According to The Aesthetic Society, 2,525,279 people received injectable fillers in 2019, making it apparent that they are a rapidly expanding approach to treating facial aging. While patients come in for all different types of fillers in a wide variety of places, getting the temples filled is not often thought-about, but it should be.
“Although sunken temples are something that are hard to pinpoint—most people wouldn’t look in the mirror and automatically think they need their temples filled—they can make people look dramatically older,” says New York dermatologist Jody Levine, MD.
Tijuana, MX plastic surgeon Juan Carlos Fuentes, MD agrees: “None of my patients really know about this procedure until they come in and we talk it through,” he says. “There’s also some people whose hair covers their temples and they say, ‘I don’t need that, no one sees that area anyway,’” says Dr. Levine.
When the injections are finished and all is said and done, “patients are so happy with the results,” says Dr. Levine. But what many patients don’t know before treatment is that tweaking the temple area has more just one benefit.
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It can reverse signs of aging.
What many patients don’t know is that just like filling in the more talked-about, wrinkle-prone areas of the face, temple fillers can postpone signs of aging, too. “When fillers are used correctly, they can really lift the skin because when you lose fat, muscle or bone, it makes your skin droop,” says Dr. Levine.
It can help lift the brow.
Filling the temples can modify more than just the forehead area, “It affects the whole shape of the face because it lifts the cheeks and even the brows,” adds Dr. Levine.
Woodbury, NY oculoplastic surgeon David Schlessinger, MD also stresses the dramatic effect that filling the temples has on aging due to the way it lifts the eyebrows. “If you don’t like the position of your brows (i.e. they sit too low on your forehead), filling the temples can bring them up to a more flattering position on the face,” which lifts the drooping. If you don’t like needles, be warned: “The temples are a large area to fill, so two or more syringes are common,” he says.
It can fill out a thinning face.
Smithtown, NY facial plastic surgeon James C. Marotta, MD likes to use a filling technique that also targets the surrounding areas of the temples. “It is important to blend the temple-cheek junction along the zygomatic (cheek) arch,” he says. “I also like to add some volume to the cheeks and cheek bone at the same time. This gives the most natural, even look.”
“Among the common temple fillers are Juvederm, Voluma or Belotero Volume,” says Dr. Fuentes, but Dr. Marotta says that he also uses “fillers like Radiesse, which last about one to two years, and Sculptra Aesthetic—a pure collagen stimulator—which can last two years.” He specifically loves Sculptra because it “creates a smooth contour with less risk of lumps or bumps.”
All of these can be used to fill hollowness, “which is really helpful for thin patients,” adds Dr. Fuentes. “It can also help to make the face look more oval in shape if you’re struggling with a tired look, which most aging people are. The results are a healthier, less tired and less sad-looking face.”
