Create The Best Me

My Facial Filler Experience: Overcoming the Fear of Looking "Fake"

• Carmen Hecox • Episode 138

Share episode

Are you curious about facial fillers but afraid of looking “fake” or overdone? In this episode of Create The Best Me, I open up about my real-life filler journey, sharing my experience in “My Facial Filler Experience: Overcoming the Fear of Looking ‘Fake.’” If you’ve ever glanced in the mirror and wished for a refreshed, natural look, not a drastic transformation, this episode is for you.

I sit down with my trusted injector, Karina Moroz of Humminglow Aesthetics Lounge, to discuss everything from choosing the right provider to how we treated my facial volume loss. We talk through Sculptra, fillers, and laser treatments, and why moderation (and a practitioner who’s willing to say "no") is the secret to looking like a revitalized version of yourself, not someone else.

Want to know what the process is really like, what downtime to expect, or how to avoid the dreaded “pillow face”? Karina shares her honest advice so you can approach fillers with confidence, armed with the facts about cost, maintenance, and what “natural results” truly mean.

Five Key Lessons:

  1. Moderation and artistry are essential for natural-looking filler results.
  2. The right injector listens, offers honest advice, and won’t over-treat you.
  3. Fillers should harmonize and balance your facial features; never exaggerate them.
  4. Each person’s anatomy is unique; fillers are customized for your needs and goals.
  5. Building self-confidence is possible at any age with the right treatments and expert guidance. 

Call to Action: 

If you want to age gracefully, boost your confidence, and look like the best version of YOU, this episode is your guide to overcoming fears and finding the right approach to facial fillers.

Want to learn more about everything shared in “My Facial Filler Experience: Overcoming the Fear of Looking 'Fake'”? Visit my website. 

📕 Resources: 

https://createthebestme.com/ep138

https://www.humminglowaesthetics.com/ 

https://www.youtube.com/@humminglow.aesthetics

https://www.instagram.com/humminglow.aesthetics 

Related Episode:

🎧 Listen to this episode: 

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1949561/episodes/14732753  

⚕️ Medical Disclaimer:
This episode is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for cosmetic or medical concerns. The views expressed are those of the host and guest.

#HumminglowAesthetics #FacialFillers #NaturalResults #CreateTheBestMe #FacialBalancingSacramento #MidlifeBeautyAdvise #Aesthetics #AntiAging #ConfidenceBoost #MedSpaFolsom

📨 Newsletter:

https://createthebestme.com/newsletter/

👀 Connect With Me:

Website: https://createthebestme.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/createthebestme

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carmenhecox/

TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@carmenhecox
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@createthebestme

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/carmen-hecox

📽️ Video Request:

