What is Sculptra?
Sculptra is an injectable made of poly-L-lactic acid, a biodegradable material used in dissolvable surgical sutures for decades, made by Galderma and FDA-approved for facial folds and wrinkles since 2009. It is one of the facial fillers the practice uses, with the hyaluronic acid gels Juvederm and Restylane and the calcium-based Radiesse, and it works differently from all three.
How Sculptra differs from a hyaluronic acid filler
A hyaluronic acid filler is a gel the body absorbs over 6 to 18 months, and it can be dissolved within a day with the enzyme hyaluronidase. Sculptra is a biostimulator: for several months its particles prompt fibroblasts, the cells that make collagen, to build new collagen around them, and once the poly-L-lactic acid is cleared what remains is your own tissue. So the change takes months, lasts up to two years, and cannot be reversed. Lines that appear only with expression are muscle, treated with Botox; our page on Botox or fillers explains the difference.
Sculptra before and after: what changes, month by month
Sculptra before and after photographs are read differently from filler photographs: the after is months after the before. On the day of a session you leave a little fuller from the sterile water the powder was mixed with; it is absorbed within days, and within a week the face looks much as it did.
- At 4 weeks: the first collagen is forming and the hollow softens. The second session is usually planned now.
- At 3 months: fuller cheeks, temples that no longer read as gaunt and a better defined jawline show in photographs. A third session, if planned, is done now.
- At 6 months: the full effect of the series, in your own collagen, so it moves with your face.
- Up to 2 years: the result holds, then fades slowly; a maintenance session is planned before it is gone.
One session is not the full result: each adds a layer of stimulation and the collagen keeps building after the last, so the honest comparison is a photograph before the first session against one at six months. No Sculptra results are labeled in the public gallery: our filler before and after gallery shows hyaluronic acid filler results, and Sculptra photographs are shown at your consultation.
How long does Sculptra last?
Sculptra lasts up to two years with a series of treatments, the practice's published figure, against 6 to 18 months for a hyaluronic acid filler. The poly-L-lactic acid is cleared within months; the collagen it prompted is your own, and it fades as your face ages, not as a gel is absorbed.
A maintenance session is planned when photographs show the volume softening, usually with less product than the first plan; our post on making dermal filler results last longer covers the habits that help.
Sculptra vs Juvederm: which one do you need?
Patients ask about Sculptra vs Juvederm as if one were better; they are different tools, and many faces get both.
Sculptra
- Poly-L-lactic acid, a biostimulator: your own collagen builds the volume
- Gradual: a first change at about 4 weeks, the full effect at about 6 months
- A series of two to three sessions; lasts up to two years
- Cannot be dissolved
- For broad volume loss: cheeks, temples, jawline, lower face; not lips or under the eyes
- Quoted at your consultation, per vial and per series
Juvederm
- Hyaluronic acid, a gel: the volume is the gel
- Immediate: visible before you leave, final at about two weeks
- One visit; lasts 6 to 18 months by area
- Dissolved within a day with hyaluronidase
- For precise shaping: lips, under the eyes, cheeks, folds, chin, jawline
- $1,250 per syringe, the published price
The choice is made at your consultation by the change you want (a lip border or one deep fold wants a gel; a face thinned across the cheeks and temples wants collagen) and by the calendar: an event in three weeks is a gel, a change nobody can date is Sculptra. Often the plan is both. The Juvederm page describes that range.
Sculptra for the face: where it is used, and where it is not
Sculptra face treatment goes where the face loses fat and bone with age, not everywhere a gel goes.
- Cheeks: the fat pads over the cheekbone thin from the mid-30s; Sculptra rebuilds the fullness, an FDA-approved use.
- Temples: hollowing beside the brow makes the upper face look gaunt and is filled gradually.
- Jawline: a soft jaw edge and the prejowl hollow; collagen along the jaw restores the line, not a fallen jowl.
- Lower face: the chin, marionette lines and nasolabial folds.
- Not the lips or under the eyes: the manufacturer does not recommend Sculptra there; a hyaluronic acid gel is used for both.
Sculptra adds volume; it does not lift. Jowls and a loose neck are tissue that has fallen, and a facelift moves it back. A face that has lost a great deal of fat is often better served by fat transfer to the face, Dr. Cat's own fat grafting, which lasts.
How Sculptra is injected at Dr. Cat Plastic Surgery
Dr. Cat, a board-certified plastic surgeon trained in both head and neck surgery and plastic and reconstructive surgery, Harvard-educated and UCLA trained, wrote the practice's filler rules on her facial fillers page, and they govern every visit, whichever surgeon holds the needle: a technical art, a detailed facial analysis first, small amounts with a very thin needle.
Facial analysis first
Every plan starts with a detailed facial analysis: the corrections you want, any asymmetry, the look you prefer and any events coming up, because the treatment runs on a calendar of months. Bring photographs of looks you like and looks you do not.
Mixing, numbing and placement
The vial is mixed with sterile water before the session. You are numbed with a topical anesthetic, ice and a special probe reduce the sting further, and the skin is cleansed with different solutions. A very thin needle places small amounts deep, over the bone, from more than one direction so the particles spread evenly, the main defense against lumps. A session takes 30 to 60 minutes on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, a short drive from anywhere in Los Angeles.
Massage, if directed
If directed, you ice and massage the treated areas after each session; massage keeps the particles evenly spread while the tissue settles. The manufacturer's rule of thumb is five minutes, five times a day, for five days.
