Women were today warned against injecting filler into one area of the face over fears it could leave them ‘looking like a bizarre alien’.
The jabs — full of medical-grade gels that sit beneath skin — are supposedly age-defying and used to smooth lines and restore volume in the face.
But getting the injections just under the cheek bones can ‘distort your features’, one American cosmetic expert said.
According to Missouri-based aesthetic physician associate Molly Bailey, this because the area doesn’t tend to lose much volume as we age, unlike the apples of our cheeks.
Filler here, known medically as the zygomatic arch, therefore becomes ‘more visible’, making the face ‘look wider’ and ‘more masculine’.
In an Instagram video, she told her 87,000 followers: ‘There’s one place a woman should not get filler in her face unless you want to look like a bizarre alien.
‘As well all know, we lose fat, we lose collagen, we lose bone as we age.
‘But there’s a few places where the bone doesn’t really recede much or get smaller as we age and one of those is the lateral cheek arches.’
Getting filler in the lateral cheek arches — or cheek bones —can ‘distort your features’, aesthetic physician associate Molly Bailey has said
Displaying older photos of the supermodel, she pointed to her high prominent cheekbones
Ms Bailey uses the example of supermodel Naomi Campbell, who is rumoured to have had filler injected into the skin where her cheekbones sit.
‘When it’s placed in areas that don’t experience a lot of natural volume loss, that’s when it can be the most visible and the most distorting to our features,’ she said, referencing an image of Ms Campbell modelling extremely accentuated cheek bones.
Using filler to ‘contour’ the face, rather than restore volume in the apples, can make you ‘end up looking wide and more masculine’, she said, adding that Campbell will ‘remain that way for most of her life’.
‘The other problem is that we lose volume below our cheeks which can accentuate that filler even more,’ she said.
‘Filler in the mid face can be very supportive and invisible but it should be used to replace volume and not to contour.
‘Contour with your makeup, don’t contour with your filler.’
Fillers — typically injections of collagen or hyaluronic acid — are offered in beauty clinics for as little as £75.
While purported to last for around 18 months, MRI scans have shown filler can migrate and stick around in areas of the face years after they were set to dissolve.
Using filler to add volume to the arches and not the apples, can make you ‘ end up looking wide and it can make the face look more masculine’, she said. Pictured, Naomi Campbell in 2000 (left) and 2024 (right)
Fillers — typically injections of collagen or hyaluronic acid — are offered in beauty clinics for as little as £75
Dermatologists have also previously warned that excess facial filler in younger people ‘can often look unnatural’.
Last month, a surgeon speaking to MailOnline warned of the rise in younger women needing facelift surgery, because their looked had been ‘ruined’ by years of having filler injections.
Dr Julian De Silva, a specialist in facial plastic surgery said: ‘Increasingly women are coming to me about facial ageing in their 30s. Often it’s because they’ve had fillers.
‘Filler can accumulate — it doesn’t always completely dissolve naturally and it can be really difficult to remove.
‘One patient I hadn’t seen for five years came back for facelift surgery and I almost didn’t recognise her because she had so much volume added to her cheeks, lips, chin, jawline.
‘She was having it added every six months and it just accumulated.
‘We dissolved as much as we could. But patients often require surgery as their skin ends up stretched.’
