Educate Yourself - Soft Tissue Implants:

For the express purpose of enhancing the face, there has been a long list of fillers that have been used since experimentation on facial plastic surgery began. Surgeons made use of vegetable oils, silicone oil, beeswax and even petrolatum to add volume to the facial tissue. However, these fillers proved unsafe for use as they posed a health risk for the patient.

An improvement on non invasive facial fillers was the development of the bovine collagen, an injectable. But this material was too readily absorbed by the body and lead to further research on the issue of soft tissue implants.

Plastic surgery specialists and medical experts are still looking for fillers which can be either injected into the human body or surgically inserted without getting absorbed too quickly.

While plastic surgery experts have developed synthetic materials like Bioplastique, Arteplast, Artecoll/Artefill, Radiesse, silicone and Sculptra to fit this need, not all have been FDA approved.

Among the biological materials that have been reviewed to be used as soft tissue implants for cosmetic surgery there are injectables like bovine collagen, fibril, Hyaluronan derivatives like Restylane, Hylaform and Juvederm.

Plastic surgery treatments for the face and surrounding areas also make use of homologous materials like Micronized AlloDerm which lasts for almost a year.

Think carefully before going in for a facial cosmetic surgery procedure or treatment using any synthetic or biological soft tissue implant. There are reactions and allergies that are known to develop in some patients, especially in the case of synthetic implants.

Having a plastic surgeon who understands your physical anatomy and dermal make-up is the only way to minimize the chances of a botched cosmetic surgery. You can visit the Plastic Surgery Institute of California for more information on soft tissue implants and their suitability for your body type.