Profhilo or dermal filler — which one do you actually need?

Clients often arrive asking for filler when what they are describing is a skin quality problem, and occasionally the other way round. The two treatments are both hyaluronic acid, but they behave completely differently once they are in the skin.

What dermal filler does

Dermal filler is a structural gel. It is placed deliberately — cheek, jaw, chin, tear trough, nose or lips — to replace lost volume or create definition where there was none. It holds a shape. If your concern is a flat cheek, a soft jawline, a hollow under the eye or thin lips, filler is the correct tool.

What Profhilo does

Profhilo is not a filler and it does not hold a shape. It is an ultra-pure, highly concentrated hyaluronic acid that spreads through the tissue and stimulates your own collagen and elastin over the following weeks. It treats crepey texture, dullness, laxity and dehydration. Skin looks better lit rather than more full.

The standard protocol is two sessions four weeks apart, using five injection points per side of the face, with results building over eight weeks and maintained roughly every six months. It also works beautifully on the neck, décolletage and the backs of the hands — areas where filler would be wrong.

How to tell which one you need

Look in a mirror in daylight. If the face looks deflated — shadows, hollows, descent — that is volume, and filler addresses it. If the face looks tired, dry, finely lined or dull despite good structure, that is skin quality, and Profhilo addresses it.

Plenty of people are both. In that case we sequence: structure first with filler, then Profhilo to improve the canvas over the top. Doing it in that order gives a far better result than a single treatment doing a job it was not designed for.

Downtime

Profhilo leaves five small raised bumps per side which settle within a few hours and are almost always gone by the next morning. Filler bruising is possible for up to a week, particularly around the lips and tear troughs. Neither treatment requires time off work, but book with a few days of breathing room before an event.

Book a consultation

A free consultation at our Tettenhall Wood clinic will tell you which of the two you need, and in many cases the honest answer is a good skincare routine first. Book online, or call 01902 238850.