The flattening through the midface that makes the face look longer, more drawn, and more tired than it feels. It's not a skin surface problem — it's structural, and there's a treatment that addresses the structure.
Through your twenties and thirties, the fat pads that sit on top of your cheekbones give the face its fullness, its roundness, its rested quality. From your mid-thirties onward those fat pads slowly shrink and shift downward. At the same time, the skin loses collagen and elastin, and the bones of the midface slowly recede.
The combined effect is the cheeks flattening, the face looking longer and more drawn, and shadows appearing under the eyes and around the nose-to-mouth lines. It's not just about looking older — it's the face losing the resting fullness that makes it look healthy and rested.
It can also be genetic. Some people have always had flat or narrow cheeks, and want to build structure there for the first time. Both are legitimate reasons to consider fillers, and both are about the same thing: replacing or adding volume where the face doesn't have enough.
This is a volume problem, not a surface problem. No cream builds back the fat pads that have shrunk. No facial restores the bone that's receded. Skincare keeps the skin healthy and that matters, but it can't replace what's been lost underneath. When the structure beneath the skin has changed, the treatment has to address the structure.
How we treat it
Hyaluronic acid gel, placed precisely in the cheek and midface to restore the volume that age or genetics have taken. Immediate result, no downtime, lasts 12–18 months. Priced on consultation.
Volume loss is a structural problem, so the treatment has to work on the structure. Dermal fillers are the treatment that does this directly: a hyaluronic acid gel — a substance that already exists naturally in your skin — is placed precisely in the cheek and midface to replace the volume that's been lost. The face lifts, the shadows soften, and the proportions return to what they were, or closer to what you'd like them to be.
This is different from anti-wrinkle treatment, which relaxes muscles. Fillers don't affect muscles — they replace volume. The two treatments address different causes and are often combined, but they're doing different things.
A consultation first — always. Georgie will assess your face, talk through what you're seeing and what you'd like, and tell you honestly whether fillers are the right approach or whether something else would serve you better. The treatment itself takes 30–45 minutes. There may be mild swelling or bruising for a few days. Results are immediate, though final appearance settles over two weeks as any swelling resolves.
Fillers aren't suitable for everyone — certain autoimmune conditions, pregnancy, and breastfeeding all rule them out. The consultation covers all of this.
Used carefully, dermal fillers restore natural-looking fullness — the face you had a few years ago, not a different face. The aim is for people to say you look well, not to spot the treatment. What fillers can't do is replace a surgical facelift where there's significant skin laxity. If the skin itself is loose and sagging, that's a different concern (see sagging & laxity) and a different treatment. We'll tell you honestly which one applies to your face.
Dermal fillers replace the volume that's been lost through ageing, restoring the youthful contour of the cheek. The result is natural-looking fullness, not overfilled.
Volume loss in the cheeks happens as the fat pads that sit on top of the cheekbones shrink and shift with age. At the same time, the skin loses collagen and elastin, and the bones of the midface slowly recede. The combined effect is the cheeks flattening and the face looking longer and more drawn.
No. Pillow face happens when too much filler is placed in the wrong plane. Used carefully to restore the volume that's been lost, fillers return the face to its natural proportions, not beyond them. The aim is for people to notice you look well, not to notice you've had filler.
Hyaluronic acid fillers typically last 12 to 18 months in the cheek area. The product gradually breaks down and is absorbed by the body. Many clients return for a top-up at that point.
Book a free consultation. We'll look at your skin, tell you honestly what will and won't help, and give you a plan — not a sales pitch.
Book a free consultation