Why is Bellafill Unique?

Bellafill is  a volume replacer that acts to rebuild your own collagen and thus smooth facial wrinkles for natural feeling and looking results that last for years not months.  It is very long lasting filler.  Bellafill has been shown to last at least 5 years and many patients who have had Bellafill in place for over 8 years are still happy because it is still working well.

It  can be used as a:

•  filler under the eyes.
•  filler for lips.
• filler for the nose.
•  filler for laugh lines.

Because it lasts for years Bellafill, formerly known as Artefill, makes good economic sense.  One way to put it is “WHY RENT YOUR FILLER WHEN YOU CAN OWN IT?” 

• If you have tried the temporary fillers in the past and were happy with the result, Bellafill is the long lasting solution to fix facial wrinkles.
• Fillers like Juvederm, Restylane and Radiesse are great fillers but they get absorbed by your body over 12 to 24 months requiring frequent repeat injections to maintain the beautiful results that you love.

Questions?  Go to FAQS

Bellafill is Very Safe!

Bellafill® is more than just an exceptional cosmetic treatment for facial aging.   Since it last so long, Bellafill has to be safe.  Bellafill’s safety profile is comparable to the temporary fillers you are already familiar with and perhaps already using.

5 year post approval safety data presented to the FDA:

• Was the largest and longest dermal filler study ever conducted.
• Had 1008 subjects enrolled across 23 sites in the US.
• Had unprecedented 87% retention at 5 years
• Had an exceedingly high 5 year satisfaction/success rating of over 90% for subjects and investigators
• Had a complication rate 1.7% of mostly lumps and bumps. All Bellafill lumps and bumps resolved or significantly improved with standard treatment (low dose steroid or Kenalog injection)

Bellafill is FDA Approved

Bellafill has been approved for the correction of facial wrinkles known as nasolabial folds or smile lines since 2006.   Then it was known as Artefill.  Bellafill does come with a skin test to identify patients who may be sensitive to the lidocaine or bovine collagen in Bellafill, which is extremely uncommon.

Bellafill for Acne Scarring

Bellafill® is now also approved by the FDA for the correction of acne scars.  BellaFill, formerly Artefill, provides long-lasting acne scar correction.

Acne scars may present in a variety of ways. The technical names are boxcar acne scars, ice pick acne scars, rolling acne scars, hypertrophic and keloid scars.  Patients can present with a combination of these types of scars.  Bellafill may be the most effective method of treating acne scars available today.  Filler for acne scarring has been tried for years but most patients do not like having to come back to be treated again after the shorter term filler has worn off.  Fillers like Bellafill for acne scars will not remove the discoloration that acne scars can create but they will fill in the defect or volume loss that the scar causes.

Acne scars are unattractive and difficult to conceal.  Now patients do not have to “just live with it”.

Click here for Before and After Bellafill Photos

Frequently Asked Questions

I have read about granulomas.  What are they?

Granulomas are inflammatory reactions that can occur with all fillers including Juvederm and Restylane.  They are easily treated.   Bellafill® was studied in the longest and largest filler safety study ever conducted.  The granuloma rate was a mere 1.7% in this study.   The majority of lumps or “granulomas” resolve on their own with a very few needing to be treated with a small injection of low dose Kenalog or steroid.

Will it work for me?

Bellafill® was shown to work equally well with all skin types, and in men and women.  If you have a history of severe allergies, have known bovine collagen allergies, are allergic to lidocaine, or are prone to thick scar formation and/or excessive scarring, tell your provider.

When will I see results?

Bellafill® replaces lost volume in the skin below the wrinkle for correction that is immediate and very long lasting.

What’s the downtime?

A: You can return to normal activities right away. As with any injectable dermal filler, swelling, redness and bruising can occur at the treatment site.  Redness, if it occurs, will generally subside after 24 hours.  Swelling can last a few days and under the eyes it can last a few weeks.  Bruising, if it occurs, can last up to 2 weeks.

How long will Bellafill or Aretfill last?

