Ellanse

 

So Ellanse is a filler with a difference. That difference being that it stimulates the skin to produce its own collagen in the areas that need it. This gives a very natural and subtle effect, plumping up the skin in the right area, softening folds where we don’t want them. 

The other difference is that it can last a lot longer.  There are different products that can last 1,2,3 or 4 years. This is changed by different components of the filler particles being larger and so therefore taking longer to be broken down by the body. For facial volumisation generally the 1 or 2 year products are used as the face changes over time more readily in these areas. The 3 and 4 year products are recommended for used such as nose augmentation, features which do not change much.

It isn’t made up of the hyaluronic acid that most fillers are made of. Instead it is made of a carboxymethycellulose gel carrier which gives the product its initial filling effect and polycaprolactone which is the bit that stimulates the body to make collagen. The products are just as safe as hyaluronic acid, being broken down by the body’s metabolism into water and carbon dioxide and is completely resorbed and excreted by the body.

The process

So, the product is injected into the areas in which you want more volume. The gel element gives an immediate filling effect. This will then go down over the next couple of months but don’t panic!! That’s when the body kicks in and starts to create the collagen to provide more natural volume. Because of this reaction you only inject to a point of under correction at the treatment, ie you place product until there’s still room for improvement as the collagen production will probably take it further. This also means that 1ml of ellanse will go further than 1ml of regular filler. 

And we are all different as to exactly how much our bodies will respond to the product so go easy at first, see how things go and you can always place more down the line. Better that than put too much in at the start!!

It works very well in conjunction with Silhouette Soft thread lifts. It can either give further definition after the lift has worked its magic or there can be some cases where there is not enough skin volume to safely perform a thread lift but once ellanse has stimulated collagen production then it may be possible to place the threads.

Another big advantage is that this product can give a nice natural plumping and smoothing effect in the sub malar region (that being below the cheek line) which is not really achievable with regular filler or botox.

As with any product that promotes collagen synthesis there is an overall antiageing long term effect as it’s always a great thing for skin to stimulate collagen production to replace some of what has been lost! So if you were to have it on just one side of your face, ten years down the line after you stopped that half of your face would look better than the other half. But obviously no one is EVER going to do that. Ever. It would just be weird.