Which lip filler is the best? [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 (00:14):
My name is Michele Shermak. I'm a plastic surgeon and I'm in Baltimore, Maryland.

Eva Sheie (00:20):
This afternoon we're talking about fillers. So my first question to you, Dr. Shermak, what's the best filler for the lips?

Dr. Shermak (00:28):
My favorite filler for the lips is Volbella, actually, if we're going to talk brands. I like it because it's gentle. And for people who are nervous about kind of jumping into the lip filler realm, it's kind of the most gentle one. Plus it gets rid of lines around the lip. So thin lips are the consistent sign of aging in women, and this is just an amazing product. I've had really great success with it.

Eva Sheie (01:00):
How long has Volbella been around?

Dr. Shermak (01:03):
I believe it's probably been around at least eight years. It's part of the Allergan line.

Eva Sheie (01:09):
It's a Juvederm.

Dr. Shermak (01:10):
Yes.

Eva Sheie (01:10):
Yeah. And how is it different from the filler that you use in the face?

Dr. Shermak (01:16):
So the beauty of fillers in the face now are that we have so many and they all have gently different properties. So the original filler for that line was Juvederm, but it always gave nice fill, but it just wasn't, didn't have the properties that we need for certain areas of the face. Like if someone came and said they wanted their cheeks filled, I would offer a different filler than if they said they want their jawline smooth or they want their chin more projected, or they want their nose straightened or they want their lips filled. So there are different levels of thickness of fillers, there are different levels of dynamic nature for fillers, different heaviness of fillers, whether they're more superficial or deep. So, I literally, if someone comes in for a certain region in the face, it's almost like I think about a specific filler. We have so many now. It's really nice. And what's nice is if in my office the two big lines are Galderma and Allergan and we have every single one. I like that because we're not looking just to find whatever we can buy at the cheapest rate in bulk and try to fit the filler to the application. We have the application and we can always pull out of our closet the best filler for that. Doesn't matter which brand name it's from.

Eva Sheie (02:39):
How long should you expect filler to last in your lips?

Dr. Shermak (02:43):
In the lips? I would say definitely six months to a year.

Eva Sheie (02:47):
Oh wow. And then how old are the patients that you see who usually come in asking for lip filler?

Dr. Shermak (02:54):
Interestingly, I see women who are a bit older who are to see signs of aging who are just coming in for non-surgical facial aging consultation. They're not quite ready to have surgery, but they want to do something to kind of get on their way to a more refreshed face. And then of course, we always see younger patients, like in their twenties, who are very tied into social and are trying to enhance features they have to get a certain outcome that they're aiming for.

Eva Sheie (03:26):
If someone wants to reach out and find out more about you, what's your Instagram and what's your website?

Dr. Shermak (03:32):
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 (03:54):
I know that you do. Thank you, Dr. Shermak.

Dr. Shermak (03:57):
Thank you so much.

Eva Sheie (04:00):
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.