The poly methyl methacrylate beads (PMMA) that make up 10 to 20% of a Bellafill syringe are non-resorbable and act as a bio-stimulant for your body resulting in your body’s own natural collagen production, ultimately strengthening the layers of the skin.  This provides the support your skin needs for wrinkle correction and younger-looking skin, with results that last.  In clinical trials, Bellafill® showed significant improvement in smile lines at 3 months and 6 months after treatment, and continued to show improvement for 12 months that lasted for 5 years or until the end of the study (and it was still lasting!)

Patients are returning at 6 and 8 years to get more filler in new areas.  The areas treated with Artefill or Bellafill those many years ago is still working well.

What is Bellafill?
Bellafill is a filler that is composed of mostly bovine collagen that will get absorbed in 3 to 6 months.  The bovine collagen is mixed with a very small amount of microspheres, called PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate) that acts as a bio-stimulant to help you make your own collagen to replace the bovine collagen as it is absorbed.  There is also a little bit of lidocaine or local anesthetic for your comfort.  Unlike temporary wrinkle correction treatments, or fillers, Bellafill is a wrinkle face filler which provides longer lasting results, at least 8 to 10 years.

I have been told Bellafill is permanent .  What if too much Bellafill is injected?

This is perhaps the most common question we get.  While it cannot be said that Bellafill is permanent, it does last a very long time and incorrect injection is a concern that every patient should have.  Dr. Windle has over 10 years of experience injecting Bellafill in literally thousands of patients.  When treating an area of your face he always strives to get the maximum result so that you do not have to have more treatments, but he also feels that it is better to be conservative rather than over fill an area.  Therefore, the fine balance of just how much is enough and how much is too much is where Dr. Windle’s experience is to your benefit as a patient.

Why should I see Dr. Windle and not another injector?

Dr. Windle has over 30 years of experience as a plastic surgeon and over 10 years of experience injecting Bellafill.  He has acted as a medical advisor to Suneva Medical to help with problem cases and complications of fillers.  He has also helped develop training guidelines and information.  He is therefore uniquely qualified to inject Bellafill.  Frequently he will recommend much less Bellafill than other injectors because he has an uncanny knack of being able to treat just the right areas to get the maximum result from a Bellafill treatment.

How does Bellafill correct the appearance of wrinkles?
The collagen in Bellafill immediately fills a wrinkle, or area of volume loss, to reduce the appearance of aging lines and wrinkles.  Over the next few months the microspheres stimulate your body to make its own collagen, while the bovine collagen is slowly absorbed, to create your own tissue that will provide a long lasting, natural looking wrinkle correction.

Where can Bellafill be injected?

Bellafill can be injected in almost any place in the body where one has a loss of subcutaneous tissue volume.  While it is FDA approved for the nasolabial folds, Bellafill, like many other medical drugs, devices and implants has numerous off label uses.  Bellafill can be used as a lip filler, to correct lower eyelid bags, nasal hump and asymmetry correction, chin augmentation, cheek augmentation, wrinkled ear lobes and several other areas.

What makes Bellafill different from the other temporary dermal fillers?
Temporary injectable wrinkle fillers, like Juvederm, Restylane and Belotero are usually made up of different kinds of natural or synthetic materials that break down and are absorbed by your body.   Typically, they last from 3 months up to a year.  Some, like Juvederm Voluma and Radiesse last a little longer (up to 2 years).  Therefore, the wrinkle correction is only temporary and most often you need to pay for repeat injections several months after the initial treatment to maintain your wrinkle correction.

Bellafill has unique microspheres so it works differently—the microspheres are not absorbed by your body and provide a support structure for long lasting, natural looking correction.

How is Bellafill different from fat grafting?

