History of Fillers

Abstract

The evolution of injectable facial fillers has come a long way from the time of injecting paraffin and Vaseline for facial augmentation. Patients today demand a filler material that is long lasting, affordable, biocompatible, and natural looking. The quest for the perfect injectable has taken an interesting course with most innovation taking place in the last 30 years. To understand the future of facial augmentation, it is important to look to the past for valuable lessons and tales of caution for progress to be a success. The proliferation of hyaluronic acid fillers is understandable in the context of materials that came before as is the caution used with permanent fillers. Skepticism remains with autologous fat transfer as the procedure has still not been perfected in a way that results can be reliably reproduced from physician to physician. Silicone, a permanent liquid filler, remains controversial and fillers such as calcium hydroxylapatite not only improve the appearance of volume loss but can also induce collagen formation. As the physician's filler armamentarium increases, so does the desire to advance the actual techniques of injection itself. The end result has been an improvement in the technology of facial filling and the results.