Question: I am 56 and tired of getting fillers every 9 months. I recently had Bellafill in my nasolabial smile lines and droopy mouth corners and am so excited that it lasts 5 years. My sister who is 69 also had Bellafill and told me that her Bellafill looked even better after 9 months than it did when she first got it. Is it true that Bellafill can get better over time or does my sister just have a wild imagination?

Answer: After performing thousands of syringes of Bellafill over the last 7 years, half of my patients returning 9-12 months later notice that their Bellafill looks even better than after the initial treatment. This phenomenon was also discovered in the FDA trial on Bellafill which followed patients over a 5-year period.

Unlike Bellafill, temporary fillers like Juvederm and Restylane consist of hyaluronic acid (HA) which works by attracting your body’s own water to maintain filling. As time passes, the HA is broken down by the body’s natural processes, leaving less HA to attract water, causing the filling effect to diminish even quicker with time. Even if you were treated with a 1-year HA filler, half of it may already be gone 7-8 months after injection.

Unlike temporary fillers, the claims that Bellafill lasts 5 years are backed by the FDA study which followed over 1000 patients and found that more than 80% of patients were still satisfied with the results even 5 years after initial Bellafill treatment. The long-term filling that results from Bellafill is due to your body’s own collagen stimulation. While your body’s natural processes also break down collagen, the Bellafill crystal, which persists for at least 5 years, continues to stimulate newer collagen production at a faster rate than older collagen is broken down. It is for this reason that the results of Bellafill can not only last 5 years but also look better with time.

Bellafill is highly safe and can be very effective when offered by an experienced and skilled BellaDiamond injector. An injector who performs occasional Bellafill treatments or is mainly experienced with temporary fillers is not necessarily going to give you a good Bellafill result. Bellafill is a speciality filler with a 5-year duration and requires meticulous technique and precise execution.

Consultation with a Board Certified Facial Plastic Surgeon who is a BellaDiamond injector and highly knowledgeable of facial anatomy and advanced injection techniques is the first step in choosing a Bellafill injector.

Dr. Anita Mandal is a double Board Certified Facial Plastic Surgeon practicing since 1998. She exclusively specializes in facial rejuvenation and non-invasive body contouring. In addition to being on the medical staff at Jupiter Medical Center, her offices house both surgical and laser suites. Dr. Mandal is committed to giving her patients the most natural looking results.