Does Bellafill lift like cheek implants or radiesse can?

The active ingredient in Bellafill is polymethylmethacrylate, also found in superglue.  Using as much product as to simulate cheek implants is a terrible idea and one most would advise you against. 

Bellafill and Artefill are known to cause granulomas. Although used for soft tissue augmentation, they can, and are known to cause permanent nodules and swelling. This is not the case for everyone. 
My office specializes in the removal of Bellafill and Artefill injections, in addition to silicone biopolymers, from the face and body. Initially, treatments are non-surgical with corticosteroids and immune modulators. If unable to be corrected, we can also perform surgery in some cases. 
Lastly, our office is conducting ongoing studies of plasma-assisted corticosteroid application, which allows for diffusion of the treatment medication in superficial tissue without causing atrophy. 
Best, 
Dr. Karamanoukian 
Realself100 Surgeon

Bellafill is a stimulating agent that can produce long lasting augmentation of areas such as the cheeks. I would say that cheek implants have the potential to produce the most augmentation, compared to Radiesse or Bellafill.  Radiesse is one of the firmer fillers, so it can give good augmentation over bony areas, such as the cheeks or along the jaw or chin.  Bellafill can help to add volume to the cheeks or provide some augmentation over bony areas as well.  The advantage of Bellafill over Radiesse is that the results will last longer.  

Bellafill has published the longest and largest filler safety study, through five years, showing high patient satisfaction and long-term safety and effectiveness. It is worth considering Bellafill to replace your usual dermal filler injections, since it is much longer lasting. We often use Bellafill in the cheeks in our office, I would recommend seeking a physician who has been injecting Bellafill for many years. 

I think that Dr. Prendiville offered a very sharp criticism of Bellafill and stated "that most" would advise against the use of Bellafill in the cheeks. I would argue that it reflects a somewhat outdated viewpoint and one that reflects a lack of experience and finesse with the product. I have years of experience with Bellafill and find it an invaluable tool to help address the midface/cheek area. It simply takes a thoughtful, meticulous and careful approach to get the treatment right. In fact because cheek implants need to placed through the mouth (oral cavity) which is an area with a high concentration of bacteria, the risk of infection or late extrusion is significant. So I would seek out a well trained physician with the confidence the use Bellafill correctly and you will get beautiful results. I have hundreds of happy patients that can attest to that!