From da Vinci’s “Lady with an Ermine” to Thutmose’s iconic “Nefertiti Bust,” the cheeks have been celebrated by cultures around the world for the definition and structure they provide the face. Historically, plump, rosy cheeks were seen as a sign of health—and therefore, attractiveness—by European cultures. However, over the last half-century, prominent upper cheekbones and narrower cheeks have become universally favored, with more men and women seeking plastic surgery to contour their cheeks than ever before.

For those who don’t want to undergo a surgical procedure like buccal fat removal or cheek implants to get sculpted cheeks, injectable fillers are a great alternative. In this month’s post, we explain how you can get chiseled cheeks surgery-free with simple filler injections.

What are cheek fillers?

Cheek fillers are strategically-placed dermal filler injections that provide volume and structure in the area around and above the cheeks. These fillers are typically comprised of hyaluronic acid (HA), a naturally-occurring molecule in the human body that is responsible for absorbing water to keep your skin supple and moist. HA-based fillers not only lift and contour the cheeks but also smooth wrinkles and fine lines in the face by hydrating the skin from within.

How do cheek fillers work?

Over time, skin loses its ability to produce collagen and elastin, which can lead to a saggy, sunken-in facial appearance. When most people age, they lose volume in their mid-face & cheeks and experience skin sagging, or “jowling,” in their lower face. When carefully injected by an expert, fillers can temporarily volumize sunken areas and create symmetry in the face.

Increasing the volume around your cheekbones can create the illusion of a more defined bone structure. A skilled surgeon can use cheek fillers to control the light and shadows on your face, highlighting certain areas and using shadows to create the appearance of natural depressions. Contoured upper cheeks can also reflect light into the eyes to help you look more refreshed and invigorated.

Another added benefit of cheek fillers is that because of the filler’s moisturizing effect, you can get away with wearing less makeup, as your cheeks will take on a natural glow you’ll want to show off.

How long do cheek fillers last?

Hyaluronic acid cheek fillers typically last between 9-12 months before maintenance treatments are needed.

Which fillers are best for cheeks?

At the Swan Center, we use the Restylane line of fillers to sculpt the cheeks. Restylane is an FDA-approved HA-based filler with a safe and effective track record. Like other HA fillers, Restylane not only firms and volumizes skin, but also hydrates it from the inside out for smoother skin with fewer wrinkles and lines. Other fillers that can be used in the cheeks include Juvéderm, Radiesse, Sculptra Aesthetic, and Bellafill.

Cheek fillers are customizable

Everyone’s facial anatomy is unique, and at The Swan Center, our goal is to bring out this individualized beauty in each of our patients. Cheek fillers are a wonderful way we are able to achieve this because they are highly customizable. Here are a few ways we can adapt cheek fillers to enhance your face.

For patients with a rounder face:

While filler can’t reduce volume in your face, it can make the lower cheeks appear slimmer by volumizing the upper cheeks. This will also elevate the mid-face for a more lifted and elongated facial appearance (think Demi Moore circa 2011).

For patients with a narrower face:

Filler injections to the mid-face and lower cheeks can help fill out the face for a healthy, youthful appearance (think Jennifer Lawrence in the first Hunger Games film).

Cheek fillers are quick and easy

Cheek fillers are done in-office in under 15 minutes. The HA begins to volumize and hydrate skin immediately, so you’ll begin to notice results as soon as you leave the office. Even better, because Restylane increases collagen and elastin production in your skin, you’ll see your skin tone improve over the following months.

Cheek fillers have zero recovery period, and, when performed with Restylane injections, last for up to 12 months.

Cheek fillers are a worry-free procedure. If for any reason you aren’t completely satisfied with your results, your surgeon can inject hyaluronidase, an enzyme that breaks down HA, to reverse your filler. Or, if you’ve had a less-than-ideal filler experience elsewhere, our expert plastic surgeons can use hyaluronidase to return your face to its natural state and work with you on achieving the results you want.

How can I enhance my cheek fillers?

Looking to highlight your newly-enhanced cheeks? Here are a few of our favorite methods.

• Dermal fillers in other parts of the face. Adding a few filler injections to other areas of the face can create symmetry and full-facial rejuvenation while drawing attention to your cheeks. Lip fillers can provide a subtle enhancement to the natural shape of the lips and smooth their texture; jawline fillers can make the jaw appear stronger, thinner, and more angled; under-eye fillers can fill in the sunken hollows between the cheeks and eyes for a more alert appearance.
• Botox & Dysport injections. Neurotoxin injections like Botox and Dysport can fix a gummy smile, create a subtle lip flip, and soften the brow. When paired with cheek filler, well-placed neurotoxin injections can improve your appearance by helping you look more relaxed and refreshed.
• HydraFacial. HydraFacial is one of our most popular skincare treatments. It uses a patented medical-grade hydradermabrasion device to cleanse, exfoliate, and hydrate the face with protective serums. HydraFacial treats acne, sun damage, dark spots, and even fine lines. A HydraFacial can help to perfect your complexion to highlight your chiseled cheeks.

