Hyaluronic acid

What exactly is hyaluronic acid?
It's a molecule and a natural polymer present in your skin, chemically extracted by fermenting bacteria. Complex hyaluronic acid comes from stabilisation, which makes it longer lasting, and is different to the non-complex type of acid which only has a few weeks' effect. 

What does it do? 
It fills in your wrinkles and also the furrows around the nose, laughter lines and wrinkles around the upper lip. It's injected into the skin at varying depths but never into the muscle. The smoothing effect is almost immediate. The treatment varies according to the depth of the wrinkle: there are fairly thick hyaluronic acids which are used for the furrow on your forehead. Again, the fine lines around your mouth are treated with different products to the thicker lines around the nose. 

The pros
Everyone will say how great and refreshed you look...did you go on that luxury weekend?  

The cons 
It hurts! As with the dentist, you need an anaesthetic for injections around your mouth and anaesthetic cream for injections around your nose. 

The risks
Red spots, haematoma, and swelling can appear. The skin cells live in a substance containing hyaluronic acid. Because the acid attracts water, when a fairly large quantity is injected into the skin it can cause a slight swelling which lasts no longer than 48 hours.  

How long does it last?
8 - 12 months

How much does it cost? 
Around £240 per zone treated