face for more definition. Implants are made of silicone, Teflon, Dacron, or newer biological inserts compatible with human tissues.

Surgeon type: Intricate skill with facial contouring is essential for fillers, and an experienced plastic surgeon with a passion for helping patients is necessary for implant surgery.

Cosmetic surgeries, such as facial implant surgery, can be scary, just like any surgery. A good plastic surgeon, however, can help educate the patient on how to prepare and what to expect. Dr. William J. Binder has a proven track record of giving patients comfort through knowledge and making them feel happier and more comfortable in their everyday life.
Dr. Binder is committed to giving his patients nothing short of the best possible plastic surgery results. Contact us today to learn about your options when it comes to everyday enhancements or if you are considering facial implant surgery. Our skilled and knowledgeable team is ready to assist with any curiosity you might have.