Dermal Fillers
22 June 2022
A giveaway to our age and lifestyles is our hands. Apart from the face and neck, the hand is the most visible and exposed part of our body. Exposure to UV rays, environmental pollution and toxins and poor lifestyle habits and of course, aging, unravel age spots, wrinkles, prominent veins and sunken looking hands. Why is the appearance of our hands so important? These signs in the aging hands are not only aesthetically unpleasant but also, dead giveaways of our age and lifestyles.
1. Pigmentation: dark spots or age spots
2. Wrinkles
3. Loss of volume and sunken hands
4. Prominent veins and tendons (“veiny hands”)
Many people are turning to modern medicine to take matters into their own hands. Besides simple measures like sunscreen, how can your turn back the hands of time?
Hand rejuvenation in Singapore is treated primarily using non-surgical means. Non-surgical rejuvenation of the aging hands in Singapore is safe and effective and incur far less downtime if at all, compared to surgery.
Non-surgical treatment of aging hands are namely dermal hand fillers and lasers.
1) Dermal fillers treat:
. Loss of volume and sunken hands . Prominent veins and tendons . Wrinkles
2) Lasers treat:
. Pigmentation
Since I’ve covered how lasers work for pigmentation in this post (here), the focus on this educational post on dermal fillers for the hand.
Collagen and elastin fibres are depleted as our skin ages.
As we age, our skin loses hyaluronic acid and collagen, resulting in thinner skin and loss of skin elasticity. Hence, fine lines and wrinkles appear and veins and tendons in the hand become obvious. Our hands also lose volume and look sunken because of fat and collagen loss.
One simple way to correct all these problems mentioned above is with dermal fillers. Dermal fillers immediately plump up the hand to fill the space between the sunken skin and hides the veins and tendons. Hand fillers containing hyaluronic acid are commonly used in Singapore. Hyaluronic acid fillers hydrate the skin and improve lines and wrinkles on the skin surface.
Overall, hand dermal fillers make the hands smoother, plumper, more hydrated and younger looking.
1) Restore lost volume
2) Minimise the visibility of veins and tendons
3) Improve skin texture and quality for smoother skin
4) Reduce lines and wrinkles.
Step 1:
The back of the hands are numbed for 20-30 mins using topical numbing cream
You can see that the back of the hands look sunken with volume loss and obvious veins and tendons and wrinkles- all the hallmarks of aging in the hand.
Step 2:
A fine needle is used to create a small entry point.
Step 3:
Using a fine and blunt cannula, the hand filler is slowly placed into the hand under the skin of the hands using only one needle entry point. A cannula is not a needle; it is a thin tube through which the hand dermal filler flows through.
Hand dermal filler technique using a cannula.
Step 4:
Massage to evenly distribute the hand filler.
Hands are fuller, plumper and younger looking with dermal filler injections. Wrinkles and lines have gone and veins and tendons are less obvious, like a younger person’s hands.
1) Restores the youthful appearance of the hands
2) Plumps up sunken looking hands
3) Reduces appearance of tendons and veins
4) Hydrates skin from within to reduce wrinkles and lines and improve texture
5) No surgery, no incision, no scars
6) Less than 30 minutes in clinic treatment
7) Natural looking results
Dermal hand fillers in Singapore are usually made up of hyaluronic acid (such as Juvederm, Restylane and Teosyal) and Calcium Hydroxyapatite (i.e. Radiesse)
Hyaluronic acid based dermal fillers are the most commonly used dermal fillers. When used as dermal hand fillers, hyaluronic acid based dermal fillers have powerful volumizing and hydrating properties, making them excellent choices for hydrating dry and wrinkled skin and plumping up sunken hands. Hyaluronic acid based hand fillers can last for 9 to 12 months.
As of May 2018, the US FDA has approved of the use of Restylane Lyft for the correction of age related volume loss in the hands. Restylane Lyft is a type of hyaluronic acid filler that I also use commonly in my practice to treat laugh lines and volume loss of the face.
With Restylane Lyft receiving US FDA approval for its use as a hand filler, Restylane Lyft is the first and only hyaluronic acid filler for use in the back of the hands to restore volume loss and more youthful looking skin.
Calcium Hydroxyapatite dermal hand fillers are an alternative to hyaluronic acid based dermal fillers. An example is Radiesse hand fillers. Radiesse is a collagen stimulating filler, meaning that Radiesse hand fillers encourage your hands to naturally produce collagen on top of plumping the back of the hands. In 2015, Radiesse received US FDA approval for its use as a dermal hand filler for the back of the hands. Radiesse hand fillers last 12 to 18 months.
Which hand filler suits yours the best? Speak to your doctor first to find out which hand filler better addresses the problems of your hands and understand the pros and cons of each hand filler type.
The latest hand rejuvenation that has received HSA approval in Singapore is Profhilo. Profhilo is a skin rejuvenation treatment that enhances collagen and elastin formation in the skin to reverse signs of aging. The benefits of Profhilo injections to the hands are reduced wrinkles, increased skin firmness and hydration and smoother skin texture. You can read more about in this blogpost, Is Profhilo the Injectable Skincare of the Future? You can also see how Profhilo hand injections are done in this blogpost Hand Rejuvenation with Profhilo Hands Treatment.
Profhilo is not a dermal filler; so the volumising effect of hand fillers will not be expected with Profhilo injections to the hands. With Profhilo hand injections, the skin of the hand will look younger without being filled up.
Yes, there is more than one technique of introducing hand fillers. I use both direct injection, microcannula (see photos above) and an injector gun to introduce hand fillers for rejuvenation of the hands.
Sometimes I use a combination of injection techniques for hand fillers; it really depends on the condition of the individual hands.
The results of hand fillers are immediate. There is immediate plumping of the back of the hands and veins and tendons will look less prominent. The back of the hands look less bony and skeletal. The skin of the hand also looks plumper. There will be slight swelling initially, but when the swelling subsides in a few days, the results will be very natural looking. As time passes, the results of both hyaluronic acid hand filler and Radiesse hand fillers will continue to improve. How many sessions you need will depend on the condition of your hands; a typical patient requires 1 to 2 sessions spaced 1 to 2 months apart.
Commonly, there can be mild swelling, redness and bruising as with dermal filler injections in any part of the body. Very rare complications include allergy and inadvertent entry of the hand filler into the blood vessels. There are a few methods to injecting the hand fillers in Singapore and I usually use the cannula technique so the chance of bleeding and entry and blockage of blood vessels is much lower than the other techniques
Your volume loss in the hands will determine the volume of hand fillers you need. Each hand usually needs 1-2 mls of hand fillers.
Also, for complete hand rejuvenation, you may also benefit from other types of treatment such as pigmentation removal using lasers.
Hand fillers are injected into the back of the hands. When hand fillers are injected, nlood vessels, nerves and muscles are avoided. The mobility and range of motion of your hands should not be affected after having having a hand filler.
Hand fillers is a very safe and effective way of treating sunken looking hands, obvious veins and tendons and wrinkled hands. These signs of aging fixed with immediate results with hand fillers in Singapore with results that can last for a year.
