The allure of contouring your buttocks or breastd with an injectable filler is pretty strong. Search the internet, and you'll see lots of sites about hydrogel injections for instant buttock augmentation.The perfect filler would have to be 100% biocompatible - that it caused no allergies or lumps. The filler would also have to stay where we put it, and not migrate. And it would have to keep it's original shape, and not be reabsorbed.Combining these properties is a real challenge. So far, we really don't have anything that matches all the criteria, let alone passes FDA scrutiny.So, what exactly is this hydrogel stuff? A hydrogel is any gel-like substance that is mostly water. Hair gel, ultrasound gel, Jell-o and KY gel are all well-known examples of hydrogels. Restylane and Juvederm are also hydrogels. They are hyaluronic acid (HA) gels. They work very well, have extensive research behind them and are FDA approved, but are temporary fillers, and are too expensive for large volume injection.Outside the U.S., there are literally dozens of other hydrogel products, made with things other than HA's. There is less scrutiny and regulatory oversite outside the U.S., so there's been a huge proliferation of these fillers. They are often advertised as being 100% biocompatible, but this is often not really the case, and long-term problems do occur.The hydrogel "Interfall" was developed in the Ukraine, in the early 1990's. It was the original polyacrylamide gel ("PAAG"). It seemed like a great idea - and was initially quite popular outside of North America. Interfall inspired a bunch of imitators - Cosmogel, Argiform, Amazing gel, Formacryle - and is still easily available on the internet. With time, reports of major, unfixable problems came to light . I believe it's still manufactured in China, although it's been banned from use there since 2006. In any event, it's not FDA approved, and I certainly wouldn't recommend it....even though you can get it on the Internet. Aqua-lift, a Russian hydrogel filler product, had a major product recall as recently as December 2010. Longterm studies on the safety of Aqualift are still pending. Bottom line:say no to Aqualift.Fat injection or buttock implants are currently the only FDA approved methods for buttock augmentation.
