Dermal fillers may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but for some people, fillers do miracles for them. Conventionally, Asian faces crave more projection, so nose, cheek and chin fillers are common. For the others, such as Caucasian patients, cheek, nasolabial and lip fillers are usually the more preferred.
But we heard that these are just the tip of the iceberg. With such excellent safety profiles of hyaluronic acid fillers, people are filling places other than the traditional to look better and better.
SKINMAG quizzed Dr Michelle Lim from the SW1 Clinic on the unconventional places that people are filling, beyond achieving the cheeky cheeklift, or the sexy lip status.
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1. Temples
Who would have thought temple hollowing was a sign of aging? The youthful face is full and convex, and fat is evenly distributed both in deep and subcutaneous layers. Aging results in loss of fullness in various regions, including the temples.
“Many patients overlook loss of volume in temples, and chase aged lines on the face, such as the nasolabial lines first. But restoring volume in the face often make a person look younger, and temple fillers also have the secondary advantage of a natural-looking lateral browlift, like one would have looked like when they were younger and when their temples were more full” says Dr Michelle Lim.
The upside of filling the temples is temple fillers are usually longer lasting, so if you want to avoid touching up this area too often, ask for a longer lasting hyaluronic acid filler.
Read More: The Secret To Getting Defined Cheeks Revealed
2. Forehead
If we did a study on the world’s most beautiful women, they have beautiful, round foreheads. A round, curved forehead is a sign of youth, and a certain “baby-faceness”, such as round, big eyes is usually considered more attractive.
Bony foreheads can be improved with forehead fillers. And your doctors can “cheat” with a mild dose of Botox injected very superficially at the hairline – this reduces the pulling action of the frontalis muscle downwards towards the brows, giving you more forehead real estate. If you are not into the idea of surgery, this is a great (temporary) alternative.
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3. Upper eyelids
When Dr Michelle told me that hollowing of the upper eyelids makes a person look older, I was truly surprised! Deep set eyes was every Asian eyes’ dream, the girl with single eyelids wanted double eyelids, and those with double eyelids wanted the doll-eyed deep set look.
Upper eyelids may also be filled for asymmetrical eyelid creases (this means making the higher eyelid crease look lower).
Dr Michelle cautions finding an experienced doctor or plastic surgeon to assess suitability for this and also ask about other options such as fat grafting before proceeding with this.
4. Aegyo Sal
Another shocker with this one. When all some people want is to remove the zombie-eyed or panda look, Aegyo Sal (you will learn how to pronounce this, eventually, I promise) is literally the opposite. Aegyo Sal means “eye smiles” or “cute skin” in Korea, and involves accentuating the fatty deposits beneath the eyes to give the illusion of bigger eyes. This “cute” bulge is created directly under the eyelids, giving one’s eyes the appearance of the “I just woke up” (or “I just cried buckets”) look. The fullness of the lower eyelids also gives the appearance of friendlier eyes, and are also associated with smiling.
Surgically speaking, lower blepharoplasty (to remove true eyebags) can be combined with aegyo-sal surgery, which the experienced surgeon usually does by re-positioning the orbicularis muscle, or one can consider fat grating (transferring one’s own fat from somewhere else).
If surgery is too much for some (and some surgeons even prefer the filler rather than surgical option!) hyaluronic acid fillers are forgiving and can be easily placed by an experienced doctor, says Dr Michelle.
5. Earlobes
Limply or small earlobes and not sure what to do? “The ears can reveal signs of age, just like pigmentation and sagging skin do”, says Dr Michelle. And if you have seriously stretched them for years wearing heavy chandeliers, normal anti-aging creams are unlikely to help at all.
A quick and easy fix would be hyaluronic acid fillers. Injected into a void just between the front and back layers of the skin of the earlobes, this procedure instantly volumises and lifts, instantly solving the shriveled earlobe problem. The stretched pierced ear holes also appear smaller and your heavy jewellery now has ample cushioning. Even simple earring studs will sit nicer and look more upright!
Is it a difficult procedure to do? According to Dr Michelle, the wait is mostly for the numbing to work, the actual injection itself is quick and virtually painless, if done by a skilled injector.
Quite coincidentally, the Chinese also believe that large earlobes are a sign of longevity and prosperity.
Do I need another excuse? My ears are ready! Sign me up!