My Experience Getting Voluma XC Cheek Filler

Are you as curious about the new injectable cheek filler “Voluma XC” as I was? I saw it demonstrated on the TV show “The Doctors” last spring and knew it was the one for me. But, I had to wait until my doctor could get some, figure out the pricing and practice on a few other people before I went in. I got it done about a month ago so now I can tell you how my experience getting Voluma XC went.

Voluma XC is made by Allergan, the maker of Botox and Juvederm. Like Juvederm, Voluma is mainly comprised of Hyaluronic Acid but it’s thicker than Juvederm so it stays in place better, is injected deeper, and lasts longer. I’ve gotten both Botox and Juvederm in the past and for me, the injectables are the way to go to combat the visible signs of aging. It’s FDA approved and it’s supposed to last for up to 2 years!

The reason I knew it was for me was because I’ve always hoped for a way to plump up the cheeks because of how mine work. When I smile, my cheeks aren’t round and smooth, but have a flatness that’s almost an indent. Add to that my ever deepening and lengthening tear troughs from perimenopausal sleep interruptions and lately I’ve felt like my cheeks were just a mess. I do have very pronounced cheek bones though, so I wasn’t looking to enhance those, just add some volume and lift in the “apple”.

Super close-up of my wrinkles and flat spot!!

A friend was dying to get it done too so we went in together hoping for a discount but because it’s such a new product the good doctor wasn’t giving us a break. We each paid $900 for 1 syringe of Voluma. After drawing lines on our faces (one from mouth corner to eye corner, and one from nostril to ear), he put .5 mL in each side with about 4 needle pokes per side. I was expecting it to hurt more than getting Botox and Juvederm, but it actually hurt much less, and can easily be tolerated without any ice or numbing needed.

Results are visible immediately, but they can look lumpy or sharp at first. I actually hated mine for the first few days and thought I’d made a big mistake, but it softened over the first 2 weeks to the point where now I’m very happy with it. And while it wasn’t painful the day of the injections, my face hurt the next day. It felt achey under the surface for the next day or so, but I didn’t have any bruising.

It’s funny, my friend thought hers looked awful and I thought mine looked awful, but when we met for lunch we both thought the other looked good… refreshed and natural. But I have to say, no one noticed that I’d had it done and if I didn’t know she’d gotten it too, I wouldn’t have noticed hers either.

So, time for the before & after pictures!

But first my basic information: I’m 52, I’m not wearing foundation, concealer, blush, bronzer in the B&A pics (just translucent powder in the after). My Botox and Juvederm are all worn off (the last time I had them done was in June & January respectively, it’s now October). I haven’t had plastic surgery, I just use retin-a and topical serums.

I definitely feel like my cheek is lifted, the indent is better although my cheek is still a bit flat when I smile (without a smile it’s nice & round) and I feel like those tear troughs and under eye wrinkles are slightly diminished! That said it is VERY subtle. So while I never want to look “done” or “over-done”, I’m not sure it’s an effect that’s worth $900 either (after all, no one has noticed it yet). But, bang for the buck wise, it’s not bad if you consider that botox costs $450 per area and has to be done every 3-4 months. If this lasts the full 2 years, one syringe will have cost only $450 a year (botox is $1350 a year if done 3X).

Where it gets tricky is figuring out how much product you need to achieve the results you want and weighing the cost of multiple syringes. I didn’t realize before I had it done that it usually takes more than one syringe to make a noticeable difference. If you read the very fine print in the Voluma brochure or on the website, you’ll see that they used between 2 & 13 syringes of product to achieve those results with the average being around 6.5 syringes or $5850 worth of product!!

Overall, I like my result and think it’s a worthwhile product. I just hope the price will come down over time because if I have it done again (in 2 years) I’ll definitely get more than one syringe!!