Rhetoric about popular cosmetic treatments often includes a confusing mix of positive and negative perspectives. No doubt you’ve seen photos of less-than-desirable outcomes from aesthetic injectables, ranging from slightly overdone to very unnatural. When it comes to information about facial fillers, it’s hard to know exactly what to believe and which sources to trust.
There are a lot of common misconceptions about injectables like dermal fillers.
When Dr. Kirk Bass and the skilled injectors at Shea administer your filler near Farragut, they take the time to explain every step of the process. The team creates a customized treatment plan just for you so that you feel comfortable, confident, and relaxed during your injections.
Keep reading as we debunk common myths about dermal fillers, or book your consultation at Shea Aesthetic Clinic to discuss how we can customize your filler treatments to meet your goals exactly.
Myths About Cosmetic Fillers
As with many aesthetic procedures and treatments, there is plenty of online discourse about dermal fillers. The filler photos featured online often show bizarre, overdone results that appear very unnatural. These pictures can make many people feel that filler is simply not for them. What you might not see is the subtle filler application that naturally enhances one’s beauty.
If your filler treatments are done well, people won’t know that you’ve had filler placed in your face.
At Shea Aesthetic Clinic, we care about our patients, valuing transparency and respect. We listen carefully to your cosmetic goals and only recommend treatments that will best lead to your desired results—dermal filler being one of our most effective tools. As we build your custom treatment plan, we walk through every step of the injection, after-care, and follow-up process, so you feel at ease leading up to your first filler session.
The level of communication and care you’ll receive will help you make informed decisions regarding your filler treatment.
Before you schedule your filler near Farragut, we want to put some common misunderstandings about receiving filler to rest.
Myth: “You will experience severe bruising after filler injections.”
Truth: Bruising can occur at the injection site, and it’s typically minimal. When light swelling or bruising occurs, both typically fade within 5-7 days, and patients can easily cover any bruising with makeup in the meantime.
If you find this bruising bothersome, we can treat the damaged blood vessels with intense pulsed light (IPL). The best time for IPL treatment is 1-2 days after you receive filler near Farragut. This helps the bruises resolve more quickly.
Things you can do to minimize bruising from filler injections:
- Avoid fish oil for 5 days prior to your appointment
- Avoid alcohol for 2 days prior to your appointment
- Avoid curcumin and turmeric for 3 days prior to injections
- Avoid Vitamin C and Vitamin E for 3 days prior to injections
- Eat fresh pineapple the morning of your treatment and for a few days afterwards
- Avoid aspirin and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications (i.e., ibuprofen) for 5 days
- Take Arnica Montana tablets beginning the morning of your treatment (2 tablets 3 times a day) and for 3-4 days after treatment
Myth: “Cosmetic filler is permanent.”
Truth: The longevity of your dermal filler depends on the placement and filler type. Hyaluronic acid-based fillers are the most common. These generally last 12 to 24 months.
However, areas with more movement break down filler faster, so injection sites like the lips need to be touched-up more often than cheek or jawline filler. Lip fillers are also much softer than the kinds of fillers used in the jawline and chin, which are firmer, and soft fillers don’t last as long as their firm counterparts.
Your unique metabolic rate also affects the speed at which your body processes the dermal filler. Individuals with a high metabolism may need to return for a “refresh” sooner than others.
Your injector will review the projected duration of your filler and schedule follow-up appointments as needed to help you maintain your results.
Myth: “Cosmetic filler migrates over time, like breast implants.”
Truth: Correctly injected filler should not move. It will fade slowly with time, but it shouldn’t migrate. The injectors at Shea Aesthetic Clinic have trained extensively in facial anatomy and are practiced at depositing dermal filler into the correct tissue layers. Correct filler placement will prevent it from “migrating.”
If you rub the treatment area, lie down, or exercise in the hours immediately following your injection, you could disrupt the settling of the filler, but your Shea Aesthetic Clinic provider will outline essential post-care instructions during your appointment to prevent this from happening.
The filler fully settles within 3-4 days, so exercising intensely and sleeping on or massaging the treatment area after this time won’t disrupt the filler at all.
Myth: “The more filler, the better.”
