Injectables

Dr. Richard Hamilton provides injectables at his Adelaide, Australia practice to treat wrinkles and other signs of ageing.

Dr. Hamilton: “It’s a wonderful time to be in plastic surgery, I believe. Until 10 years ago, we didn’t have injecatables. and now we do. We’ve got products such as botulinum toxin and hyaluronic acid, and these products can be used as cosmetic treatements, very simply, very easily with minimal downtime. Botulinum toxin is a muscle relaxant, and we use it to relax various muscles of expression in the face that are causing lines, particularly lines of expression. So it’s very beneficial for the smile lines around the face, for the frown lines between the eyes and the furrow lines in the forehead. Patients can be really of any age from their 20s onwards. Many of the patients don’t need surgery, but they need something to relax their face and take away those lines. Other patients are not quite ready for surgery, they could be candidates but they’re not ready, or other patients for whom surgery is financially not possible at that point in time. In that case, botulinum toxin can be very beneficial in freshening up the face, opening the eyes, and lifting the brows. The other product we use is a dermal filler, and it’s a hyaluronic acid material, which is natural. It’s in all our bodies, in our tissues. It has been purified for use in cosmetic treatments. We use it to fill in the grooves around the nose and mouth. We can use it for bitterness lines in the corner of the mouth. We can use it to plump up the lips. We can use it for some of the deeper grooves where botulinum toxin doesn’t have a sufficient effect. This is a procedure we do in half an hour, it’s walk in walk out, there’s no down time. Patients go on to conducting their ordinary lines. Patients love it because of its simplicity and immediate effect, and the fact that there’s no down time.”