Facial Fillers is actually the powder form of a suture, Vicryl, that has been used in surgery for many years without significant problems. The body absorbs the powder and eventually turns it into carbon dioxide and water. The benefit of Sculptra is that during this inflammation to degrade the Sculptra collagen formation is being carried out by the body in a scar like reaction. It is this collagen that creates the new volume. With this inflammation there is the risk of infection. However the benefit of having the inflammation to create the collagen in a scar form is paradoxically what can lead to the infection. If you didn’t have this inflammation you wouldn’t have as much collagen formation.
In my opinion, Sculptra is most beneficial for the person who does not have a lot of fat in the rest of the body to undergo fat injections and would like some more volume in the face. It is also useful in the person who has only a little fat to offer for fat injections. In this particular situation I would use sculptra in the areas that can tolerate it more such as the cheeks, mouth area, temples, forehead and jawline areas and reserve fat injections for the areas closer to the lips and around the eyes. It is also good to use Sculptra for people who don’t want the invasiveness of fat injections where you have the need to harvest the fat from somewhere else. Sculptra, in general, is less of a process than fat injections. But with the negatives that come with Sculptra, there is a lot of positives for people in these situations above.
From a long term standpoint, once the Sculptra is dissolved there should not be long terms issues. If a person somehow does not degrade the Sculptra effectively there could be infections but there are ways to treat these issues without a lot of problems. Silicone injections and Artecoll injections present more long term issues in my opinion.
Hope that helps!
Thanks for reading, Dr Young
Dr Young specializes in Facial Cosmetic and Reconstructive Surgery and is located in Bellevue near Seattle, Washington