Fillers and anti-wrinkle treatment are not the same thing

This is one of the most common misunderstandings in facial aesthetics, and an older version of this page got it wrong too. It described dermal fillers and anti-wrinkle treatment as though they were the same thing. They are not, and the difference is worth setting out properly.

Two different categories

Broadly, injectable facial aesthetics splits into two groups that work in completely different ways.

• Muscle-relaxing treatments. These work by temporarily reducing the activity of specific facial muscles. They add nothing to the face and change no volume. The effect is temporary and wears off. In the UK these are prescription-only medicines, which means a qualified prescriber must assess you in person before anything can be prescribed for you.
• Dermal fillers. These are gels, most commonly based on hyaluronic acid, injected to add or restore volume and support. They do not relax muscle. Most are regulated as medical devices rather than as medicines.

Different mechanisms, different purposes, different risks, different rules about who may provide them. Using the words interchangeably is not a harmless slip of vocabulary. If you do not know which of the two you are being offered, you cannot give informed consent to it.

Why the confusion matters in practice

If you do not know which category you are discussing, you cannot ask the right questions. You cannot judge whether the risks being described are the relevant ones. You cannot tell whether the person in front of you needs a prescriber involved or not. And you cannot tell whether a price is reasonable, because you are not comparing like with like.

The risks are genuinely different. The most serious complications of dermal fillers involve the material obstructing a blood vessel, which is an emergency and needs recognising immediately. That risk simply does not apply to muscle-relaxing treatments, which carry a different and separate set of considerations. A clinic that blurs the two is either not being careful with language or is not being careful full stop.

Why a dental practice does this at all

Dental training is training in the anatomy of the head, face and neck, and in giving injections into that anatomy safely and comfortably. Dentists are registered with the General Dental Council, work in regulated premises, take medical histories as a matter of routine, keep clinical records and hold indemnity for what they do. That is the substance of the argument. It is not a claim to be better than anyone else, and there are excellent practitioners from medical and nursing backgrounds doing this work.

What it does mean is that there is a regulator, a public register you can search, a consent process and somewhere to complain. In a sector where a large proportion of injectors have no clinical registration at all, that is not nothing.

What we are not going to tell you here

It is against UK law to advertise a prescription-only medicine to the public. That is why you will not find on this website, and should treat with suspicion anywhere else:

• the brand name of any muscle-relaxing product;
• a description of what it does, how it feels or how long it lasts;
• before and after photographs of treated patients;
• prices, packages, seasonal offers or competitions for these treatments.

This is not us being coy. Clinics that publish those things are breaking a rule that exists because prescription-only medicines are supposed to be chosen by a clinician for a specific patient, not selected by that patient from a menu.

What these treatments cannot do

Since the original version of this page promised guaranteed results, which nothing in healthcare can, here is the other side of it.

Injectable treatments do not lift skin, and they are not an alternative to surgery for anyone whose concern is loose skin. They do not improve skin quality, texture, pigmentation or sun damage, which are skincare questions. Nothing here is permanent. And no treatment will change how you feel about your appearance if the underlying feeling is not really about your face. A clinician worth seeing will say so.

What a consultation involves

A consultation at Sale Dental Spa is an assessment. A GDC-registered clinician will go through your medical history and medication, ask what specifically you want to change and why now, examine your face at rest and in movement, and give you an honest view of what is and is not achievable, including the option of doing nothing.

If you are nervous about injections, say so at the start rather than at the end. It changes how the appointment is run. You should never feel obliged to make a decision on the day you are assessed, and if you are being hurried anywhere, that is a reason to leave.

You can read more about Sale Beauty Spa, our aesthetics studio. To arrange a consultation, get in touch or call 0161 969 7464. We are at 77 Washway Road, Sale, Manchester M33 7TQ, and you can read about our clinicians on the team page.