Sculptra

Sculptra (poly-L-lactic acid)

Sculptra is an injectable filler that is different than most of the other fillers.  Many of the other fillers available are hyaluronic acid (HA) based, a naturally occurring molecule in the skin.  When we are young, we have a lot HA and as we age we lose the HA, decreasing to volume of the skin. Most fillers aim to replace what was lost. These are temporary and last at best 12-18 months.   

Sculptra is different. Sculptra causes your body to deposit collagen around wherever it is injected. That collagen stays in that location for a very long time, years. After Sculptra is injected, the collagen formation is very slow, 3-4 months and sometimes it takes up to a year for the full result of an injection.  So the changes to your face are very slow, but very noticeable after several months. Patients like Sculptra due to the very long lasting results and the ability to customize the shape of the face, bringing back youthful features. Often multiple sessions/injections are needed to achieve the desired result. 

A general guide is, the number of decades of your life is the number of bottle that would be needed for an initial treatment, generally (if you are 50 years old you would need 4-5 bottles for an initial treatment). Typically, most patients will have 1 ‘touchup’ bottle every several (2-3) years thereafter.