• Laser peel. For those looking to treat skin at a deeper level, a laser peel allows us to treat wrinkles, scars, and lesions while tightening skin for glowing results after just one treatment.

Book your cheek filler consultation with our expert injectors in Atlanta

At The Swan Center, all of our cosmetic injections are performed under the direction of board certified plastic surgeons and highly-trained master nurse injectors, which means you’ll get the highest standard of care, results, and safety. If you’d like to learn more about cheek fillers, contact us online or give us a call at (770) 667-0904.

That said, many patients want to avoid surgery—and the BBL is no longer the only way to lift and shape up your backside! A safe, non-surgical alternative our patients absolutely love is injectable butt lift with Sculptra®. Today, we’re comparing these two injectable butt lift options so you can decide which is right for you.

Little-to-no downtime butt lift with Sculptra

Injectable technology has given us a large menu of neurotoxins and facial wrinkle fillers, but we think the butt lift with Sculptra is one of the most amazing uses of injectable filler yet. Sculptra is our go-to butt lift option because it’s non-surgical and the recovery requires little-to-no downtime, so most patients go right back to their normal routine soon after receiving injections (with no donut pillows required!).

After Sculptra injections, you’ll see an instantly improved lift and contour to your buttocks, with gradual, cumulative improvements to skin firmness and contour. Sculptra is composed of poly-L-lactic acid, which promotes collagen growth in your skin over time and leads to these ever-improving results. One set of injections lasts about two years, and for most patients, we recommend about 2 injection sessions. Still, you decide how often and when to return for additional treatments, so you control the extent of your butt lift.

Advances in Brazilian butt lift safety

The Brazilian butt lift involves liposuction on the hips, thighs, abdomen, or flanks to retrieve fat to be re-injected in your buttocks. Liposuction is surgery, requiring a recovery time of about two weeks. It is an effective butt lift method, with 70% or more of the injected fat usually remaining in the area long-term, and can have lasting results if you follow after-care instructions and maintain a stable weight.

We pride ourselves on educating our patients on the procedures they’re undergoing and empowering them to make informed choices about their body. When you consult with a plastic surgeon, do not be afraid to ask them about the history of the BBL, and their own history with the procedure. If they deny that there is any safety risk, walk away.

A good surgeon should transparently and honestly explain the safety risk: if the fat is injected into the gluteal muscle or below the muscle, there is a risk that it can enter your bloodstream and cause a pulmonary embolism, or blood vessel blockage. Surgeons should use safer, recommended techniques to prevent this complication, including thicker, blunt-tip cannulas for injection and a shallow injection angle that avoids the gluteal muscle.

Why we prefer the injectable butt lift over the Brazilian butt lift

The choice for your butt lift depends on your lifestyle and goals, and we are happy to be able to offer both procedure options. Still, Sculptra is our go-to in many cases, and we want to take a moment to break down the reasons why Sculptra is our favorite way to enhance the derrière.

1. Sculptra is safe

BBL fat injections are placed in the subcutaneous fat layer, which is close to muscle. Sculptra is injected just below the surface of the skin in the dermis, so you’re far less likely to have any complications.

2. Sculptra gives the injector better control over the aesthetic outcome

Want a strong projection of the upper quadrant of your behind? We can use the right amount of Sculptra to get that shape and visualize your final results in real time. With fat injections, we also endeavor to inject the right amount of fat to get your desired contour, but we cannot know exactly how much fat will “take” in a given area and become permanent. BBL injections typically shrink over the course of 6-12 months as the body loses a percentage of injected fat. In contrast, Sculptra results are very dependable, instantly attractive, and continue to improve as the body produces extra collagen.

3. Sculptra requires no recovery

There’s basically no recovery needed after Sculptra. We apply a topical anesthetic to the treatment area before the injection to minimize discomfort, and after you leave the office, you can return to your routine—including sitting and exercising! You may experience some soreness in the area, and some patients experience mild side effects at the treatment area.

By comparison, recovery from BBL is quite involved. You’ll have to undergo anesthesia for surgery and take pain medication afterwards. The area where your fat was harvested via liposuction will be sore, and you’ll need to wear a compression garment to ensure a good result. Additionally, to help the fat take, you’ll need to avoid sitting, and sleep on your stomach for many weeks. The recovery will also put a crimp in your workout routine, as physical activity must be restricted for some time post-procedure.

Looking for a butt lift in Atlanta? Let’s talk!

