Restylane is based on a non-animal hyaluronic acid. It works together with the body's own hyaluronic acid and creates volume and fills in lines.

The hyaluronic acid in Restylane is almost identical to that naturally found in the body.

The product is naturally integrated into the tissue, allowing important nutritive agents to pass freely through the implant and cells to pass between fragments of the gel.

Once in the skin, Restylane works together with the body's own hyaluronic acid and joins forces to create volume.

Unlike permanent implants, Restylane always leaves you a choice when the effect of the treatment has worn off.

Questions and answers

Before you have a Restylane treatment, it is important to be well informed and familiar with the procedure and the results you can expect. A selection of the most common questions now follows.

Treatment-related questions

What is Restylane?

Restylane is a gel that is injected into the skin in order to add volume to lips and lift up wrinkles and folds. Restylane consists of hyaluronic acid, which is a natural substance already present in your body. Once in the skin, Restylane works by creating volume. Some dermal fillers are derived from animal substances. The hyaluronic acid in Restylane is non-animal.

How is a treatment performed?

During treatment, the crystal-clear Restylane gel is injected into the skin in tiny amounts with a very fine needle. The gel produces volume under the wrinkle, which is lifted up and smoothed out. When enhancing lips or facial contours, Restylane adds volume and shape to the treated area.

How long will the treatment session take?

Treatment with Restylane is a very quick and easy process. As no pre-test is needed, the treatment can be carried out immediately. A treatment generally takes 30 minutes. The time differs somewhat, depending on the correction you wish to have performed.

What can be treated?

Restylane can be used for smoothing out folds and wrinkles, lip enhancements and shaping facial contours. The most common areas are the glabellar lines (between the eyebrows), the nasolabial folds (from the root of the nose to the angle of the mouth) and the lips, although other sites can also be treated. Very superficial or very deep wrinkles may be difficult to correct. Please consult us for an assessment.

Does it hurt?

Most people find the injections relatively painless. They may prick a little. If you like, a topical anaesthetic can be applied to the area being treated prior to your procedure. When enhancing the lips, a local anaesthetic injection is often given.

How soon will I see the results?

The results can be seen immediately.

What will I look like after the treatment?

Immediately after the treatment, you can expect slight redness, swelling, tenderness or an itching sensation in the treated area. This is a normal result of the injection. The discomfort is temporary and generally disappears in a few days. After a lip treatment, the lips may become swollen and look somewhat uneven. This can persist for a few days (up to a week). If the discomfort continues, please contact us.

What should I bear in mind after my treatment with Restylane ?

During the first 48 hours after your treatment, do not massage or rub the treated area. If you have had a lip enhancement, avoid puckering your lips for the first two days after the treatment. Until the initial swelling and redness have resolved, do not expose the treated area to intense heat (e.g. in a solarium or by sunbathing) or extreme cold.

Can Restylane be removed?

No. However, Restylane dissolves naturally with time. If you feel uncertain about the desired result, you can choose to have the treatment done in steps on different occasions.

Can Restylane replace surgical procedures?

No. However, Restylane is sometimes used in conjunction with surgery to fill out wrinkles that cannot be removed by surgery.

How can I get Restylane treatment?

Contact your us for a consultation. We will answer your questions and help you reach a decision. As no skin test is needed you can have the treatment performed immediately after the consultation.

What should I think about before I have a Restylane treatment?

Look at yourself in the mirror and think about the result you are expecting. Try to convey your expectations to us before the treatment and ask us what is possible.

Safety questions

Do I need to have a skin test?

No.

Are there any side-effects?

The rate of reactions to Restylane is very low. However, after the treatment some common injection-related reactions may occur, such as swelling, redness, pain, itching, discoloration and tenderness at the injection site. These typically resolve spontaneously within a few days after injection into the skin and within a week after the injection into the lips. Other types of reactions are very rare, but about 1 in 2000 treated patients have experienced localized reactions thought to be of a hypersensitive nature. These have usually consisted of swelling at the injection site, sometimes affecting the surrounding tissues. Redness, tenderness and rarely acne-like formations have also been reported. These reactions have either started a few days after the injection or after a delay of two to four weeks, and have generally been described as mild to moderate and self-limiting with an average duration of two weeks. This text does not contain all the information known about these products. For more information please consult us.

Why do the lips sometimes become very swollen immediately after a Restylane treatment?

The cause of this is not yet known, but there is no reason to believe that this is an immunological reaction. Normally, the swelling is gone within a week after injection into the lips.

Can Restylane be used if I have undergone laser treatment or chemical peeling?

If you have recently had some other kind of facial treatment, you are recommended to wait until the treated area is totally healed and the skin has normalized (usually four to six weeks) before you undergo a Restylane treatment.

Can patients with allergies of different kinds be more sensitive to Restylane?

So far, no connection between patients with allergies and patients that report a reaction to Restylane has been established.