Fat grafting to restore facial volume has become very popular.  Surgeons frequently use fat grafting to restore the volume you have lost in conjunction with a skin tightening procedure like a face lift or eyelid lift or blepharoplasty.  The problem with fat is that you must have surgery, to harvest the fat, with liposuction and then when the fat is placed it is very unpredictable.  The reported rate of “take”, or amount of fat that remains long after the procedure ,is between 35% and 85%.  This is problematic when precision is required to get the best result for you.  In contrast, Bellafill is very predictable and does not require surgery.  When Bellafill is injected, the result you see immediately after is the result you should get without any absorption of the Bellafill.

Is Bellafill safe?
Bellafill was approved by the U.S. FDA in October 2006.  It was called Artefill then.  Bellafill was shown to be just as safe as the control temporary filler in multiple large clinical trials.   To date literally thousands of patients have been safely treated with Bellafill.

What is the Difference Between Bellafill and Artefill?

Artefill was the original name for Bellafill but when Suneva Medical decided to expand to Canada and Korea, they had to change the name to Bellafill to meet trademark and naming rights restrictions.

What is Bellafill made of?
Bellafill consists mostly of bovine collagen.  13% of a syringe of Bellafill is made up microspheres, or very tiny beads of a material called enhanced collagen, with lidocaine for your comfort.

What are microspheres?
The microspheres in Bellafill are made of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA); PMMA is one of the more widely used and safest materials in medicine.   It was first used as a bone cement in 1949.  The PMMA microspheres in Bellafill are tiny.  They are 40 microns in size or about the size of the average cell.  These microspheres remain intact at the injection site and work to provide a support matrix to keep your wrinkles from returning.

Does an Bellafill treatment take a long time?
Bellafill typically takes between 30 and 45 minutes. You can return to your normal daily routine right away.  Dr. Windle uses a micro-cannula technique while injecting so bruising is less likely than when a needle is used.

Are Bellafill treatments something anyone can have?
Not everyone is a good candidate for Bellafill.  You are encouraged to see Dr. Windle and find out if Bellafill is a good alternative for you.

Are there any other treatment concerns with Bellafill?
Yes. If you have any skin outbreaks (e.g., cysts, pimples, rashes, hives, infection) near the injection site, we recommend postponing your appointment until they have cleared up. If you are taking aspirin (NSAIDs) or anti-inflammatory drugs or have any medical condition that affects your blood, you may experience increased bruising at the injection sites.

Are there any further precautions with Bellafill?

Patients who are prone to true keloid scar or heavy hypertrophic scars should not receive or be treated with Bellafill.

Are there any possible side effects with Bellafill?
As with all injectable wrinkle fillers, you can expect swelling and bruising in the treatment area.  Swelling usually goes away completely after 10 days but if you had Bellafill under your eyes it, in rare cases, can last up to 3 months.  Sometimes there is bruising that typically disappears in seven days but can last 3 weeks before it is completely gone.  If you have bruising after a Bellafill treatment it is fine to use any cover up makeup.  It is very common to have some slight redness and increased sensitivity at some or all injection sites.  Two rare side effects of all dermal fillers may be lumps and granulomas.  With Bellafill, true granulomas are extremely rare.  Usually what is seen are lumps.  The original collagen injections for wrinkles almost always made lumps that dissipated at 3 months.  Since Bellafill is mostly collagen, it is not unusual for Bellafill to make lumps that you can feel.  These lumps almost always go away by 3 months and you are very rarely able to see them.  If they can be seen, then Dr. Windle can treat these to make them go away.

How quickly will I see results with the Bellafill filler and how long will it last?
You will see results immediately.   Dr. Windle will show you exactly what result he is achieving for you as he treats you.  Dr. Windle has seen Bellafill results that were still looking good 8 to 10 years afterwards.

How many Bellafill Injections will it take to see results?
Most people see a great result with one Bellafill treatment but it depends on how deep the wrinkles and folds are on the face.  You and Dr. Windle will decide at your follow up appointment, at a month, if you need further treatment to enhance your results.

Do the Bellafill injections hurt?
Most patients say that a Bellafill injection with a cannula is very easy compared to other filler injections where a needle is used.  Bellafill also contains an anesthetic (lidocaine) for patient comfort.