https://forms.office.com/r/LvLV1AsBfv

I have a question to ask you. Have you ever, looked at your skin and felt like your face was sort of deflating or just you don't look like yourself anymore? Or you feel like you're losing some definition in your face. You don't really wanna look young, you know, like a 20 or 30-year-old. But you just want a more refreshed version of yourself. Well, that's where I'm at right now. So right now I am going to talk to what I call my fairy godmother because she provides me with some skin advice. She gives me some treatments and she advises me on how I can be my best self or look like my best self without trying to compete with the 20 year olds, 'cause that's not the intent here. I don't know if you watched one of my earlier shows where I actually interviewed, Dr. Mary Alice Mina, who is a dermatologist and a dermatologic surgeon. Her recommendation back then, I think I recorded that maybe two years ago, was if you're looking for someone to provide any type of skincare help; take a look at what they look like. If they look pretty natural, then you can expect that that's what you're going to look like after being treated by them. And so that is why I use my girl who is Karina. So let's see what Karina has to tell me. Okay, so here's my issue. See how like right in here, I feel like I've lost some volume. See like on a smile? And of course you already know that. Mm-hmm. And these lines here. Yes. So, a couple of things, um, that we can do. We've done multiple sessions of Sculptra for you. We can continue with Sculptra. Obviously, it's only gonna give you volume as much as it's natural for you, for your body. As we age and we go through the normal aging process and gravity working against us, we are still gonna show some signs of volume loss. And some people it's more prominent than others, so it's treated, you know, kind of differently. If we are kind of avoiding the facelift route and we're kind of just trying to do injectables. Another way we can go is we can give you some facial filler, we can do some contour along your jaw. Do some in the nasolabial folds there. Um, and then also some laser. Laser once or a couple times a year. And that's really gonna jumpstart your skin. Um, it's really gonna help with that cell rejuvenation, that collagen production, and help you tighten your skin as you go. So these are like, kind of like the best things that you can do for yourself. Fantastic investment in yourself would be biostimulators, laser treatments, some facial filler to kind of give you that contour that you're looking for. Okay. Would it because I can't have redness right now. Yeah.'Cause I have commitment within that five day mark. Yes. So what would give me the volume that I kind of want. Yeah. Because I just feel like my face is melting. Yeah. No, you look great. You look, you look great. You're always shining. You're always glowing. To adjust, that volume loss immediately, that would be your facial filler category. We can go with some facial filler. I use multiple techniques where I do injections and I do cannula work. Um, we go and fill in areas of depletion. And then for your maintenance to continue building that collagen and to continue tightening up your skin as we go, that would be, you do your annual Sculptra . You do your annual laser, and that's kind of more of a maintenance. And then every now and then, if we feel like we need a little bit of a filler touch up here, a little bit of a filler touch up, we can totally do that. I always encourage people not to be afraid, a facial filler. I think we've seen so many things online or celebrities or just TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, we're like, oh my gosh, someone that does facial filler, they're automatically, they look like they're swollen, they look like they're pillow face. And then what I tell people, it's actually kind of expensive to look like that. That takes a whole lot of filler to kind of look like that. So if we do everything, with time, everything in specific appropriate amounts, then you end up having beautiful, very natural results. Because that's kind of what I'm going for. Yeah. Again, I'm not trying to compete with the twenties or 30-year-old girls. Yeah. I just want to look a little refreshed. Yes. And I don't wanna look fake. I don't wanna look like Correct. You know, like I have just like slapped on these big old cheeks. Yes. You know? And, and that's why I choose you because Oh, thank you. You have a very beautiful, very natural look. I mean, of course. Thank you. You are in your thirties. You're, I remember that. I also had lots of, uh, stuff done. I've had multiple Sculptra. Multiple lasers. I did suffer with acne scarring. Now they're a lot smaller. But you know, also medical grade skincare that you know, you do every single day. You take these steps to kind of treat your skin either daily or annually and it really shows in the long run. You look at your pictures from like a year ago to years ago and you're like, gosh, I really am older, but I do look so much more refreshed. And that's the goal, the goal is to look like you not to look different, not to look like someone else, but to look like you. Just more refreshed, more balanced, to give you confidence, you know, to go about your day every single day. And that's what I want, that, that's exactly what I want. I don't want to look over exaggerated and, I don't wanna look freakish. I want to look like a more refreshed me, like someone who's like actually cares about herself and is taking care of herself. Of course. I think that's, that's a fantastic goal. I think that's something we should all strive for. Um, a lot common thing I tell my patients is when we invest in our skin and when we invest into ourselves, that's our 401k. That is literally our 401k into ourselves. If we don't do anything, and then one day we wake up and we're like, oh, wow, I feel so