Hamburg, Germany — Three hyaluronic acids (HAs) used to augment facial tissue perform very similarly, although one filler stood out in week four of a recent German study.
A research team headed by Hamburg dermatologist Welf Prager, M.D., conducted a split-face, randomized, two-armed study to determine the long-term safety and effectiveness of three Has — referred to in the study as HA-1 (Belotero Basic/Balance, Merz), HA-2 (Restylane, Medicis) and HA-3 (Juvéderm Ultra 3/Juvéderm Ultra Plus XC, Allergan) — in the treatment of nasolabial folds.
Twenty patients in arm A received HA-1 in one nasolabial fold, HA-2 in the other. In arm B, 20 participants received HA-1 in one nasolabial fold, HA-3 in the other. Injection occurred at the second visit, with follow-up visits at one, six, nine and 12 months. All injections were at a volume of slightly less than 1.5 mL.
According to the study abstract, adverse events were unremarkable for the three HAs, with injection-site erythema being the most frequent.
“All three HAs provided essentially equivalent results, except for four-week evenness results, which favored HA-1,” the authors wrote.
The study was published online in Dermatologic Surgery.
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