Dermal fillers present a multitude of options for those who are involved in the practice of aesthetics. The use of dermal fillers has grown tremendously due to the fact that they present a valid alternative to surgical procedures. While originally used as a treatment for lines and wrinkles, dermal fillers are now available for a wide variety of other aesthetic purposes.

Dermal fillers are now available that can help with things like making someone’s face more symmetrical, enhancing people’s lips, correcting tear trough, and much more. The extensive uses now applicable to dermal fillers has flooded the UK market with a variety of these kinds of products. There are now around 160 dermal filler products available throughout the UK, and the majority of these do not even require a prescription as they are classified as “medical devices”.

While there are not even ten of these products approved by the FDA for use in the United States, there is no regulation available in regards to these products in the UK. This means anyone can buy these products and inject themselves with the ingredients without really knowing what is going into their body. Since there are so many unlicensed products now available, this makes the job of anyone practicing aesthetics harder than it already was, because they will have to learn about these products to get an idea of which one may be the best option for their patients.

While various aesthetic injections have actually been available since the late 1800’s, the term ‘dermal filler” did not come along until the introduction of collagen practically a century later. This led to the revolution of non-surgical aesthetic procedures, with Botox and collagen injections leading the way. While collagen is still a very popular choice, the emergence of other dermal fillers, one of the most popular being hyaluronic acid, has made the choice of collagen less popular than it once was.

Due to the high safety profile provided by hyaluronic acid fillers, they have become the most popular dermal filler used in the UK. Because hyaluronic acid is something that is present in every living organism and is a naturally occurring substance, some form of this type of filler has been used by an estimated 30 million patients throughout the world. The versatility of this product is likely why it has become so popular, as it is available in a variety of thicknesses. Other types of dermal fillers include:

* Calcium hydroxlapatite
* Poly-l-lactic acid
* Polymethyl methacrylate
* Porcine collagen
* Polyacrylamide