Restylane is an injectable dermal filler manufactured by Galderma, a pharmaceutical company that specializes in dermatology. There are several variations of this filler, each thoroughly researched and designed to treat a different cosmetic concern. At Lux: A Medical Spa in Bluffton, SC and Hilton Head Island, SC, we offer several Restylane formula variations. Restylane Kysse is designed to be the perfect lip filler.

What Is Restylane Kysse?

Restylane Kysse is the world’s first dermal filler designed with XpresHAn Technology™ to augment the lips for up to a year while providing natural results and flexible movement. A phase IV clinical study showed Kysse can be used to add subtle, natural-looking volume to the lips alone or work in conjunction with Refyne or Defyne to treat nasolabial folds or marionette lines. Refyne and Defyne are other Restylane formulations we’re going to talk about shortly.

What Is This Treatment Used for?

This treatment is FDA-approved to volumize the lips and smooth nasolabial folds and marionette lines for up to a year. It is most often used to augment both lips but can also be used to correct subtle asymmetry. This can be achieved by augmenting just the upper or lower lip or subtly augmenting one lip while augmenting the other lip more dramatically.

Furthermore, a fortunate “side effect” of this injectable medication is that it drastically improves the color of the lips. If you’re not quite satisfied with the appearance of your lips or the skin around your lips, this is the Restylane formulation for you. Just know that it works better to treat moderate-to-severe facial folds and wrinkles when used in conjunction with other formula variations, like Refyne or Defyne.

How Long Treatment Takes

Your treatment time will also vary based on the complexity and severity of your case. If you’re only receiving Kysse injections, your treatment should only take a few minutes once your lips have been sanitized. Contrastingly, if you are trying to improve the appearance of several parts of your face, like erasing lines from your mouth, nose and chin, your treatment can take up to half of an hour to complete.

How Many Sessions You Will Need

If you’re only using Kysse to augment your lips, there’s a very good chance that you will only need one session to achieve your desired results. However, if you are receiving several types of injections, like Kysse and Refyne or Defyne, you may need a follow-up session to target severe folds several weeks after your first appointment. During your initial consultation, we will assess the severity of your case to determine if a follow-up session will be necessary.

What to Expect During Treatment

If you arrive at your appointment wearing cosmetics on your face, such as makeup, lotion or sunscreen, these cosmetics must be removed before treatment can begin. Once your face is free from cosmetics, we will sanitize the areas targeted for treatment in order to prevent infection. Once that’s done, we will mark the most effective injection points to achieve your unique cosmetic goals and administer the medication or medications to the most effective depths.

You should not expect to experience discomfort during your treatment. Since there is a mild local anesthetic in almost all Restylane formulations, there is almost no chance that you will need ice or a topical numbing cream applied to the treatment area. When you are injected with the hyaluronic acid, you are simultaneously injected with a safe, affordable numbing agent.

What to Expect After Treatment

After your treatment session, you should expect to feel no pain. Remember, most Restylane formulations include a numbing agent to ensure your comfort during the injection process. Therefore, you can expect the treated area to feel numb for a little while after treatment. You can also expect to see a noticeable volume increase in the treated area, but it can take between two and four weeks before you see the final results.

What Restylane Refyne Is

Restylane Refyne is similar to Restylane Kysse in that it is designed with XpresHAn Technology™. This incredibly innovative technology allows you to improve your appearance by smoothing lines, wrinkles and folds without impeding your ability to move your facial muscles. After treatment, you will have full range of motion and no trouble making any expression you need or want to, like smiling.

What’s exciting about Restylane Refyne is that it can also be used to add smooth, subtle, natural-looking augmentation to the lips. Kysse can be used to correct subtle asymmetry, but Refyne offers a bit more finesse than Kysse due to the smaller molecular structure of the chemical compounds that make up the formulation. An initial consultation will determine whether Kysse or Refyne is more appropriate to enhance the appearance of your lips.

What Restylane Defyne Is

Restylane Defyne is another member of the Restylane family, a hyaluronic acid-based dermal filler designed to treat moderate-to-severe smile lines. Nevertheless, it can also be used to smooth away laugh lines, also known as marionette lines and nasolabial folds. This uses the same highly advanced cross-link technology that all Kysse and Refyne use to provide natural-looking results without affecting facial movements.

One of the best things about Defyne is that it doesn’t just include hyaluronic acid, a sugar that occurs naturally in the skin that moisturizes it, volumizes it and supports its elasticity. It is among the Restylane formulations that also contain a bit of lidocaine, an injectable anesthetic used to numb the treatment area so you don’t feel any discomfort as the injections are administered.

How to Prepare for Restylane Injections

Schedule an Initial Consultation

The first step in preparing for any type of Restylane injection is to schedule an appointment with a board-certified dermatology specialist to determine if you are a good candidate. Since hyaluronic acid is a naturally-occurring sugar that already exists in your skin, there’s no need for an allergy test. However, you must let us know during your initial consultation if you are allergic to lidocaine.

If we determine that you are a good candidate for this type of dermal filler based on your medical history and the results you are trying to achieve, we will provide you with a comprehensive list of everything you should do and avoid in the weeks leading up to your treatment session. Keep reading for a brief overview of how to prepare for a treatment session.

Look at Before-and-After Photos

To be considered a good candidate for this treatment, it is very important that you have realistic expectations about the results of this treatment. Although a clinical trial revealed that 96% of people who received treatment were satisfied with their results a month after their session, you will never be satisfied if your expectations are unrealistic.

For example, Kysse can augment your lips, but it can’t augment your lips as much as lip implants can. You’ll have to look at before-and-after photos of people with similar lips to you who wanted to achieve similar goals to you. This will help you decide if you would rather have very large, luscious lips or if you want to augment your pout while still looking completely natural.

Wear Sunscreen

In the two weeks leading up to your treatment, it is absolutely crucial that you wear sunscreen. If your lips or face are sunburned, you will have to hold off on treatment until the burns are healed. To ensure that your lips don’t get sunburned, try something like the VaniCream SPF 50 designed specifically to protect your lips from the sun’s harmful UVC rays. It’s important to look for such high coverage because your lip skin is so thin it is very prone to burning.

To protect the rest of your face, look for a minimum SPF of 35. If you have very pale skin and are prone to sunburns and freckles, you should look for at least a sun protection factor of 55. If you have dark skin and have never been sunburned in your life, you can get away with an SPF of only 30. However, you should mitigate your risk of sunburn by minimizing your time outside between 10 AM and 4 PM when the sun’s rays are at their strongest.

The Bottom Line

If you want to plump up your lips without implanting plastic, you need a dermal filler. Restylane Kysse is among the most prestigious dermal fillers designed to augment the lips naturally, and it’s versatile enough to add a subtle enhancement or significant volume. This dermal filler is more durable than alternative fillers designed by other manufacturers to augment the lips. It also provides natural-looking results every time it is injected and the results are rapidly seen.

Another reason this filler is so great is that there is very little preparation required for treatment. All you have to do is decide how voluminous you want your lips, stop taking medications that can cause contraindications with the filler, and take care of your skin. Furthermore, since this treatment is non-invasive, there is no need for expensive, nausea-inducing general anesthesia.