Truth: At Shea Aesthetic Clinic, we personalize each cosmetic treatment to your needs and goals. We never follow a one-size-fits-all filler plan because everyone’s face is unique.
Our injectors apply a conservative philosophy to our filler treatments, building volume steadily until you feel confident. This approach subtly replenishes lost volume to create a natural, balanced look without significantly changing your authentic features. When administered by a skilled injector, small volumes of strategically placed filler can gently enhance your beauty.
The amount of filler near Farragut we recommend for you is based on your individual facial structure and goals, which is why we require a consultation prior to your first filler injection.
Myth: “You can always tell when someone has gotten filler.”
Truth: When executed with artistic precision, dermal filler can create subtle, natural-looking enhancements—without making you look odd or unnatural, and without changing your appearance. At Shea Aesthetic Clinic, our injectors support your natural beauty and bring out the features that make you, you.
After skillful treatment with fillers, many patients get complimented on how they look “fresher” or “more rested,” but their friends can’t put a finger on exactly what has changed. Well-placed filler is usually not noticeable.
By gently bringing harmony to your features and restoring volume and structure, we will help you achieve your personal cosmetic goals.
Myth: “Only celebrities and A-listers get fillers.”
Truth: Dermal fillers are a very common and safe cosmetic procedure. Over 3 million people throughout the U.S. opt to enhance their looks with fillers each year.
Myth: “You can inject filler anywhere on the face.”
Truth: Filler is incredibly versatile, but there are many more factors to consider when planning how to help you achieve your goals. During the consultation, your provider listens carefully to your cosmetic goals and desired treatment areas to determine the best treatment plan for you.
We regularly administer filler near Farragut to:
- Reduce bags under the eyes
- Help lift heavy, sagging jowls
- Plump and define the lips
- Smooth nasolabial folds
- Help smooth and soften the smile lines around the mouth
- Minimize the appearance of smoker’s lines
- Restore lost volume in hollowed cheeks or temples
- Even out crepey skin
- Bring symmetry to the features
- Define a weak jawline (which can help hide the fat under the chin)
If a patient wants to address other signs of aging, like crow’s feet, eleven lines, and frown lines, we typically recommend Botox.
Myth: “You can schedule filler injections without a preliminary consultation or facial analysis.”
Truth: Though this might be an option at some clinics, it’s always best to start with a plan that feels comfortable to you and one that’s geared towards meeting your goals.
At Shea Aesthetic Clinic, we meet with new filler patients prior to treatment to make sure we understand their goals so that we can design a treatment plan that meets their hopes and expectations.
During this time, our team asks some medical screening questions to help ensure that filler patients won’t have adverse reactions to the treatment. We use this opportunity to create a full face rejuvenation plan and map out treatments over the coming year to help you meet your aesthetic goals.
It’s typical to receive filler injections immediately after your consultation is complete. The consultation portion takes about 15 minutes, and the treatment time depends on how much filler you receive.
Myth: “You can resume your usual activities immediately following filler injections.”
Truth: Filler treatments typically take 1 to 2 hours to complete, which includes the time needed for your topical numbing solution to set in.
Because of this short treatment duration and minimally invasive nature, patients can return to work and most activities following their appointment for filler near Farragut.
Following filler placement, patients should:
- Not exercise for 24 hours
- Avoid alcohol for 2-3 days
- Avoid makeup for 12 hours
- Use ice as needed for swelling
- Not rub, touch, or massage the filler
- Expect mild swelling for 1-2 weeks afterwards
- Sleep with the head elevated for the next 2-3 nights
- Avoid dental work and vaccines/immunizations for 2 weeks
- Use Tylenol for discomfort for the first 48 hours, then Ibuprofen as needed
What Does Filler Do?
Now that we’ve debunked some common misunderstandings about cosmetic filler near Farragut, we can explain how fillers can help you accomplish your goals.
Restores Volume
First, it’s important to understand the normal aging process and how it affects the face. The bones, muscles, and fat behind our facial skin create the supporting structure that gives us nice, tight skin when we are young.
As we age, the bones of the face (maxilla and mandible) gradually get smaller, and our facial muscle mass diminishes. The pillowy fat pads in the face, between the bones and our skin, also decline with time.