When you’re ready to talk to a board certified plastic surgeon about your butt lift options, give us a call. At The Swan Center for Plastic Surgery, we help Atlanta residents enhance their natural beauty with liposuction, fat transfer, and injectables every day. Our team of plastic surgeons is ready to help you make the results you want a reality.

As board certified plastic surgeons specializing in breast augmentation, our days are literally filled with news, discussion, and practice of this popular cosmetic procedure. When we are not performing surgery, consulting with a patient, or helping her choose breast implants, we are either furthering my research, attending surgeons’ conferences, or leading seminars about the latest techniques in breast surgery.

There are many facts about the procedure that we take for granted but that our Atlanta breast augmentation patients are often surprised to learn. We thought we’d share a few of the more interesting bits of info with you now. If you’re considering breast augmentation for yourself, we hope you’ll find this insider information helpful. If you’re not, perhaps these fascinating facts about breast implants will come in handy for trivia night. Enjoy!

1. Today’s “5th generation” silicone implants can withstand up to 300 lbs. of pressure

Many patients ask us what it would take to break a breast implant: can contact sports, a car accident, a mammogram, or an overzealous partner cause a rupture? If your implants are in good shape—that is, the shell is not compromised due to age of the implant—the answer is probably no. Today’s breast implants are extremely durable, and can withstand tremendous amounts of pressure before rupturing: about 175 pounds for saline, and up to 300 or so for silicone gel. This is far more pressure than a mammogram comes even close to applying.

If you do experience a rupture, the good news is it is not usually a medical emergency. Saline filling is safely absorbed by the body, and today’s silicone gel implant filling is designed to remain in the implant shell and almost never migrates outside the breast capsule. Just be sure to contact your doctor, and they’ll be able to guide you.

2. We may never even touch your breast implants during surgery

“How is that possible?!?,” you may ask. Here’s how: the Keller Funnel. This deceptively simple device looks like a pastry bag—and also works somewhat like one, in that we will squeeze a silicone gel implant out the small end into the breast pocket during surgery—but it offers multiple benefits for your safety, comfort and results:

• Dramatically reduced infection risk. The implant can go straight from its sterile packaging, to the sterile Keller Funnel, to your breast without anyone touching it or the inside of your breast. Even though a reputable plastic surgeon changes gloves multiple times during surgery, eliminating glove-to-implant contact further reduces risks.
• A quicker, more comfortable recovery. A hands-off approach also means there’s less poking and prodding of breast tissue during surgery, which can reduce post-op swelling, bruising and tenderness and help you heal more quickly.
• Smaller incisions, smaller scars. Squeezing the implant through the smaller opening of the Keller Funnel allows us to place the implant more precisely through a shorter incision compared to surgery without this tool.

Despite these benefits, not every plastic surgeon is trained in the Keller Funnel, so it’s worth asking during your consultations if that surgeon uses it. Additionally, it’s only an option for silicone gel implants—saline implants and gummy bears must be placed by hand.

3. Breast augmentation has gotten over 200%* more popular over the last 20 years

Breast augmentation isn’t going out of style any time soon. In fact, more patients each year choose to have the procedure, regardless of changing trends for the “ideal” body shape. A likely reason why: most women who have breast augmentation do so for personal reasons that have nothing to do with looking “perfect” or keeping up with fashion.

The top reasons my patients state for wanting breast augmentation are (in no particular order):

• To balance out their upper and lower body proportions
• To help them feel more like themselves
• So clothing will fit them better
• To correct significant asymmetry

The moral of the story is that breast augmentation can improve more than one’s outward appearance—it can improve a patient’s self-confidence and quality of life.

4. It’s fairly easy to have breast augmentation and keep it a secret

The only people who ever need know about your procedure are: your plastic surgeon, your operating room team, and yourself. While you will need a trusted adult to drive you to and from the surgery center for your procedure, and care for you the first 24 hours, this can be a hired home-care nurse if you prefer.

If you’re worried about your boss and coworkers finding out, consider this: most patients return to an office job within 3 to 5 days after breast augmentation. That’s a long weekend or short vacation—and all your employer needs to know is that you are taking a few days off for R&R. When you return to work, a stylish scarf or high-necked, relaxed-fit blouse is usually all that’s needed to avert unwanted attention (a new haircut can work wonders as a distractionary tactic too!) Just keep in mind that before you drive anywhere, you’ll need to be completely off prescription pain meds.

Want more breast augmentation facts? Come in for a consultation.

We hope these facts have been interesting and helpful to you! If you have questions about breast implants or are considering your options for breast augmentation in Atlanta, please contact us at The Swan Center! We offer consultations for cosmetic surgery patients, and we will be glad to help you learn more about your options to enhance your breasts.

*Source: https://www.surgery.org/sites/default/files/ASAPS-Stats2016.pdf