down. It's like, well, we can take steps to prevent you feeling that way. We just take minute; it doesn't have to be anything dramatic. It doesn't have to be anything over the top. You can do medical grade skincare daily. You can do your couple annual procedures once or twice a year, and then you're looking like you just, like I said, refresh. And you know, here's a question that I think a lot of people might question, maybe ask, how much is too much Sculptra? Yes. Um, so from what I like to tell people, it's very hard to be overfilled with Sculptra or too much Sculptra. It's a lot easier to be overfilled with filler. And we've learned, the science is telling us that over time filler does draw in that fluid and kind of retains that fluid and some people a lot longer than others. Because Sculptra or other biostimulators, like Radiesse, it's not made with hyaluronic acid. We're not overfilling our body essentially. It's only you're filling as much that your body can take, and that's why we say do your two sessions back to back. Your first initial sessions and do one session once a year, you really don't need more than that. Sculptra keeps working in your body for up to two years. So you're continuing to build that collagen for up to that two year mark; and so you don't need to keep doing Sculptra over, and over and over again. Um, you might not get the results that you're looking for, so that's why I really advocate just do an annual, annual Sculptra treatment. And then where you need that area volume depletion we can add some filler. And after you've had your Sculptra treatments, you are gonna require a lot less filler than you would have originally. In fact, I have multiple patients that come in to me and they're like, hey, I need, filler here, a filler here. And I'm like, okay, why don't we do your Sculptra sessions? We'll do your two initial Sculptra sections back to back three to four months apart. And then we come back. We kind of reevaluate. We take a step back, we see what you need. We see what we don't need. Most of them either say, you know, I think I'm, I think I'm comfortable, I think I'm happy. And then the rest would be like, actually let's do some filler. But now we're doing a lot less filler than we planned on, originally. We planned for an X amount of syringes, and now we're like, oh, you know what, you look like you just need touch-ups here and there, and you don't need as much as we thought that you would've. Okay. So if we were doing fillers today mm-hmm. because I think that's what I, that's Yeah. the approach I wanna take today. How long would the filler last? So, filler lasts a little bit differently on people. Sometimes, filler could last for years and years and years. I met people that had filler done once a year five, six years ago, and they're like, oh, I'm good. And they look great. They look fantastic. I really don't tell people to do an annual filler touch-up. I really don't. I was like, you don't need an annual filler touchup. We do our TOXs, we do our botulinum toxins every three months, four months. With filler I'm like, you know what, you don't need it every single year unless it's genuinely there. In most cases, filler from what I see, lasts people around nine to 18 months. Most people fall in that nine to 18 month category where we either do something once a year, maybe we'll do a touch up, twice a year. But other than that, once a year, maybe even, you know, every other year, depending on your metabolism, depending on how your body absorbs and breaks down hyaluronic acid, which is a normal component found in in our body. So it's, it's very kind of differs person to person. I think people are under the impression they have to do filler constantly, just 'cause we tell people, hey, you need to come in for your botulinum toxins, every so and so. And people are just under the impression, oh, I need to get, filler once or twice a year. And that's how I always reevaluate each person. I'm like, when they come in, they're like, hey, I think I need a little bit more. I'm like, let's reevaluate. Let's see where you are. Maybe you do need some more. Maybe you don't need any at all. You don't want my money. You'll say, no. I do say no a lot. I know. I do say no. I think in our field it's, and this sounds kind of harsh, but I think it's easier for anyone in the aesthetics industry to feed off of people's insecurities. I'm not that kind of a person. I have too much of a guilty conscious. I won't be able to sleep at night. I do say no frequently, I say no a lot. The most, I say no to people; I'll say, I wanna say most common areas, I say no is additional lip filler, more under eye filler, or something those are kind of like, or more, more toxs. Those are kind of like the three areas where I'm often saying no the most, just because if you don't need it, you really don't need it. A lot of our things can be addressed by doing something else. And I don't want you to come in and be like, okay, Karina is gonna say yes to everything, or walk in and ultimately at the end of the day, you are a walking advertisement of me and my work. If we look at it that way, and you know, if people are being, oh my goodness, where did you get this done? You're like, oh, Karina at Humminglow Aesthetics Lounge. And they're like, oh no. So, would you be using the same filler? I use kind of like different filler products depending on which areas I'm going. If I'm giving you a little bit more structure, a little bit more contour, where I need that kind of like a filler product that resembles close to kind of our bone structure, I would use more a product that's a little bit more dense. If I'm doing other areas, maybe like her under eye area or like her lips, maybe some cheeks, kind of doing kind of like a different product. So I do different fillers based on what area of the face I'm treating. Okay. So both areas that you would be treating today, what fillers