When the supporting structures—bone, muscle, and fat—begin to shrink over the years, our skin can’t help but begin to sag and fall. That’s why the upside-down triangular shape of the youthful face transitions into more of a boxy-shaped face with time.
The purpose of dermal fillers is to help replace the volume lost during the natural process of aging. Restoring lost volume helps replace the skin’s structural support system, lifting the skin that has been hanging down to recreate the face’s youthful upside-down triangular shape.
Discover patients’ subtly lifted results after filler placement
Smooths Wrinkles
As they build volume, hyaluronic acid-based dermal fillers also combat other common signs of aging like fine lines and wrinkles.
Static wrinkles are the lines that frame our features, visible even when the face is at rest. Common static wrinkles include those under and around the eyes, nasolabial folds, marionette lines under the sides of the mouth, and smile lines.
These wrinkles form as we lose volume and the skin thins and becomes less elastic with natural collagen and elastin loss. Static lines are a natural effect of aging, deepening with our expressions as the skin folds. This folding motion weakens the skin, leaving permanent lines similar to a scar.
By replacing volume and recreating the structural support behind the skin, aesthetic injectables can dramatically smooth out wrinkles and lines.
Tightens Skin
To further enhance the results of dermal fillers, we also offer targeted skin-tightening procedures, including microneedling, radiofrequency microneedling, micro-coring, and laser treatments. These procedures help the skin rebuild collagen and elastin for a plumper, firmer appearance.
Medical-grade skincare products also help to thicken and tighten the skin alongside your filler placement.
This combination of treatments—fillers, skin-tightening procedures, and quality skincare products—helps restore a youthful facial structure, enabling patients to look and feel refreshed.
We will help you design a plan for the year following your filler treatments to help you maintain the beautiful results you’ll receive from your filler near Farragut.
How Does Shea Administer Filler?
At Shea Aesthetic Clinic, we use filler as an enhancement, not a cover-up. We want to highlight the features that make you unique, not hide them away.
As with any aesthetic treatment we perform, the goal of administering your filler near Farragut is to help you gradually achieve your desired look without the “overdone” effect you sometimes see on TV or the internet.
By using a methodical approach to your dermal filler, our expert injectors can steadily build volume to meet your expectations. Our artistic, patient-first technique enables more personalized, natural-looking outcomes.
And because we let your goals guide your treatment plan, we implement these gradual enhancements to evolve with you as your aesthetic goals shift over time.
What Kind of Fillers Do You Use?
Our skilled physician, Dr. Kirk Bass, often recommends the Allergan family of fillers to help patients restore volume and reduce the appearance of wrinkles. Allergan formulas use hyaluronic acid (HA), an amino acid that our bodies naturally produce to protect our skin and joints. This naturally occurring ingredient enables smoother assimilation into the body.
The HA gel immediately lifts the skin from within for a plumper, more youthful appearance after filler near Farragut. The volume can also tighten the skin, minimizing fine lines and wrinkles. Plus, HA supports lasting skin hydration for a naturally more radiant complexion.
Many patients also enjoy the opportunity to enroll in Allergan’s Allē rewards program, which enables them to earn points on products and treatments.
Our team can also customize your injectable treatments with the RHA Collection, another trusted HA filler formulation designed to target more dynamic creases. Our expert injectors will evaluate your features and recommend the best formula for your specific goals.
The Truth About Cosmetic Filler
Many patients enjoy more defined features and youthful contours after filler near Farragut. Unlike the photos and complaints you might see online, our skilled practitioners can prioritize your aesthetic goals without compromising your natural features.
Our team strives to empower you with an accurate understanding of the procedure, recovery, and treatment expectations, so that you can feel comfortable as you schedule your dermal fillers with our expert injectors at Shea Aesthetic Clinic.
We’ll always listen to your concerns and promote your desired look, from your first consultation through every touch-up appointment, so your treatment plan can evolve with you to keep you looking beautiful and refreshed.
Together, we can achieve results that make your natural beauty shine.
Feel Confident in Your Filler
You deserve to feel confident in and comfortable with your cosmetic procedures. Book your filler near Farragut with a physician-led team you can trust to listen to you every step of the way.
Read about our other anti-aging treatments, like Botox and lip filler.
