What is Restylane Defyne?
Restylane Defyne is a dermal filler injected under the (facial) skin. Once in place, it helps smooth away your “laugh lines” – the wrinkles and folds that may form at the sides of your nose and run down toward the corners of your mouth. Restylane Defyne may also be used to improve the profile, shape, and size of your chin.
Restylane Defyne is made of hyaluronic acid – a naturally occurring sugar, found in the body that gives the skin moisture, volume, and elasticity – and a small amount of lidocaine, which is commonly used local anesthetic to numb the skin. The hyaluronic acid is crosslinked with BDDE, an ingredient that helps form a network of hyaluronic acid to provide a gel filler that lasts longer. Hyaluronic acid fillers, including Restylane Defyne, contains hyaluronic acid that has been modified to last longer in the body than the naturally occurring hyaluronic acid.
How is Restylane Defyne used?
Restylane Defyne is injected into the facial skin through a small needle to smooth facial wrinkles and folds (laugh lines), resulting in a more youthful appearance of the skin. Restylane Defyne may also be injected in your chin to improve the profile, shape, and size of your chin. For most patients, the procedure only takes 15 – 30 minutes.
Are there any reasons why I should not receive Restylane Defyne?
Before using Restylane Defyne, your doctor will talk to you about your medical history to determine if you are an appropriate candidate for treatment. You will be asked questions about possible allergies to ensure that Restylane Defyne can be safely administered. Tell your doctor about all your medical conditions, including if you:
- Have severe allergies with a history of severe reactions (anaphylaxis). Use of Restylane Defyne may result in an allergic reaction.
- Are allergic to the anesthetic lidocaine or to any of the proteins used to make the hyaluronic acid in Restylane Defyne (bacterial proteins). Use may result in an allergic reaction.
What precautions should my doctor advise me about?
- Restylane Defyne helps improve the profile and appearance of your chin and helps treat laugh lines – the natural facial wrinkles and folds that can occur due to aging. Restylane Defyne has not been tested to treat any other types of wrinkles.
- Restylane Defyne may be unintentionally injected into a blood vessel during the procedure. The chances of this happening are very small, but if it does happen, the complications can be serious, and may be permanent. If you have changes in your vision, signs of a stroke (including sudden difficulty speaking, numbness, or weakness in your face, arms, or legs, difficulty walking, face drooping, severe headache, dizziness, or confusion), white appearance of the skin, or unusual pain during or shortly after treatment, you should notify your doctor immediately.
- The use of Restylane Defyne if you have skin sores, pimples, rashes, hives, cysts, or infections should be postponed until healing is complete. Use of Restylane Defyne in these instances could delay healing or make your skin problems worse.
- Any time a dermal filler gel like Restylane Defyne is injected into facial skin there is risk of infection, which could appear as small, swollen, or red bumps. These are called inflammatory papules. These infections are rare; however you should talk to your doctor about further treatment if you see any of these signs or symptoms.
- Restylane Defyne is for adults over the ages of 21.
- Tell your doctor if you are pregnant, planning to become pregnant, or breastfeeding. The safety of Restylane Defyne has not been studied in women who are pregnant or breastfeeding. The risk of using Restylane Defyne in pregnant or breastfeeding women is unknown.
- Tell your doctor about any medication you are taking. You may have a greater risk of developing an infection if you use Restylane Defyne while taking any medication that reduces your body’s natural defense system.
- Some medication like aspirin and warfarin can thin your blood, which may increase your risk of bleeding or prolong any bleeding that occurs. These medications also increase your risk of bruising or bleeding at the injection site.
- As with any injection procedure, you may have a higher risk of bruising or bleeding at the injection site if you have a bleeding disorder.
- If you have any history of scarring, particularly thick and stiff scars, or any skin color (pigmentation) disorders, talk to your doctor about this before your procedure. Scarring and skin color changes can occur with hyaluronic acid fillers in general. When Restylane Defyne was studied in patients with different skin tones (pale to dark), there were no reports by patients of excessive scarring (keloids) or changes in skin color.
- The use of Restylane Defyne with skin therapies such as laser treatment, mechanical or chemical peels or hair removal may lead to other side effects such as redness, swelling, heat and/or pain of the skin (inflammatory reaction). Tell your doctor if you have any of these procedures.
- If you have had cold sores in the past, there is a risk that they will return after your procedure with Restylane Defyne.
- Within the first 24 hours after treatment with Restylane Defyne, you should avoid or minimize hard (strenuous) exercise. You should also minimize exposure to extensive sun, UV lamps, indoor tanning beds/booths, or extreme heat and cold as any of these may cause temporary redness, swelling, and/or itching at the injection. Exposure to UV sources may result in irritation at the site of treatment. An ice pack can be applied for relief, if needed.
What are the side effects of Restylane Defyne?
- Most patients reported the following side effects at the site where they received the injection:
- Swelling
- Lumps/Bump Formation
- Redness
- Pain/Tenderness
- Bruising
- Itching
- Most patients said their side effects were mild, short-lived and did not require them to call their doctor. These side effects disappeared within 1 – 2 weeks.
Before & After:
