\n<\/p>\n
Devices aren\u2019t everything either, mind you. The trick is to treat the face holistically, notes Dr. Day, by incorporating sun protection, skin care, exercise, even Invisalign or veneers, if needed, \u201cto balance out the teeth and support the lips,\u201d she says, rather than depending solely on filler. “For the appropriate woman, I [might also] talk about hormone replacement therapy, and I refer them to doctors who know how to do it.” (For these patients, hormone replacement therapy, during perimenopause and menopause, may increase the skin\u2019s elasticity and collagen content, which wane as estrogen dips).<\/p>\n
Aim for balance, not perfection<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Exaggerated features, doughy skin, a balloon-about-to-pop tautness\u2014the qualities that signal \u201cfiller face\u201d are mostly born of shoddy injection technique. That\u2019s everything I\u2019ve been yammering on about for thousands of words now: wrong product, too much volume, and poor placement in someone who shouldn\u2019t have had filler in the first place. But when injectors do their jobs well, \u201cyou look better and we\u2019re invisible,\u201d says Dr. Day.<\/p>\n As it turns out, though, there\u2019s another enemy of good filler: the pursuit of perfection. \u201cWhen you try to make someone look too perfect\u2014that\u2019s when things get weird,\u201d says Dr. Chang. Which is why \u201cI don\u2019t chase lines, ever. You only end up distorting the face.\u201d In older patients, especially, \u201cif you aim to resuscitate the face to the nth degree, they\u2019re going to look ridiculous,\u201d adds Dr. Hirmand. In her experience, a person\u2019s age is always somewhat evident from their eyes, she explains, because the bony orbit changes shape over time, making the eyes look smaller and more recessed. And if the eyes read as 65, she says, but the surrounding skin is lineless and plump, \u201cour subconscious is going to think, Wait, why does this person look kind of strange?\u201d<\/p>\n