would you be using? I think I'm gonna go in with some Restylane Lyft, for you. It's one of my favorite fillers. I do have severals that I use. It's one of my favorite fillers when it comes to any kind of structure in the lower face especially. And I do like it for nasolabial folds. What I like to do is I like to go right in here and give you a little bit of a filler there. A little bit of filler there. And then I do like to do some cannula work along the jawline to give you a little bit more structure. Mm-hmm. A little bit of jowling right over here, which is very normal. Like I said, we all age, we all get, you know, older. Jowling is a little bit normal. The key is not to inject right into this area where you have some loose skin, but kind of treat the neighboring area. Mm-hmm. And you'll hear me use that term often where I say, you know, if someone comes to me, they're like, hey, this is my problem, area. I'm like, well, let's also treat the neighbor. So oftentimes if someone comes and they have very big nasolabial folds that are problemsome for them they're like, you know, I don't really don't like it. You see me tell 'em let's treat the neighbor as well. Meaning, I'll go in, I will give you some injections right in here, but I'm also gonna give you a little bit of contour in the cheeks or a little bit of contour down below. Maybe a little bit of, you know, filler right there. Kind of treating the neighbor a little bit, and that kind of gives, your area where you have loose skin gives some volume all around versus just one area and where you don't look kind of balanced that way, we kind of balanced out all of your facial features and we harmonize them. Okay. And so that's just gonna create more of a balanced look where I'm not gonna look like you filled here, filled here. Correct. And more kind of bubbly, sort of, per se. Yes. Correct. Correct. You're gonna look a more balanced. You're not gonna have one area that's, over protruding. And that's something that I do talk to people often. You don't wanna have a point of contact a certain body part or a certain facial filler other than your eyes. When you're communicating with someone, you're communicating, you're making eye contact, and you're looking into their eyes for the most part. Now, if someone's communicating with you and they're looking at your lip. Or they're looking at your cheeks mostly. Now that's giving us where, okay, that area's probably overfilled. If that's the area that they're staring at, that they're looking at you, that means you're not really harmonized or not really balanced out. Because they're looking at area that kind of stands out a lot more than everything else. And we don't wanna do that. We wanna make sure everything is balanced together. So when people have a conversation with you, they make eye contact with you versus, looking at your lips, staring at your chin. Um, that just tells us, okay, that area's probably overfilled. Mm-hmm. Okay. And so will there be any bruising? I mean, I know you never bruise me. Yeah. When you do my Sculptra, you don't bruise me. Oh, thank you. I tell everyone to expect some bruising. I do my very best, not to give my patients bruising. If I see any capillaries on the surface, I do my best try to avoid them with the needle or, you know, try to avoid them with my cannula. However, I tell everyone to expect some sort of bruising. We can't see deep down to the tissue for any kind of capillaries there. So I tell everyone, if you're doing s Sculptra, if you're doing fascia balancing with facial filler, most common areas where we do see some bruising will be around our temples. Sometimes people bruise around here. Sometimes people bruise around under eye or cheeks. So areas where we do have some more vascularity, I tell everyone, expect some bruising. If it's a very problemsome bruise or it's too big or you're unhappy with it, obviously I always make sure that it's a safe kind of bruise. And then I do have a laser device that can treat that bruise. Alright, so how many, how many vials do you think I'll need? So as far as syringes, the filler, that's something that I tell you as I go. So I start off with one, I start off with two, and I let you know, hey, we are at one syringe filler. This is your look so far. Are you comfortable if I proceed or if you're like, hey, I'm good. And then I give you my recommendation. If I were to proceed, I would like to give you a little bit here, a little bit here. Okay. So I kind of go by syringes and I show you what one syringe, two syringe, three syringe, four an up would look like and my recommendations for you. So it's not something they tell people off the bat, oh, you're just one syringe and done and I'm gonna send you home. I kind of give them like a ballpark and then we try to, stay either in that ballpark or see if we can, we need a little bit more, a little bit less. When it comes to nasolabial folds I just tell people, let's count on around one syringe. Let's just get it in our head we're probably gonna use one syringe,'cause I need to treat multiple areas. When we doing our lower face, that's where we're getting in the area where we do need a lot more filler than we think. Because this area here, if we do one syringe into our jawline here, it really gets lost. We were like, oh my goodness, was anything even done? Well, did you even inject me? And it's like, yes. So it really gets lost when we treat areas here. Especially the more loose skin you have, the more filler you require, the tighter your skin is, then you can kind of see the filler. Okay. I'm not gonna look all, like, you know how. No, you will not. I mean I've seen like some actresses where they just, I mean, you look at them or maybe they have a ponytail view. Yes, yes. And they just look like they got these giant jaws. Yeah, definitely not. Yeah, definitely not. Yeah, for sure. Okay. Alright. So, and what does a Restylane syringe cost?

