Injectables are the most popular procedure type in the world. According to statistics compiled by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, there were over 6 million Botox treatments performed in 2015. To put that in perspective, the next leading plastic surgery procedure treatment was performed on less than 250,000 patients.

In part due to that popularity, injectables have also become one of the fastest growing segments of cosmetic surgery. This has led to an explosion of options, and it can be difficult for patients to know where to start amid the myriad of choices available.

The best injectable for you will depend largely on what you’re trying to accomplish or what you’re trying to address. So let’s look at some of the most common issues patients are trying to solve and the injectables best suited for effective treatment.

Wrinkles Caused by Muscle Contraction

One of the more common reasons that wrinkles form in the first place is due to muscle contractions. These are often referred to as “concentration lines” and they can form around your eyes, on your forehead, or around your mouth.

Here’s what happens: Your muscle contracts often (you furrow your brows or make a “thinking” face of some kind) and, eventually, your face kind of gets used to that. The muscle stays in a “contracted” position. It’s a bit more complicated than “if you keep making that face, you’ll stay that way”—but that’s the general idea here.

The best way to treat wrinkles caused by muscle contraction is with an injection of Botox. The Botox interferes with the muscle’s ability to contract—meaning the muscle relaxes and the skin attached to that muscle is, in a way, released.

The end result from a Botox injection is that the skin looks smoother and more youthful.

Botox at a Glance

• Used to mitigate wrinkles caused by muscle contraction
• Results will usually last anywhere from three to six months
• Botox treatments can be performed in as little as fifteen minutes

Wrinkles Caused by Loss of Volume

While contracting muscles can cause some wrinkles, other wrinkles are caused by the way your skin changes over time. After all, gravity is constantly pulling your skin down (you never notice, of course, because the effect is so subtle—but it is constant). As you age, your skin loses elasticity. This means that instead of bouncing back, your skin slowly stretches out instead. There are also fat freezing treatments that one can opt for to feel confident about themselves.

Gravity and time, then, can team up to throw off the skin-to-volume ratio that usually defines younger looking features. Because the amount of skin has increased, your face basically ends up looking like you’ve lost volume. The way to address this is to restore volume to the face.

This is accomplished using a class of injectables known as dermal fillers. There are a staggering number of dermal fillers on the market today, each with its own niche and specialty. Voluma, for example, is generally used to address loss of volume in the cheeks. With Voluma injections you can restore the “apples” of your cheeks to a more structured, younger look.

But if your loss of volume is visible elsewhere in the face, you might try Juvederm. Produced by the same manufacturer of Voluma, Juvederm is designed as a kind of all-purpose dermal filler. That means that Juvederm can be used to address wrinkles that develop around the mouth or around the nose—areas of common concern.

Dermal Fillers at a Glance

• Dermal fillers are used to address loss of volume in the face
• There are many different brands of dermal fillers, each with their own specialty and expected duration
• Dermal filler injections can usually be accomplished over a quick lunch break

What About Losing Weight

Getting rid of wrinkles is impressive enough on its own. But are there any injectables that have the power to get rid of unwanted mass—to do the opposite of a dermal filler? If you would have been looking for this solution two or three years ago, you would have been out of luck.

However, with the recent introduction of the injectable Kybella, the game has changed. Kybella was specially developed to eliminate unwanted fat located beneath the chin (known medically as submental fat). In other words, Kybella is capable of, in most patients, eliminating an unwanted double chin.

This is great news for patients who have been struggling to get rid of chin fat for ages. Unfortunately, double-chins are not particularly responsive to traditional strategies, such as diet and exercise. Kybella offers patients a way to get targeted body contouring results around the jawline.

And all it takes is an injection. Once the injections are complete, patients are allowed to return to normal activities. It may take several weeks for results to start showing, with optimal results becoming visible in six to eight weeks.

Kybella at a Glance

• Kybella is used to eliminate unwanted submental fat from around the jawline
• Kybella injections can usually be performed in thirty minutes or less
• Results from Kybella injections will be effectively permanent

Focus on the Results You Want

The best way to ensure you get the injectable you’re after is to have a really clear idea of the results you want. If you want smoother skin or a slimmer jawline or more volume in your cheeks, expressing that to a cosmetic surgery professional will help make sure you get those results.

In other words, having a general knowledge about injectables is a good start. It gets your mind going so you can explore the possibilities you didn’t even know existed. But remember what you want out of the procedure—that should be your guiding light.

If you want to know more about the injectable options available at Carillon Minneapolis, schedule a confidential consultation with one of our highly experienced medspa professionals. We’ll discuss your desired results and the best way to achieve them—so you are sure to get the injectable you really want.