The series
Treatment is planned as a series, typically two to three sessions a few weeks apart, the general protocol; the vials at each session and the number of sessions are chosen at your consultation from how much volume has been lost and where, and reviewed against photographs before each session.
Who injects at the practice
Sculptra at the practice is injected by a surgeon, never a nurse injector or physician assistant, by Dr. Cat's rule, and the area decides which surgeon. Dr. Cat injects filler in the lips, the nasolabial folds and the neck lines. The cheeks, temples, jawline, chin and under-eye hollows are injected by our board-certified facial plastic surgeon, alongside her for more than a decade, so most sessions are his; the nasolabial folds are hers.
Sculptra recovery timeline
There is no downtime; what differs from a gel is the calendar.
- The consultationThe areas, the vials per session and the number of sessions are agreed and quoted. For a week before each session: no aspirin, anti-inflammatories, alcohol or herbal supplements.
- Session oneNumbing, ice and the probe, a sterile cleanse, 30 to 60 minutes of injection; you leave a little fuller from the water.
- The first 24 hoursNo makeup, nothing that could carry bacteria onto the skin, no strenuous exercise; ice and massage if directed.
- Days 3 to 7The water is absorbed and the face returns close to its start; swelling and any bruise settle.
- Weeks 4 to 6The first collagen forms. Session two, and a third if planned, follow a few weeks apart.
- Three monthsFuller cheeks, softer temples and a defined jawline show in photographs.
- Six monthsThe full effect of the series; the follow-up visit compares photographs.
- Up to two yearsThe maintenance session, usually with less product than the first series.
Risks and safety
Sculptra is FDA-approved, and an injection is still a procedure with arteries under it.
What can go wrong
- Bruising and swelling for 3 to 7 days
- Asymmetry between the two sides, corrected at the next session
- Small lumps or nodules weeks or months later, the risk particular to this product, reduced by dilution, deep placement and massage
- Infection, uncommon with sterile preparation
- Vascular occlusion, rare and serious: product blocking a vessel, which untreated can cost skin or, near the eye, sight
How the practice reduces these risks
- A surgeon injects every vial, never a nurse injector; both surgeons trained in the anatomy of the face and neck
- Deep placement in small amounts from more than one direction, at the manufacturer's dilution
- Never in the lips, around the eyes or in the forehead
- The massage routine, and a follow-up before the next session
- Sterile cleansing before every injection, and the week-before list
- Sculptra cannot be dissolved, so only a surgeon who knows where the vessels run places it
Who is a good candidate for Sculptra?
The right candidate has lost volume over an area, not in a line, and wants it back slowly.
You may be a good candidate if
- Your cheeks have flattened, your temples have hollowed or your lower face has lost its structure across an area, not one fold
- You have lost facial fat with weight loss or age and want it back without surgery
- You want a change no one can date to a visit and can wait months
- You are an adult in good health with no active skin infection in the area
Not yet, or a different plan, if
- You are pregnant or breastfeeding
- You have an active skin infection, a cold sore or a rash in the area, or a history of keloid or hypertrophic scars
- You take a prescribed blood thinner without clearance from the prescribing doctor
- You want a result within weeks: a gel shows at once, Sculptra takes months
- You want the lips or under-eye hollows treated: those are hyaluronic acid areas
- Your lines move with expression: that is muscle, and Botox is the treatment
Call us at once, day or night, if the skin over or near a treated area turns white, mottled or dusky, if pain is severe or out of proportion, or if your vision changes: the signs of a blocked vessel, where the hours matter.
Call us as well for swelling that worsens after day three, spreading redness, a fever, a lump that grows or hurts, or anything that worries you.
How much does Sculptra cost in Beverly Hills?
Sculptra with Dr. Cat Plastic Surgery is quoted at your consultation, per vial and per series. The practice publishes a price for its hyaluronic acid fillers, $1,250 per syringe of Juvederm or Restylane on the non-surgical price list, and none for Sculptra: a plan is vials per session, sessions and areas treated, quoted together so you know the total before the first vial.
Botox and filler fees are per unit and per syringe: if movement lines are treated at the same visit, Botox is $25 per unit and Dysport $8.50 per unit; our comparison of Botox and Dysport explains the units. Compared over time, a hyaluronic acid filler is repeated every 6 to 18 months, a Sculptra series after up to two years.
Consultation fee, insurance and financing
Your appointment is reserved with a $500 deposit credited to your treatment; new patients are evaluated and treated at the same visit, and the $500 stays as a credit if treatment is not right for you. The $500 surgical consultation fee and its credit toward surgery are a separate arrangement. To pay over time, the practice partners with Cherry, its primary financing partner, and also accepts CareCredit and Alphaeon Credit; see financing and payment plans. Sculptra is cosmetic and not covered by insurance; Dr. Cat's office does not bill insurance.
Your consultation with Dr. Cat
It starts with a free 15-minute discovery call with our Patient Concierge, who books your consultation. The consultation and facial analysis are with Dr. Cat, in person on Rodeo Drive or, for out-of-town patients, by private video consultation through OnPatient, the HIPAA-secure patient portal. She examines your face and tells you whether Sculptra, a gel, fat transfer or a facelift answers the change you want and, if so, how many vials and sessions; the sessions are then booked with the surgeon whose areas they are.
