Concern
A face that has gone flat rather than lined
Volume loss is the change people describe as looking tired or gaunt without being able to name a line. It is also the one where over-treatment is most visible from across a room.
What is going
and in what order
Not all at once, and not evenly.
- Deep fat compartments in the midface shrink and slide, so the cheek loses its support first
- Bone resorbs slowly at the eye socket, the jaw and the chin, changing the frame the soft tissue sits on
- Superficial fat thins, which is what makes the skin look loose rather than the skin itself changing
- Weight loss accelerates all three and makes the face read older than the body
- The temples and the area in front of the ear go early and are rarely what people point at
Realistic options
Two materials that work on different timescales, and doing nothing, which is a real answer for people who are early. Which of the three we recommend in North Vancouver depends on the assessment in daylight, not on what you booked.
- No treatment needed
Wait, if you are still losing weight
Treating a face that is still changing means paying twice. If your weight is not settled, the honest advice is to come back when it is.
This is the single most common thing we tell people who arrive after a course of weight-loss medication.
- Skin & body
HarmonyCa
A hybrid: hyaluronic acid for support you can see on the day, and calcium hydroxylapatite that the body responds to over the following months. Placed deep, to hold a structure.
- Downtime
- Minimal, some swelling
- Typically lasts
- Support builds over months; the second phase is gradual and varies by person
- Skin & body
Dermal filler
Where the need is a defined amount in a defined place, on bone, with a result on the day. Reversible, which is why it is the choice near the eye and for anyone treating this area for the first time.
- Downtime
- Minimal
- Typically lasts
- 9–18 months by site
Volume is the area where more is most tempting and least advisable. A conservative first treatment and a review at four weeks beats one long session, and it is the plan we will suggest.
What people ask
How much will I need?
Not something anyone can quote in advance, and a clinic that quotes a syringe count over the phone is guessing. It is settled at the assessment, in writing, before anything is booked.
Will I look like I have had something done?
Not if the amount matches what was lost. Looking "done" is nearly always the result of treating the face as a surface to fill rather than a structure to support.
Filler or the biostimulator one?
They are different jobs. One gives a defined amount now and can be dissolved; the other asks your body to build over months and cannot be taken back. Which suits you depends on how much has gone and how reversible you want it to be.
I lost a lot of weight recently. Should I wait?
Almost certainly yes, until it is stable. We will say so even though it means you leave without booking.
How long does the swelling last?
Swelling is the tissue reacting to the injection and to the water the gel holds; it is not the result. With hyaluronic acid it generally runs two to three days, longer under the eyes. With the hybrid injectable it is more often three to five days and can run longer in the mid-face. Bruising is possible with either and takes a few days to a week. Most people are back at work the next day.
Come in before you decide
Ask usWho does this
Assessments and treatments at the Lonsdale Avenue clinic in North Vancouver are carried out by MMC’s own clinicians. Who they are, what they trained in and which treatments each of them does is on the team page.
Other places people start
These are sorted by what is bothering you rather than by treatment name. Each page says what actually helps, what does not, and when the honest answer is that nothing here is needed.
- Loose Skin After Weight LossLosing the weight is the hard part and you have done it. What is left is usually a skin problem rather than a fat problem, and those have completely different answers.
- Fatigue & Low EnergyThis is the concern where we are least likely to sell you anything, and we would rather say that at the top of the page than at the end of a consultation.
- Dullness & Uneven ToneDullness and dehydration are a texture problem, not a shape problem. That distinction decides which half of the menu is even relevant.
- Forehead & Frown LinesForehead and frown lines are muscle before they are skin. The question that decides your result is not the dose — it is whether the line is still only there when you move.
- Hooded Upper LidsThe line where this stops being an injectable question and becomes a surgical one is unusually clear, and you are entitled to be told which side of it you are on.
- Jawline & Contour LossThe most common reason people book here, and the one where the honest answer changes most with age. In your forties a device usually does it. In your sixties it usually does not.
- Nasolabial FoldsNasolabial folds are usually a symptom. Filling the fold itself is the most common way to end up looking heavy in the lower face.
- Stubborn Body FatA pocket that stays the same size while the rest of you changes. Usually the flanks, the lower abdomen, or under the chin. The useful question is not which machine to use — it is whether what you are looking at is fat at all.
- Under-Eye Hollows & ShadowsThe most common request here, and the one where the answer is most often no. Under-eye shadow has at least four causes and filler helps exactly one of them.