First Artefill Treatment - Houston, TX

well, it took me more than a year working with the same doctor before i was sold on artefill. a lot of info on the web kept me away, but she finally won me over when she told me she's had it injected herslf, and because she's been injecting me with juvaderm and botox, i trust her eye for doing anything permanent to my face. i went in for my mid-face, but there's already good volume there from 4 or 5 juvaderm treatments over the past 18 months. she ended up injecting one 0.8 cc syringe, half into each side of my face sort of below the temples and at the upper ridge of the cheekbone. she explained that will actually help lift the nasolabial area, and restore a more rounded volume to my face. the injections were slightly more uncomfortable than juvaderm, but maybe these areas are more tender by nature? in any event, it wasn't undully uncomfortable. it has been 2 days and it's still a bit sore, but there's no lumpiness or anything outstanding. everything feels pretty normal.

she's been injecting artefill since it got fda approval, and told me in 6 years she had only 1 patient who had slight complications, but the patient developed general granuloma disease, so really anything-even an ha-based filler might have caused a reaction. of course, that's easier to fix, but i trust her experience with the product and felt i need to take a bit of a chance becasue reinjection with juvaderm is becoming to costly.

i intend to keep it's use to a minimum. she's a responsible practitioner, and won't inject artefill in areas prone to complications, like the frown lines area, or under the eyes. i've had no issues that require afterecare to date, so i've left that area un-reviewed.

i will try to remember to update this in a month, or if any side effects happen before then.

after a week, i can't tell if it's there. there's no soreness or anything. she said the bovine solution carrier for the pmma microsphers is absorbed, and it takes a month or more to begin seeing the true effect from the body building its' own collagen tissue into the spheres (which act like a support lattice). i expected to feel lumps like with juvaderm, but there are none. i know she messaged the material into me, which kind of was a concern because i read in the artefill instructions you're not supposed to message it in. but, she's the expert. i see her next week (for a different issue) and will ask her about it.

i had another artefill treatment 10 days ago, upper cheek areas, to help add volume to the face. it was a bit sore for 3 or 4 days, but then was fine. no problems yet. i'm scheduling another injection visit the start of may. i still have a lot of volume in the areas where i had juvaderm done over the last year. when that goes down some the doctor will start using artefill there too. she places artefill deep in the skin and messages it so there's no lumps i can feel. i asked her about putting some in the frown lines area but she said no. she said the risk of clogging the blood supply to the skin and eyes is too great there. if it's an ha product like juvaderm it can be dissolved with a chemical injection, but artefill can't be dissolved that way. some doctors will do it, but she won't. frankly the juvaderm stimuulated collagen and it's also actually removed years of sun damage from my cheeks and below my eyes, which also make me lookk younger. i read a dermatology papaer where they found ha like juvaderm causes sun damaged skin to repair itself. it stimulates the cells inside the skin because it stretches the dermis, so the skin compensated by making collagen to fill in the areas.