So everyone is kind of different:

injector by injector, med, spa by med spa. So what's the range, for it? Range, I wanna say from what I see ranges from $700 to about $800 a syringe. That's kind of like what the most common ranges I see in the area. Now, depending on where you live, that can be a lot more or a lot less depending on what state you're in, depending on what, city you live in. If you're moving out to kind of Beverly Hills, LA I feel like they charge a lot more. If for going a little bit more in the rural areas prices are a little bit cheaper, so it kind of depends on where you are. I would say this local area, the Sacramento area, it's mostly about$700 to $800 a syringe from what I see. And, but some people are a little bit more. Okay. So it kind of just depends? Kind of depends on where you, you are exactly. Okay. All right, so let's go. So I'm gonna give you a couple injections. There is lidocaine in the filler. So the first initial pokes in that area, you'll feel, it's kind of gonna be like a Botox needle. And then that area will get numb as we go. Okay, I'm just gonna have you center just a little bit towards me'cause we did have you scoot over. How was that? Good. I think I'll give you a little extra here just 'cause this side is a little bit more deficient than the other side. So that was half a syringe that we went right in there. I do wanna give you, a little bit of a chin right here. It'll kind of help stretch this area as well. I'm not gonna look like Maleficent. No, you will not trust me. Not enough filler for you to look like Maleficent. Okay, so that was one syringe. Okay. I will hand you a mirror just so you can kind of know what that looks like. Okay. You're laying down, so obviously it's gonna make you look like you have a little bit less than you do, so I'll sit you up a little bit just so you can kind of see. I gave you a little bit more filler in this side. And I'll move the camera just so you can see. It gave you more filler than I did here. A little bit of chin, just'cause it was kind of flat here. Mm-hmm. And then that way if we give you just a tiny bit, it'll stretch this area here. Okay. So that was one. I do wanna give you more volume here, a little bit more volume deficient in this area. Mm-hmm. Then you are in this area here. I know we've talked about your temples as well. I do wanna take a cannula and just add you some volume though. One of the reasons why you're seeing that you are a little bit more wrinkly on this side than you are on this side. And everyone, I always tell everyone your sides of your faces, they're not twins. They're sisters. They're not completely identical. No one is like completely identical. Maybe, maybe some people are, but majority of the public are not. Maybe just a little bit more volume deficient here than you are here. And you can even feel that if you take your finger and you do this, you're like, wow, this is very smooth. And then you do this, you're like, oh, wow, I feel like there's a little, little hollowness over here. And that's, we take a cannula and we kind of fill that up over here and then that will, do kind of like a, this effect for you? Mm-hmm. Okay. I'm gonna treat this side of the face and I'm gonna, what I like to do here is I'm gonna do a little cannula work. And what is cannula? So cannula is I go with more of a hollow or tip. So it looks like this is a long needle and I don't want you to be afraid. This is not, in fact a long, scary needle. It's very flexible, and the tip is actually not a sharp tip. So this does not cause trauma that you would think it would, if it would be a needle. So kind of like a, almost like an IV type thing? Exactly, exactly, exactly, that. And I take my little needle and it's kind of, it's called the port. I'm gonna create a little port side exactly where I want my cannula to go. And I want my little port side to go right in here. Mm-hmm. So that's my little needle. And then my cannula it did not slide right in there. Sometimes it slides very nice and easy, sometimes there's a little bit of resistance, and that also depends on how much Sculptra someone had. It's gonna go and it's fairly, it's not a painful feeling and I'm just trying to go in a specific layer depth there. And then once I inject the filler that has lidocaine, that area's gonna start getting more and more numb. How did that feel? That's good. That's good. And I'm just gonna do a little fan. If you picture a little fan. You just gonna feel me kind of massage the areas. What I like about this particular filler, I can easily massage the area. Is that kind of like directing it? The massage, no. I just, it just smooths it out. And it feels good. So this was a whole syringe that I put right in this area. And now if you touch this side, you're gonna feel a little bit swollen here, just because I did go in there several times. So you're gonna feel a little bit puffy. Mm-hmm. So don't be alarmed. It is perfectly normal to feel a little bit puffy and swollen, but for the long part you are a lot more Filled. Yeah, you're a lot more filled here. And I'll hand you a little mirror just so you can look at your nasolabial folds now. Do you see how this has smoothed out. Oh wow lots. A lot more smoothed out. Definitely benefit from a little bit of contouring here. Mm-hmm. Um, especially based on your anatomy. Do you feel how you feel like a more of a harder divot than here? Yeah. Do you feel this? Go ahead and put, at you, put your finger. Yeah. Yeah. And that's just, that's just your anatomy? Mm-hmm. Where you have a little bit more divots. This was kind of like smooth. How do you feel if I open up a third syringe? Okay. You're getting a discount. Go ahead. Now I'm gonna take a look at your other side of the face, 'cause I wanna see how well it matches with this side of the face. So you see me kind of looking at you over and over and over again. Now this side of the face matches it a lot more. Still a little bit hollower, but now it's a lot more Balance. A lot more. And so what I look like right now, is that what I can expect to look like or am I Yes. Look a little bit bigger now because of No, you might, yes. You might experience a little bit of swelling because I am injecting you. We are doing injections. So if you are feeling, gosh, I'm like, I'm experiencing a little bit of swelling, maybe even a little bit of bruise. Give it a couple days, it is gonna settle down, you know, a little bit. Mm-hmm. But for the most part, it's not like how you felt with Sculptra or you were, swollen for a couple of days and then it dramatically went down. So it's not like that. I loved it though. Yeah, I know some people really do like it. They really enjoy it. I do wanna treat this right here, it's called chin shadowing. Mm-hmm. So I'm gonna go with my cannula. I'm gonna fill you up a little bit here and a little bit here. Okay. Because this side that we're