Puragen™ - Dermal Fillers

The launch of Puragen™ in the UK took place in October 2005 after its arrival in Europe in May of the same year. Puragen™ is specifically designed for use in treating wrinkles, smoothing lines, plumping lips and in filling depressions and scars. It is a purely non-animal hyaluronic acid gel in composition, meaning that once it is injected into the skin it naturally breaks down, gradually leaving no trace of the filler. This means that the product is temporary with the effects lasting for a period of about six months.

It must only be administered by trained members of the medical fraternity, with application limited to people who do not suffer from hypersensitivity to hyaluronic acid or have had laser treatments or chemical peeling.

The side-effects of treatment include redness, pain, swelling, tenderness in the area around the implanted area and discolouration. Recovery after treatment can be expected as soon as the treatment is over, lasting one to two days in most of cases after the injection is made into deep areas of the skin.

Product range formulations include Puragen™ which is mainly used for treatment to smooth wrinkles, add volume, nasolabial fold correction and the restoration of fullness, mostly in instances of glabellar lines. It can also be used for shaping facial contours. Puragen™ Plus formulation has not been released yet but does contain lidocaine - a local anaesthetic. The product has temporary effects and requires repeat treatments to rejuvenate appearance after the filler breaks down in the body.

Some dermal filler are made up of cross-linked molecules so as to make them last longer, with the patented DXL™ process double cross-links hyaluronic molecules known to produce the highest resistance against degradation compared to single cross-linked products, most of which are currently available. Costs will depend on the amount required, the practitioner and the area treated, but price will generally fall around £300 for each syringe.