In The Nose

Dr. Vicki Belo on what you need to know about the popular nose fillers before booking your appointment.

- Ronna Capili Bonifacio

Lunchtime beauty is all the rage these days, with quick, no downtime treatments being as normal as booking an appointment at the spa. And why not—it’s easy, practically painless and won’t mess with your social or work calendar. Nose fillers, in particular, are highly favored exactly for those reasons. Dr. Vicki Belo defines a nose filler by first explaining the four kinds of skin cells, keratin, collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid. “Hyaluronic acid is what fillers are made up of, and more or less, they are the ground substances in the body. What does that mean? They are the most numerous. If you build a building, the cement between the two structural beams is the hyaluronic acid.”

Those beams, she explains are the collagen. And while there are different kinds of fillers, choosing the kind of filler depends on what it is you’re filling. Bigger particles are best used for bigger areas and the smaller or finer particles are best used for areas that should look smooth. “When you do the nose, you kind of have to use medium to large particles because it has to hold. The bigger the fillers are, the more they hold the structure,” she says.

The options for restructuring the nose are using silicone, which was the practice in the past (and is not done by the Belo Medical Group), Gore-tex, which is pricey, or surgery, which has at least two weeks downtime and lots of post-surgery care. As such, more Filipinos are opting for nose fillers “because in 15 to 20 minutes, you have a beautiful nose and no downtime. There’s no side effect and there’s minimal to no swelling at all.”