Eventually, facial aging catches up with us all. Although dermal fillers are often the preferred treatment for lines and wrinkles, many of them yield results that are temporary, lasting around one year. Bellafill® is a different type of filler. Bellafill is a non-surgical volume replacer that acts to rebuild your own collagen and thus smooth facial wrinkles for natural feeling and looking results that last for years not months.
Unlike hyaluronic acid fillers, Bellafill® filler is collagen based and creates a lasting improvement in your skin. Its tiny, polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) microspheres are suspended within a base of smooth collagen gel. Once injected, a DC Bellafill® procedure immediately reduces the look of smile lines. Over time, your body uses the microspheres to create a “scaffold” onto which your own collagen can develop. This collagen forms a foundation that adds volume to wrinkles, reducing their appearance. These natural-looking results feel soft and smooth through 5 years.
Bellafill® requires a skin test to identify patients who may be allergic to any of its ingredients.
Acne Scars
Although your acne may be long gone, its scars can hang around. Bellafill® fades these scars by adding volume to them, bringing them to the level of the surrounding skin and keeping them there through 1 year. Bellafill® is the first and only injectable filler that’s FDA approved to treat acne scars.
I have read about granulomas. What are they?
Granulomas are inflammatory reactions that can occur with all fillers, including Juvederm and Restylane. They are easily treated. Bellafill® was studied in the longest and largest filler safety study ever conducted. The granuloma rate was a mere 1.7% in this study. The majority of lumps or “granulomas” resolve on their own with a very few needing to be treated with a small injection of low dose Kenalog or steroid.
Will it work for me?
Bellafill® was shown to work equally well with all skin types, and in men and women. If you have a history of severe allergies, have known bovine collagen allergies, are allergic to lidocaine, or are prone to thick scar formation and/or excessive scarring, tell your provider.
When will I see results?
Bellafill® fillers replace lost volume in the skin below the wrinkle for correction that is immediate and very long lasting.
How long will Bellafill last?
The poly methyl methacrylate beads (PMMA) that make up 10 to 20% of a Bellafill syringe are non-resorbable and act as a bio-stimulant for your body resulting in your body’s own natural collagen production, ultimately strengthening the layers of the skin. This provides the support your skin needs for wrinkle correction and younger-looking skin, with results that last. In clinical trials, Bellafill® showed significant improvement in smile lines at 3 months and 6 months after treatment, and continued to show improvement for 12 months that lasted up to 5 years.
What is Bellafill?
Bellafill is a filler that is composed of mostly bovine collagen that will get absorbed in 3 to 6 months. The bovine collagen is mixed with a very small amount of microspheres, called PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate) that acts as a bio-stimulant to help you make your own collagen to replace the bovine collagen as it is absorbed. There is also a little bit of lidocaine or local anesthetic for your comfort. Unlike temporary wrinkle correction treatments, or fillers, Bellafill is a wrinkle face filler which provides longer lasting results, at least 8 to 10 years.
Where can Bellafill be injected?
Bellafill can be injected in almost any place in the body where one has a loss of subcutaneous tissue volume. While it is FDA approved for the nasolabial folds, Bellafill, like many other medical drugs, devices and implants has numerous off label uses. Bellafill can be used as a lip filler, to correct lower eyelid bags, nasal hump and asymmetry correction, chin augmentation, cheek augmentation, wrinkled ear lobes and several other areas.
What makes Bellafill different from the other temporary dermal fillers?
Temporary injectable wrinkle fillers, like Juvederm, Restylane, and Belotero are usually made up of different kinds of natural or synthetic materials that break down and are absorbed by your body. Typically, they last from 3 months up to a year. Some, like Juvederm Voluma and Radiesse last a little longer (up to 2 years). Therefore, the wrinkle correction is only temporary and most often you need to pay for repeat injections several months after the initial treatment to maintain your wrinkle correction.
Bellafill has unique microspheres so it works differently—the microspheres are not absorbed by your body and provide a support structure for long lasting, natural looking correction.
How is a DC Bellafill filler procedure different from fat transfer?
Fat transfer to restore facial volume has become very popular. Surgeons frequently use fat transfer to restore the volume you have lost in conjunction with a skin tightening procedure like a face lift or eyelid lift or blepharoplasty. The problem with fat is that you must have surgery, to harvest the fat, with liposuction and then when the fat is placed it is very unpredictable. The reported rate of “take”, or amount of fat that remains long after the procedure, is between 35% and 85%. This is problematic when precision is required to get the best result for you. In contrast, Bellafill is very predictable and does not require surgery. When Bellafill is injected, the result you see immediately after is the result you should get without any absorption of the Bellafill.
Does an Bellafill treatment take a long time?
Bellafill typically takes between 30 and 45 minutes. You can return to your normal daily routine right away. Dr. Somenek uses a micro-cannula technique while injecting so bruising is less likely than when a needle is used.
Are there any possible side effects from a DC Bellafill procedure?
As with all injectable wrinkle fillers, you can expect swelling and bruising in the treatment area. Swelling usually goes away completely after 10 days but if you had Bellafill under your eyes it, in rare cases, can last up to 3 months. Sometimes there is bruising that typically disappears in seven days but can last 3 weeks before it is completely gone. If you have bruising after a Bellafill treatment it is fine to use any cover up makeup. It is very common to have some slight redness and increased sensitivity at some or all injection sites. Two rare side effects of all dermal fillers may be lumps and granulomas. With Bellafill, true granulomas are extremely rare. Usually what is seen are lumps. The original collagen injections for wrinkles almost always made lumps that dissipated at 3 months. Since Bellafill is mostly collagen, it is not unusual for Bellafill to make lumps that you can feel. These lumps almost always go away by 3 months and you are very rarely able to see them. If they can be seen, then Dr. Somenek can treat these to make them go away.
How quickly will I see results with the Bellafill filler and how long will it last?
You will see results immediately.
How many Bellafill Injections will it take to see results?
Most people see a great result with one Bellafill treatment but it depends on how deep the wrinkles and folds are on the face. You and Dr. Somenek will decide at your follow up appointment, at a month, if you need further treatment to enhance your results.
Ask About a Washington DC Bellafill Procedure
Bellafill is an easy way to reduce wrinkle lines and erase acne scars. You can also use Bellafill on your chin to give it more of a shape. Give us a call for more information about a DC Bellafill procedure.
Check out some of our work in these before and after galleries for Bellafill.