Abstract
BACKGROUND: The aging face is characterized by skin laxity and volume loss. Attenuation of facial retaining ligaments significantly contributes to skin sagginess and soft tissue volume loss. AIMS: We designed a prospective cohort study to quantitatively assess the efficacy of hyaluronic acid (HA) with adjunct poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA) injections in strengthening the retaining ligaments. PATIENTS/METHODS: A total of 12 Asian women were treated with HA injections to the orbital, zygomatic, buccal-maxillary, and mandibular retaining ligaments with adjunct supraperiosteal and subdermal PLLA injections to the temporal region, midface, and lower face. Cephalometric measurements were done before treatment and 2, 4, 12, and 24 weeks post-procedurally. RESULTS: Eyebrow peak and tail angles increased 20.0° ± 3.8° to 21.0° ± 3.8° (p < 0.05) and -2.9° ± 4.2° to -1.3° ± 3.3° (p < 0.001) at week 12. Eyebrow-to-orbital-rim distance increased 1.9 ± 2.0 mm to 3.9 ± 1.5 mm (p < 0.001) at week 12. Eyebrow-to-upper-eyelid distance increased 11.6 ± 3.0 mm to 12.7 ± 3.2 mm (p < 0.001) at week 24. Eyebrow-peak-to-lateral-limbus distance decreased 6.1 ± 3.1 mm to 5.3 ± 2.4 mm (p < 0.05) at week 4. Tragus-oral-commissure length and lower-facial-contouring length decreased 281 ± 11 mm to 275 ± 10 mm (p < 0.01) and 297 ± 14 to 292 ± 11 mm (p < 0.05) at week 12, respectively. CONCLUSION: Hyaluronic acid injection for strengthening of facial retaining ligaments with adjunct PLLA is viable, safe, and effective in facial rejuvenation as supported by quantitative data.