seeing some divots. And again, you're not gonna make me look less defined. It's still gonna kind of keep me. Oh yeah, yeah. We're still, you still gonna have contour all over your face. The only thing that we're doing, we're kind of filling in negative space that has too much negative space. We still wanna have contoured and features, but we're just going in areas that are a little bit too negative and space. We just fill 'em out. Okay. Not too much, obviously, but just enough to give you a little bit of some structure and contour. Some areas around the mouth feel a little bit spicy sometimes, so if you're feeling a little bit spicy, that's totally normal. I'm going on the other side now do the same thing there. Oh, that looks good. I'm looking in the big mirror, that's not even close up. And that looks good, right? You're feeling it good? It does. It's not too much. I'm doing about half. And you know, some, some areas we need to do a little bit more. Some areas we need to do a little bit less, but I like to do about half when to start off with, especially for you, you don't need that much. You just need a little, hmm. My little tap is just kind of distract you. Mm-hmm. Like I said, sometimes people feel a little spicy around the mouth. Maybe a tiny little bruise right over there. Shouldn't be too big. Should be very minute. Just 'cause you are kind of bleeding from that port side. But don't be alarmed if you have a little tiny divot, like a little tiny, I mean a little tiny blue bump. Mm-hmm. That's not filler. That's just a little tiny bruise, okay. Okay. So if you feel a little, purple blue; kind of like a, feels like a pimple or something; don't be alarmed. A little tiny, it's probably gonna go in a couple. And so that was three. Okay. How are you feeling? Feeling good. Feeling good? Mm-hmm. I would like to give you some of that jawline contour that we talked about, but look at your nasolabial folds. Mm-hmm. They're looking great, huh? Mm-hmm. Yeah. And then you said you had a little problem area with this divot right here? Mm-hmm. And that's something we can just kind of nick with a little bit of filler. Okay. But as far as that, this look is looking better. Can do a little bit of contour right over here. Okay. So is that like another Yes. It would probably be another, I'll start off with half and half here. Okay. So we did three. Mm-hmm. So now we're in the fourth. Okay. Which is very normal when I do facial balancing. When you do facial balancing on people's faces, it can take up to, you know, I do seven, eight syringes in one sitting. I know it sounds scary, but if someone is very volume deficient, it doesn't look scary on them at all. It looks very normal, very natural, because it's kind of what they needed and now you're at three. And three would sound, oh my gosh, three sounded very scary, if I were to ask you yesterday, you'd be like, oh my gosh, three. That sounds a lot. But now when you see yourself in a mirror, does three syringes look, like that's insane. No, it doesn't look. It actually, it's not. So one syringe of filler is think a small, organic blueberry. That's all it is. It's a small organic blueberry. This much a filler, it is just dragged into a long syringe. Oh. So it's actually not that much a filler. Mm-hmm. This this side does not need that much. I feel like this side barely needs anything. Do you want me to sit up straight? To give you a better view. I'll, I'll sit you up. I'll sit you up. Yeah. Now, what do you think? I think I'm just gonna give you a it's just that side that needed more. Like I said, very normal. Don't think that you're like, oh my gosh, am I the only one that only gets filler on one side? So less prominent, go ahead and see. I gave you 0.2 in there. So meaning we got this much a filler 0.2, just a little. Just as fine that. Yeah, right there. Okay. So we did four syringes officially. Mm-hmm. Four officially. How do you feel about that? I feel good. You feel good? Do you feel like that's a good place for you or do you feel like you want some more? I think that's a good place for me. Okay. Sounds good. I do like I, we should take some pictures of you. You do look great. Okay. Let me just take a quick little peek of you. And I like it. The nasolabial folds are treated nicely. Mm-hmm. Okay. Very nice. I do like this. I have a question to ask. Yes. Do's and don'ts. Do's and don'ts. So I recommend you don't massage your face. I kind of, the massaging I did was particularly, I wanted that filler to be smoothed in that area. Mm-hmm. So when you felt me massaging your face, that was very intentional. Um, so don't massage your face. Don't rub your face. I recommend you take the rest of the day off, meaning don't go to the gym. Don't go, um, where you can strain yourself too much. We don't wanna overwhelm your body. We've did series of injections and we kind of want your body to focus on healing your skin, wherever I poked you. We kind of wanna focus on that, okay. Because any kind of micro injury that we did, we kind of want your body to focus on. Recover. Doing some repairs there. Um, if you feel like you should not be in a ton of pain, if you're a little bit sore and tender, that's totally normal, very common. I tell pretty much everyone expect a little bit sore, a little bit of tender. Now I feel like, oh my gosh, Karina, I'm in so much pain. I have a huge bruise. It's growing rapidly. I'm in a lot of pain. Or even if it's not a huge bruise, let me know. I've never had any complications before. But that doesn't mean to say that we'll never, even the best injectors in the world, you know, they experience somebody with some kind of complication. So that's why I'm very, very available, you know, for you to text me, call me, message me. I always have my phone on me because I do see a lot of clients. So if you feel like you're having some kind of a issue, let me know right away. We'll get you in the office, take care of it. Or even if you just have a question, hey, does is this normal? Does this look normal? Shoot me a text, shoot me a picture, and then I'll tell you off the bat if it's normal, if it's not. Like I said, I do my very best not to bruise people, however, I do let them know, hey, this looks like it might be a little bruise, like right here, earlier I've mentioned, now it's actually even going away. But I do tell people just expect to have a little bit of tenderness, a little bit of discomfort. I am going in there with a needle. I am going in with a cannula. You know, and we're creating something that was not there before. Mm-hmm. You can sleep. I tell everyone if I am treating a certain side, don't be flat out sleeping in that side the entire night. So, for example, since we've treated this side a little bit more than we treated that side, because you're a little bit more deficient here. If you like to sleep on this side, I recommend just for the first day, kind