How To Get the Best Filler Results (Updated 2023)

For more than a decade, my team and I have helped thousands of patients rejuvenate and contour their appearance using non surgical dermal fillers and neurotoxins like BOTOX at our San Francisco practice. Experience has taught me that the softest, most natural, and healthiest-looking results require more than one appointment. When it comes to fillers, layering is key. Patients should plan for 2 to 3 appointments at Mabrie Facial Institute for the best outcomes.

In this blog post, you will learn that the incredible results featured in our patient photo gallery are achieved by our It Takes Two approach, and why too much filler too quickly can make your treatment obvious and unnatural. We’ll delve deeper and explain why our patients benefit from scheduling a minimum of 2 treatments when rejuvenating or enhancing their features and how it sets our practice—and your results—apart from the rest.

Why We Layer Your Filler

Patients tempted to maximize filler and neuromodulator treatments in one appointment may be disappointed with the unnatural results produced by such an approach. Another provider may recommend trying to accomplish everything at once, but as expert Injectors, the MFI team knows that over-injecting a single treatment area can produce results that don’t meet our standards.

That’s because excess filler tends to spread out, rather than create a natural, lifted look. By injecting less filler, we can make sure it stays put, just where we want it. Too much filler will spread and can make a patient look puffy. No one wants to look puffy.

Why Your Second Visit Is Essential

Layering filler at a second appointment allows us to “stack” onto the first layer and double the volume in the places where you need it. This second appointment is especially important for the under-eye area, where you want to eliminate shadows completely. In fact, all patients should consider the second appointment an extension of the first appointment, which establishes the foundation.

This is where our patients go from happy to ecstatic. We schedule the second treatment somewhere between 1 to 3 months after the first appointment. There is a specific reason for waiting: swelling. We don’t want to add any additional filler until you’re completely healed.  No, you won’t look swollen for months, but the residual swelling can take up to 4 weeks to completely dissipate.

When we assess the results of your initial treatment, we want to be sure we’re looking at the actual outcome to identify specific areas to refine. Besides waiting for all the swelling to resolve, waiting a month or so gives the fillers time to disperse. Think of it this way: It’s like applying 2 coats of paint or nail polish. When the first coat dries, it contracts and thins in certain areas, so a second coat is required to reach the desired result. Similarly, after the initial filler treatment, we must wait for the swelling to subside because the results will contract, and different areas may need more filler.

Our Filler Treatment Before and After Photos

Follow up treatments are the key to getting the amazing results that our patients want. There are no shortcuts. That’s why we say It Takes Two. Take a look at the results our patients get from our staged approach to filler.

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The Importance of Maintenance

Once we’ve perfected your look over 2 or more appointments, you’ll enter into the maintenance phase of treatment. This means you only need to come in about every 9 to 12 months for filler touch-ups, which require significantly less filler than your initial treatment. Neuromodulator touch-ups should be scheduled every 3 to 4 months. This keeps your face looking its absolute best, nonstop.

A Special Note About Under Eye Filler

This is one of our most popular requests, and the reason we created our Midface Rejuvenation package. Treating the under eyes (tear troughs) is an anatomically challenging area that should only be performed by an expert Injector,  an area of our expertise where an It Takes Two process is required for results. During the initial appointment to create the foundation for our next session, we treat adjacent areas (particularly the larger midface and cheek) to support the orbital rim and tear trough. Ignoring these “support” areas can create heaviness under the eyes or pooling of filler—the exact opposite of our goal.

To successfully treat the under eye, we must focus on creating a supportive foundation for the tear trough treatment to rest upon. At this stage, visible results may or may not be apparent after the first treatment. Understandably, this can cause patient distress, so we always want to prepare our patients with as much information and education as possible.

The tear trough can be directly addressed in subsequent visit(s), during which patients will start to see a visible improvement. However, it is not uncommon for patients to require a third appointment to reach optimal results. Proceeding gradually is key to the best outcomes. Overfilling at any stage, particularly for the under eye, can produce unnatural or obvious results.

You can learn more about our staged approach to fillers and how long your results will last in this blog post.

Contact us using the online form to learn more about non surgical facial enhancement. Or call us at (415) 445-9513 to schedule an appointment.