How we get that V-shaped face (not a chipmunk face) with filler [Michele Shermak, MD, Baltimore]

Eva Sheie (00:04):
Welcome to the podcast Where Before Meets After. Submit your questions for our experts at wherebeforemeetsafter.com. I'm your host, Eva Sheie.

Dr. Shermak (00:16):
My name is Michele Shermak. I'm a plastic surgeon and I'm in Baltimore, Maryland.

Eva Sheie (00:22):
What other parts of the face do people get fillers in?

Dr. Shermak (00:25):
I'd say the most popular area is the cheek. The cheek is popular because number one, it always looks good to have a little volume. It's like a refreshing, very youthful look. If you think about a young child, a full cheek is like the kind of sign of youth. So the direct effect of cheek filler is to get that more youthful fullness. Plus we almost see a stem cell kind of effect come in with the building of soft tissue. And then the secondary benefit that we see, which is huge, is we see an improvement increases like in the nasal labial, the crease between the nose and the lip. We see that pull up, we see the jawline pull up and we see actually the area of the eye look better, so the secondary benefit there. The cheek is really the keystone central area of the face. So you see the primary improvement, but the secondary improvements that we see just by the lift that comes with it is amazing.

Dr. Shermak (01:24):
The filler quality is great. It lasts two years. So the nice thing is we can usually start with a fairly standard treatment of one syringe per side. And younger people who want to either dip their toe in or want to not spend a lot of money, we can split a syringe and then you can kind of continue to build and add more syringes even within that two year period because some people just need more correction or more improvement. And the other thing I want to say about that is that despite adding volume to the face, it paradoxically makes people look more sculpted, more angular. So some people say that I don't want volume because I don't want to look fat, I don't want to look like a chipmunk. But the paradox is that in getting that kind of V shape back to the face, like narrower at the chin, fuller at the upper face, it actually looks thinner.

Eva Sheie (02:16):
If someone wants to reach out and find out more about you, what's your Instagram and what's your website?

Dr. Shermak (02:22):
So my Instagram is Michele Shermak md. My webpage is Dr Shermak, S-H-E-R-M-A k.com, which you can click into anything from there. And we're always happy to meet with new patients and I just love meeting new people and trying to do good work for them.

Eva Sheie (02:44):
I know that you do. Thank you. Dr. Shermak.

Dr. Shermak (02:47):
Thank you so much.

Eva Sheie (02:50):
On this podcast, we bring you directly to the doctors who are where before meets after. Links to our guest's website and contact info are in your show notes. Follow us on Instagram @wherebeforemeetsafter. If you're a board certified plastic surgeon and would like to be a guest or a sponsor of the show, go to wherebeforemeetsafter.com for more information. Where Before Meets After is a production of The Axis, the podcast Agency for Aesthetics, theaxis.io.