<\/p>\n
Patients who have lost weight on a GLP-1 often walk into the office with the same worry. New York dermatologist Marina Peredo, MD said most of her GLP-1 patients don\u2019t want filler because, after losing all that weight, they assume filler is bad. Austin, TX oculoplastic surgeon Sheila Barbarino, MD hears a version of it too, from patients who say they don\u2019t want to look fatter. <\/p>\n
At NewBeauty\u2019s inaugural State of Aesthetics<\/em> Roundtable in New York, experts including New York dermatologists Amanda Doyle, MD and Dendy Engelman, MD, who attended as guests of Merz Aesthetics, made the case that filler isn\u2019t the problem. How, where and in whom it\u2019s used is what counts. For many GLP-1 patients, filler works best as part of a broader approach that combines three treatments to help restore a more youthful appearance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ahead, why GLP-1 weight loss changes the face differently than aging, and the three treatments experts say work best together.<\/p>\n Dr. Doyle explained that rapid, medication-driven weight loss changes the face in a specific way. \u201cIf you lose 22 pounds, you can lose up to 7 percent of your facial volume,\u201d she said, citing a 2025 imaging study. Where that volume goes matters, too. With fast weight loss from these medications, \u201cit\u2019s a more superficial fat pad type of change versus a deeper fat pad loss,\u201d she said. With ordinary aging, it\u2019s the reverse. Dr. Peredo said the biggest losses tend to show up in the fat compartments of the temples and cheeks.<\/p>\n That changes the plan. \u201cAddressing that specific type of population is really important in knowing how to inject them appropriately with the right type of products,\u201d Dr. Doyle said. Here are the three treatments the experts are relying on.<\/p>\n Dr. Barbarino said the fear of looking heavier comes from a misunderstanding. \u201cIf you place filler in the correct anatomical position, you should always, always, always look like you\u2019ve lost weight and that you look more sculpted, not that you\u2019ve gained it,\u201d she said. The goal, in her words, \u201cshouldn\u2019t be to augment people, it\u2019s to bring out their best features.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Doyle described the art the same way. Done well, filler has a certain je ne sais quoi, \u201cmaking it look like something meaningful has been done without being known what\u2019s been done.\u201d Getting there starts before the needle. \u201cNot every patient is a filler patient, even if they think they may be,\u201d she said. Then comes restraint: smaller amounts, placed carefully and less often. \u201cI think that\u2019s really going to turn the tables on aesthetics and make patients more comfortable with filler again over time.\u201d<\/p>\n A new generation of products is helping. Dr. Doyle pointed to Merz Aesthetics\u2019 expanded Belotero collection. \u201cI think that there\u2019s some really unique things coming out of Merz with the Belotero Balance and Volume and Intense portfolio that add a unique component to our toolbox,\u201d she said, highlighting the line\u2019s biomimetic design, \u201cmeaning things that can move naturally with our tissue and integrate really nicely.\u201d<\/p>\n In September, the FDA approved Belotero Volume (+) to restore volume and contour in the cheeks and midface and Belotero Intense (+) for lip fullness, joining Belotero Balance (+). Both new fillers use Merz\u2019s Cohesive Polydensified Matrix technology, which creates a gel designed to integrate into tissue rather than sit on top of it, so faces keep their full range of expression. Merz reports 95 percent patient satisfaction through 18 months for Belotero Volume (+).<\/p>\n Where filler restores shape, biostimulators prompt the skin to make more of its own collagen. Dr. Peredo has long been a big user of Radiesse and Sculptra, and she said Sculptra is having \u201ca huge comeback\u201d in her practice.<\/p>\n Toronto physician Jennifer Pearlman, MD uses a lot of hyperdilute Radiesse, which she said has a unique place \u201cas it relates to reloading the matrix.\u201d She doesn\u2019t see that as the end of hyaluronic acid. \u201cHAs will always have a place in our aesthetic arsenal if we are thinking about the skin architecturally and we\u2019re providing targeted scaffolds,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Dominic Mazzone, founder and CEO of the physician-led network VOS Collection, said his company\u2019s data backs up pairing the two. Patients who get regenerative biostimulators without HA filler, he said, drop off faster than those who do both.<\/p>\n The third piece is the skin itself. Dr. Peredo layers biostimulators with lasers, including a 1550 nm laser that spares the skin\u2019s surface, so she can treat a wide range of ages and skin tones, even in summer. Many practices also offer micro-focused ultrasound, the technology behind Merz Aesthetics\u2019 Ultherapy.<\/p>\n Even as newer technologies arrive, the classics still matter. \u201cWe always have our lasers and our light-based treatments,\u201d Dr. Pearlman said.<\/p>\n All of that choice raises the stakes for training. DJ Sethares, vice president of U.S. marketing for Merz Aesthetics, called it an \u201cinflection point of risk because the innovation is outpacing the education.\u201d She emphasized the need for shared industry standards, \u201cnot to create rigidity, but to create an expectation that we can train towards and that patients can understand and expect.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Engelman said educating patients is part of the solution. \u201cWe all have like the attention span of a fruit fly now,\u201d she said, adding that doctors have to translate clinical language for consumers. \u201cWhat we speak about here is wildly different than what I was saying at 9 a.m.\u201d Her advice to GLP-1 patients starts with the basics: \u201cYou need to make sure you\u2019re managing your protein and your caloric intake.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s also why vetting your injector matters, whether you\u2019re at a dermatologist\u2019s office or a medspa.<\/p>\n Sethares summed up the philosophy the room kept returning to. \u201cI don\u2019t believe in starting with product first at all. I believe in starting with the patient first,\u201d she said. \u201cFor most of our patients, whether they\u2019re GLP-1 or menopausal, whatever cause of accelerated aging they are experiencing, it \u2019s a multimodal treatment approach.\u201d<\/p>\n For GLP-1 patients, that means filler isn\u2019t automatically the enemy or the answer. The most youthful results come from the right mix of all three, tailored to where your face lost volume, how quickly it happened and who\u2019s doing the natural-looking work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Patients who have lost weight on a GLP-1 often walk int […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3492,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nichebeaty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3491"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nichebeaty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nichebeaty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nichebeaty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nichebeaty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nichebeaty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nichebeaty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nichebeaty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nichebeaty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nichebeaty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Why the GLP-1 Face Looks Different<\/h2>\n
1. Filler, Placed With Precision<\/h2>\n
2. Biostimulators That Rebuild From Within<\/h2>\n
3. Energy Treatments for Skin Quality<\/h2>\n
Choosing the Right Hands<\/h2>\n
Start With the Patient<\/h2>\n