of try to sleep on your other side or sleep on your back is the best, thing I recommend if you've had filler, if you've had talks, or if you've had any kind of facial procedure that first night, do sleep on your back. Just so we don't create you any more discomfort, any more soreness, anything like that. Okay. But if like, I mean, because a lot of times we can't control how we sleep. Of course. Of course. Just. Of course If I did end up sleeping on, let's say the side Yeah. And you wake up on that side? And I wake up on that side. Yeah. What could potentially go wrong? You, you, you'll be okay. I don't want you to think like, oh my gosh, that fillers gonna migrate. It's gonna be in my cheek and I'm gonna wake up with a big old lump on my cheek. It will not. Okay. It will not. I'm going in specific skin layers, and the way I do my cannula placement, it's not just gonna, you're not gonna wake up and have all this filler that we did down here, um, all the way up here. That's just, that's pretty impossible. So don't be alarmed if you do. And the only reason why we like to tell you, hey, kind of a avoid sleeping on that side, when it comes to filler is we don't wanna give you more discomfort when I wanna, you know, give you more soreness. Um, and also if you're feeling like you're having some swelling and some bruising, and then you're sleeping on this side, ultimately you're gonna create a little bit more swelling and a little bit more bruising. Mm-hmm. Some people do experience that, like I said. So that's why we kind of want you to be a little bit on your head, just in case if you are having a little bruise or a little bit fluffy from the swelling. Okay. Yeah. Alright. Sounds good. Yeah. How are you feeling? I'm feeling good. I'm feeling good. I guess here's another question could this have been done with Sculptra, with just Sculptra? Um in some people. Oh, yeah. And some people. Some people have amazing results even after a single session. And we're like, wow, this is phenomenal. Like, you really don't need any filler. But most people or from people that we see, if you're a little bit older, we do still need a couple other modalities to get you what you're looking for. That would be some laser, that would be some facial filler. People that tend to be a bit younger and they start s Sculptra younger, their, their skin is more elastic. Their skin was able to produce more collagen and elastin. So, they're kind of healing quicker. They're kind of reacting to Sculptra a little bit better, versus someone who is a little bit older, their skin is, they have a little bit more elasticity, they have a little bit more loose skin. So even just doing one session with Sculptra might not, solve, you know, your concern, but it is very, very beneficial. Um, I think the fact that we were able to just do four syringes and we kind of target areas of your concern is because you've had multiple sessions of Sculptra. Mm-hmm. So it's easier for us to kind of just go in and do a little bit here, a little bit here. And then you might find yourself that this filler might last you a very long time. So that's something that you have to go in and get redone annually. Some people, yes, they have to go in and get it redone annually, and some people are like, you know, I've had my facial filler two years ago, I'm, it still looks great. So everyone's a little bit different and that's why I always say, have your injector reevaluate you, instead of just being, oh, you know, we did this treatment, let's copy and paste it, again, because you might not need it. You might need something else. Okay. And so for the people that are in the Sacramento, Folsom, or Sacramento County area, how can they connect with you? Where can they find you? Oh, yeah, easily. You can Google me. I'm right on Google. You can, um, find me on Instagram. You can find me on TikTok, you can find me on YouTube. Um, I'm on Facebook, I'm on various social media platform. They just have to type in Humminglow Aesthetics Lounge. I know it sounds like hummingbird, that is my logo. It's my favorite bird. That is my logo, but it's Humminglow Aesthetics Lounge. And as soon as you hit me up on, Google all of my information, you know, my address, my phone number, everything. And you can, you can either text me, I always tell people, shoot me a text, that's the quickest way to get ahold of me. Um, Instagram is also a very quick way to get ahold of me. Okay. And so they can schedule? Yeah. Schedule an appointment. Even just to come in and just say, hey, like I did. I said, hey. Yeah. Karina, what do you think? Yeah, even a chat. My consultations are free. Uh, I have chats, multiple times. Sometimes I do them virtually. Uh, people have very busy schedules. I understand that, I am a mom, a wife. I have job, you know, two jobs. So it's like I understand it is a little bit, um, hectic. Some people do virtual appointments with me. We'll FaceTime each other, you know, and then by the time they're ready to come in, we just go on with what we discussed. And then some people really feel comfortable, having me see them in person. Um, doing more of a hands-on, touch my face, look at my face, measure out my face, do some markings, let me see what's going on. And then, you know, we can do same day on a different day. But always have a conversation. Always have a conversation with whoever your injector is first. And you kind of wanna interview them. I know that sounds a little like, you know, but you kind of wanna, do a little mini interview, see where their thoughts are, what they're thinking about, maybe see if that aligns with you. If it does not aligns with things that you believe in or things that you wanna get done, um, you can always get a second opinion. Or maybe ask them for their rationale. Like, oh, why do you recommend I go this route versus the route that I thought I needed? And then they'll tell you, I want you to do this versus this for reasons, you know, so and so. Mm-hmm. And then that would be like, oh, okay, that makes sense. Okay. And if you're looking for getting overdone, Yes. Karina's not your girl. No, she's not. She's gonna say no. I know a hard no. I'm gonna say no. Um, I do say no, often, like I, like I mentioned. I'm very for natural results and I'm very skin health first approach. I know, you know that about me. We've talked about it. That's why we did Sculptra first. That's why we did laser first, and that's why, uh, facial filler was kind of our last step. It was, it was, you know, because I said, hey, let's focus on your skin health, first. Let's see what we can do with your actual cells, your actual fiberblast. Let's get them, producing some collagen and then we can go in with all that razzle dazzle and sprinkle some filler here and there. Alright, well thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. So, first of all, I just wanna say, I understand that fillers