Misconceptions and myths around filler are vast. It’s one of the press’s favourite topics due to the extreme possibilities of the treatment. You may have images of botched filler etched in your mind or feel conflicted because you’ve heard people say that filler always makes people look distorted and fake. Thankfully almost all of these misconceptions are based on extreme cases.
If you feel that you’ve never seen great filler, that’s precisely the point. You can’t see great filler. Great filler is subtle, natural and enhances beauty. It’s unnoticed in the best way possible.
Filler can look incredibly natural when it’s injected well. Post-treatment, people should comment that you look well, unable to quite put their finger on what’s changed. The desire for natural-looking filler was the driving force behind the No Filter Clinic. Our founder, Dr Sindhu Siddiqi wanted natural-looking treatments that make you look like the best version of yourself, help you feel less self conscious and enhance your features. Our goal is never to make you look fake or abnormal; we will assess your face in detail including at rest and on facial expression in your consultation and only ever suggest a treatment we think will give you the desired results. This often means we will turn away many patients if we feel the filler won’t give them the results they want or if it would make their face look imbalanced in any way. So many injectors fail to assess the face in motion and therefore fillers look abnormal when people speak or smile.
Before we break down the misconceptions, we must note the crucial point that almost all misconceptions around filler boil down to two reasons – unqualified and money-driven injectors. Unfortunately, regulations are poor in the UK, and injectors can legally start practising after two training days with zero medical background. Two days. The face is so incredibly precious and complex. You would never want someone who wasn’t a doctor operating on you, so why let someone with no medical training inject your face. Some injectors go to great lengths to pretend they have a medical background by flaunting science degrees with no clinical basis but there is absolutely no comparison with a doctor or nurse with years and years of training.
At the No Filter Clinic, we firmly believe that the only people who should inject your face are medical professionals. But being a medical professional isn’t enough either. All of our injectors are medical professionals with advanced training who have been specifically picked for their artistic eye. Aesthetic Medicine is not just about the technical skill but also knowing what would suit each person. Your safety is always our number one priority. No procedures are risk free and complications can happen to anybody, but seeing a trained medical professional will massively reduce the risk of anything going wrong and we are well equipped to deal with any problems.
If you’re with the right injector, the following worries you may have about filler become practically obsolete, and here’s why.
“The filler will look fake and I won’t look like myself.”
Two reasons cause fake filler, a patient’s desire or poor practice from the injector. Some people get addicted to filler and feel like they need more and more each time, or perhaps they just genuinely like the look of a very filled appearance. That’s their decision, but that does not mean that your filler will look anything like that. At The No Filter Clinic, we have a stong emphasis on natural results and fillers. We try to educate our patients about the extent of what appears as though it is a natural enhancement and when it starts looking fake. We use our years of expertise to advise our patients what is the best plan for them. Like anything in beauty, the filler is simply a tool, like hair scissors or makeup brushes. The results come from how the professional chooses to use that tool. Filler doesn’t mean fake. Fake results usually lie in the hands of the injector, not the product.
One of the reasons some injectors get fake-looking results is because they care a lot more about money than their patient. Every face is beautifully unique and no two faces should be treated the same way if you care for your patients and want them to look their best. Unfortunately, some injectors will completely overfill the face because it simply means more money for them. They will provide their patients with packages such as the ‘Kylie Jenner’ package that promises to make you look like your favourite celebrity. If they don’t study their patient’s face with an in-depth consultation and ask the patient about their desires, the patient will be at significant risk of fake-looking filler that makes them look unnatural. If your consultation lasts 5 minutes and if the injector has not assessed your face properly from all angles, run a mile.
So to avoid looking fake, you should see a medically trained professional who has the correct experience. You should also analyse the injectors before and after pictures as each injector has their own style. Make sure the pictures you see are pictures you like. Ensure that you have a thorough consultation before any filler is injected and make sure you feel comfortable with any treatments suggested. If you need time to think about it, please take the time. You should also then ask about what their policy is on aftercare. If they aren’t satisfied with the results, can you come back in and get them amended? A lot of clinics, even well known ones, do not have good aftercare. Either the injector is not based in London or they simply do not have an emphasis on aftercare. We go through great lengths to ensure you are happy with the results.
“The filler will migrate”
Filler migration is an incredibly common and understandable concern. Migration is when the filler moves in the face. Migration is often a concern for the upper lip as there is a lot of poorly injected filler out there that moves up to the area between the nose and the mouth. It often makes lips appear duck like from the side or you may even be able to see a filler ‘moustache’ above the upper lip. Every part of the face requires a specific product, technique and amount to get those brilliantly natural results with minimal migration risk. However, some injectors who aren’t properly trained won’t be aware of these rules and, in doing so, will inject the wrong filler in the wrong amount in the wrong area, a recipe for migration. But to look back to our central point again, you can cut the risk of migration almost completely by seeing the right injector. Migration is rare and if it happens, your injector should fix it for you.
As a patient, you will then be required to follow some clear aftercare steps, which would be explained in great depth to you by your injector. By following these steps for the first few weeks after the treatment then your risk of migration becomes incredibly low.
“Things will go wrong; the risks are too high.”
This one is a bit more complex because, arguably, there are no ‘safe’ areas for filler. With all fillers, there are always small risks of complications. Facial anatomy is complex hence why thorough medical knowledge of anatomy from your injector is crucial to avoid these complications. Filler has been extremely commercialised over the last few years and it’s been stressful to see unqualified injectors boast ‘filler has no risks’. It would be wonderful if that were the case, but it’s not. Complications are extremely rare for injectors who are medically trained and qualified and complications are more likely to arise for those who aren’t. These complications will then become huge stories that get spun to make you terrified of getting filler.
It may seem counterintuitive to business that we are saying there is no ‘safe’ filler, but we always strive to be completely transparent with our patients. We will always make you aware of any risks before you get a treatment and our team have all the proper training and knowledge to know what to do if anything happened. We also don’t inject in areas that could cause extreme risks because we don’t believe the risk to your health is worth it. It quite frankly terrifies us when a patient isn’t told of the potential complications and it makes us worry what that injector would do if they did.
“If I don’t like it, I’m stuck with it”
Hyaluronic acid based filler are reversible. We only use these reversible fillers at the No Filter Clinic. Before having any treatments, we will invite you for a consultation to discuss your ideal results to find the best treatment option. We will assess your whole face and never recommend something that may look off-balance, even if that’s the treatment you came in for. It is our duty to advise you against something if it is not suitable for you or likely to cause issues later such as a puffy face.
If, for any reason, you didn’t like the filler, there is always the option to dissolve it. It is rare that we dissolve filler injected by our clinic as we take a lot of time assessing suitability, but it can be dissolved if needed. However, dissolving filler should not be taken lightly and we recommend that if you are really unsure about the filler, it’s best not to go ahead with it. We dissolve fillers injected by other practitioners on an almost daily basis and it does carry its own risks. Another reason to only see a medically qualified injector.
We hope this makes you feel a bit more confident about filler knowing that almost all the fears and misconceptions can be avoided with the right injector. The right injector is the key to getting natural looking enhancements and ‘tweakments’.