Ivan L. Breed, MD (retired)

I have been on the fence for some time about getting filler in my tear troughs because I was told by the nurse who does my botox that I would first need to build up my cheeks with filler so the undereye filler would have something to rest on. What?! As someone who had chipmunk cheeks until 30, I’m GLAD for the loss of volume in my cheeks and there is no way I am adding more. A year later I consulted with Dr. Breed who said all that was baloney, which is why you should be getting filler from an experienced doctor and not a nurse. Dr. Breed has been doing neck botox on me for a few months in my lateral neck bands – which also takes an experience injector – and finally I was ready to do my tear troughs. In sunny Southern Callifornia I wear hats every day, which make hollow under eyes look worse because of the shadows that hats make. I’d had enough and today was the day I got my undereye Restylane. The procedure is so easy! Dr. Breed takes the Restylane out of the syringe it comes in in the box and transfers it to four, tiny needle syringes that diabetics use to inject insulin. He says this allows him much more precise injecting and sculpting of the product and that in the original syringe the Restylane comes out too fast. The method he uses is called back-filling. Smaller needles also mean less pain (which is almost nothing anyway as this product has number in it) and less trauma to the area. I saw such a difference! You don’t realize how a little more volume adds more youth to your face immediately, even a small bit that one syringe of Restylane provides. I used one syringe but people with significant hollowing or undereye bags will need 2 at least. The good news is that with little to no movement under the eyes (especially if you get botox around your eyes like I do) the Restylane should last from 12-16 months. In higher movement areas such as the lips or nasiolabial area most fillers wear off much more quickly. This is my first experience with fillers to offset volume loss from aging. I get my lips done but that is not age-related. I am SO HAPPY! Updated on 28 Jan 2018: It's 2 months later and I love my filler. I will never not get this done, although next I will opt for the longer lasting version of Juvaderm, called Volbella. I have not seen any diminishing of the product thus far, but under the eyes filler lasts a long time anyway.