aren't for everyone and that's okay. But I thought I would take you through this journey for those of you that are thinking about fillers, but are sort of afraid that you might look unnatural. You wanna look refreshed, you wanna look like yourself. And so that's why I did this video. And so I mentioned in the beginning that I had interviewed a dermatologist by the name of Dr. Mary Alice Mina. She is the host of The Real Skin Podcast. I will make sure to include her information below and, that particular interview. But she said something to me that really resonated with me. I asked her, what should you look for in an injector? And she explained to me that, take a good look at what your injector looks like. If they appear to look, I mean, other than their qualifications to be an injector; look at the way they look if they appear a little overdone. You can expect to end up looking like that injector. And so that's why I chose Karina because other than being young and beautiful and, kindhearted, she looks very natural. She is not embarrassed to tell people that she has had some work done, as she mentioned in the video because she suffered with some acne from her adolescent years. But, Karina listens to me. She listens to what I want. And if I come to her and say, hey, I want this, and she feels that it's going to make me look unnatural, she's not gonna take my money. And she's gonna say, no, you don't need that. And so that's why I felt comfortable going to her. And so as mentioned, I did have a total of six syringes, done on my face. I will include that information below in the show notes. The syringes she did, because I'm very afraid of sharp objects. I can't even tell you which one she put and where. But you know, I decided to take this route because, you know, unfortunately as we get older and we start to lose volume in our face, unfortunately we don't lose it evenly, you know, so the jawline equally goes down. The cheeks equally go down. For me, I lost more volume on my right side versus my left side, but I had already been naturally that way; and so it made it, I felt, it took away my confidence. And I think some of you guys can probably relate to me where, you know, you only have a good side and so you're only gonna show the good side and not the bad side. Well, thankfully, thanks to Karina, I have two good sides. They're good enough for me. And again, I am not trying to compete with 20 or 30 year olds. I wanna look like a refresher version of me. And as far as the results, they exceeded my expectations. And I say exceeded my expectations because; I was like you to where you've seen TikTok videos or YouTube videos or gone in public, or you watch movies and you see some people that look totally unnatural and I didn't wanna look unnatural. I didn't want people to have to take a double take and look at me and say, oh my gosh, you had some work done. No, I just wanted to look like a, refreshed, less tired version of myself. The other thing is if you're a woman who is slowly starting to become invisible and find yourself starting to say no to a lot of public functions or family functions or even pictures because you'd rather not be in the picture because you don't recognize that woman in the mirror. I just want to let you know that you don't have to do that. Find a qualified injector. Go out. Interview them. Find one that is going to listen to you, because the bottom line is you feel uncomfortable. You know why you feel uncomfortable, you know what you want done, and you are the one paying for it. Find someone who's going to address the things that you want addressed. And most of all, someone who is going to make you look like a more refreshed version of you. So that, you can become more visible, alive, and in front of those people that matter most to you. If you are in the Folsom, Sacramento area, you can find Karina at Humminglow Spa and Lounge. And I'll make sure to include her information below so that you can connect with her. She is awesome. She'll do, live consultations with you or not live consultations, but video consultations with you and tell you what she thinks and then you can decide whether this is good for you, if not, Dr. Mary Alice Mina is in the Atlanta, Georgia area. She looks absolutely amazing. She's a doctor, she's a medical doctor, she's a dermatologist and dermatologic surgeon. She can totally fix you up. So some of you might be asking, did it hurt? Did getting fillers hurt? I will say that Karina has a very gentle hand. Um, there was a little bit of minor discomfort, but overall, very bearable. The other thing is, did I have any swelling? Did I have bruising? So as far as the swelling, oh my goodness, I'm gonna say I did and I loved it. I think my face looked so good after she did it. But not that it didn't look good after the swelling went down, but it did look good. In fact, I have a little bit of minor swelling over on this side 'cause I just came back from her from getting the, last two syringes put in. Bruising, as far as bruising, yes I did have a little bit of bruising right in here, but, not too bad ' cause it was kinda low and so I can hide it with my makeup. Did it hurt afterwards? No, I would say that when I was sleeping at night, um, my cheek was kind of sore, which is pretty normal and natural, just because I have the filler in there. But overall it went well. And most of all, what I feel good about is that it's restored my confidence, and I think that's what's really important here. So again, as I mentioned, I do know that fillers are not for everyone, but for those of you that have kind of been afraid to move forward, because you don't wanna look unnaturally, you wanna just look like a refreshed version of yourself, understand that there are injectors out there that can give you exactly what you want. Do your research, interview them. You're the one paying for it. And, find someone who jives with you? I guess. So, for what it's worth. But, that's my advice to you If you would like to learn more about what was discussed today or the type of treatment that Karina did on me, you can find that information at createthebestme.com/ep138. And I hope me sharing this information has inspired you to understand that you can do things to build yourself confidence, whether it is forcing yourself to get in front of the camera. Get in front of crowds, you know, whatever it is, you can do it if you really, really want it. And you can also age gracefully through fillers, or laser therapy as Karina discussed in the video as well. But there are tools out there, and those tools were invented to help boost your confidence. Don't let things like aging, slow you down or make you feel like you know, your good days are over 'cause they've just begun. Again, thank you for watching. Catch you next week. As always, you are beautiful, strong, and capable of creating the best version of yourself. Bye.