What to Expect: Collagen Biostimulators —
Placed Lightly, Built Over Months

Your first visit is a planning consultation with Dr SY, usually 30–45 minutes. He examines your whole face at rest and as it moves, to decide whether a biostimulator is the right tool. Broad, diffuse volume loss suits one. Tissue that has descended does not, and a defined hollow or precise contour, such as a chin, nose bridge or tear trough, is usually better served by hyaluronic acid filler, which can be dissolved. Which agent suits which area is on collagen biostimulators.

If you have had injectables before, they are checked first; earlier hyaluronic acid filler that needs dissolving goes through filler correction before anything is added.

Tell Dr SY about the medicines and supplements you take; never stop a prescribed medicine without asking the doctor who prescribed it. Photographs are taken, with your consent, for your medical record only and are never published. You leave with a written plan: the product, the regions, the dilution and depth, how much is placed now and how much is held back, and when you will be seen again.

1. Confirming the plan. Dr SY goes over your written plan and checks the areas again.
2. Preparing the product. PLLA is prepared in advance and diluted to suit each region. CaHA can be diluted for a more superficial plane to thicken skin. Ellansé is not diluted; it is dosed for the collagen it will produce, not the gel you see.
3. Cleaning and marking. Your skin is cleaned and the areas are marked.
4. Numbing. A topical anaesthetic goes on first, and the product is commonly mixed with, or given alongside, the local anaesthetic lidocaine.
5. Placement. Small amounts are placed deep, with a fine needle.
6. Comparing sides. The sides are compared as the work goes on, and the result is deliberately left under-corrected.
7. Before you leave. If your product needs massage afterwards, as PLLA usually does, Dr SY shows you how, and your written aftercare sets out the routine. Some areas are not massaged, and Ellansé is not massaged unless you are told to.

Most people describe pressure, a dull ache where the needle works over bone, and a sense of fullness, rather than sharp pain. The topical anaesthetic and the lidocaine take the edge off.

Afterwards, small bruises, tenderness and some temporary firmness are expected. With PLLA or CaHA, early fullness comes from the carrier and swelling and fades within days to a few weeks; the lasting change is collagen, built over months.

Call the clinic promptly about a lump that grows, hardens, reddens or hurts, or heat, redness or pain that builds. Pale, dusky or mottled skin, or pain that keeps getting worse, needs same-day assessment: contact the clinic straight away, and if you cannot reach it, go to the nearest hospital emergency department. Any change in vision, eye pain, slurred speech, new weakness or difficulty breathing: call 995 or go straight to the emergency department, not the clinic. See complication care.

After Ellansé, what to do is in Ellansé aftercare, and how you may look, and when you can be seen, is in Ellansé downtime.

After PLLA or CaHA, follow your written aftercare; the collagen timeline and why the dose is kept low are on collagen biostimulators.