Using Artefill

Are you using Artefill? How do you like it?

There have been a few chapters in the story of this filler, and I know that many doctors are not using it due to fears of permanent fillers and fears of longterm complications. Also, it went off the market for a while as Artes Medical went bankrupt, but came back from a new company called Suneva.

I am a fan of the product and have used it quite a bit in my practice for the last 6 years. I have seen no concerning longterm issues. No granulomas, no migration, no product lumps. In Europe it sounds like doctors encountered quite a few serious problems with the Artecoll and Arteplast iterations of the product, including granulomas and lumps. It was so much so that a fairly strident call went out to never use permanent fillers. This boycott was enthusiastically supported here in the states by many plastic surgeons and dermatologists (most notably Arnie Klein). Even now, it seems that doctors who use Artefill are considered somewhat fringe by the core group of physicians.

I think that this is a shame. I have used the product on over 1000 patients without a single adverse event and I find it to be soft, natural appearing and forgiving. My main issue is that when the collagen component gets absorbed it is often not fully replaced by the patient's tissue. The result is that I frequently have to do several sessions in order to get good results and this can get costly. I inject in the deep as well as the superficial planes, but i try to have most of the product stay superficial. Because the product is so soft, I have found that if I inject it deep I do not see great results.

What is your experience?