A TALE OF TWO FACES
You’ve seen the ads and read the blurb, but what’s it really like to have face-filling treatment for lipoatrophy? We asked two people who tried different treatments to talk us through them 
Bernard’s story:
I’ve never been fat. I weigh the same as I did when I left school more years ago than I want to remember. But sunken cheeks were doing me in and I didn’t like the person in the mirror.
A New-Fill trial began for a group of patients who fitted their criteria. After attending a special metabolic clinic, seeing the dietician, psychologist, nurse specialist and the HIV specialist, I was in.
Onslaught
I arrive on time. Onto the couch, soft music playing, dermatologist mixing sterile water with phials of powdered polylactic acid. The ice pack on my right cheek begins to hurt. I get two spotlights on my face and wonder if I’m going to leave with a tan as well as. Then... ouch!
There might be local anaesthetic in the injections, but I realise it won’t go numb until I’ve had a few jabs first. The technique, tunnelling, involves a small needle, repeatedly stuck into my face and pushed sideways along inside the flesh; as the needle comes out, the fluid goes in.
As each syringe empties, I lie there with my eyes closed and my cheek tingling, waiting for the next onslaught. I’ve had some small pricks in my time but this lot took the biscuit.
I am told to massage it for ten minutes morning and evening and the doctor slaps on face cream. The nurse produces a hand mirror from a drawer.
A new me
“Who’s that? Hello. I haven’t seen you for years, blimey. Unbelievable.” Of course, I understand that most of the filling effect on my sunken cheeks is the water he’s spent the best part of an hour drilling into my face, but for now there’s a new me.
Later, walking upstairs, I feel gravity working on my face; the fluid is bouncing a bit. It’s a strange feeling. It’s a bit sore. At home there are stares of disbelief from the other half who rushes for the digital camera and starts emailing pictures of the new me to all and sundry. Hee-Hee. I want my face to stay like this, it’s good.
A very old friend remarks “are you putting on weight?” I don’t tell her. Next day I visit mother for inspection. Her neighbour later remarks on how well I looked.
Hamster cheeks
My hands ache with all this circular massage business. I feel little bumps under the skin and worry that I’m not massaging enough. I don’t want it to look like remnants of the pox. Next visit I notice the latex-gloved fingers tenderly follow the creases in my face, finding the exact spots to... ow! Not offered the mirror because I look like a hamster.
It’s working. My body’s reaction to the first jabs has filled some of the space, which means the fluid he’s just pumped me with is pushing the cheeks out further than I might want. I drive my swollen face to the office and people pretend not to notice.
Friends in Norfolk greet me with “My, you look so well.” The hamster effect has worn off, the water absorbed, it’s actually looking quite “normal”.
Obsessed with faces
I sat in a dreary seminar rubbing myself. I catch sight of the side of the face of a woman I know at the other end of the room. I am getting obsessed with faces and decide her buccal fat pads are disintegrating. If she upsets me, I shall send her for New Fill treatment.
More injections. “This isn’t going to hurt”, etc. Offered the mirror and I look like a well-fed hamster. Loads of people round for a party tonight. “It’s taken ten years off you”. Well that’s handy, it makes up for six years of being barely functional.
All over now
Week eight. The last session: death by a thousand bee stings. I will fill in my psychological assessment rather differently now, as feeling much better about being “me”. How much would it cost to have my arse done?
New Fill
New-Fill is a synthetic polymer of polylactic acid (PLA)
It is injected into the skin where it induces collagen formation
PLA is completely absorbed within several weeks, but the new collagen can last up to five years
NHS provision is patchy, though better in London. Ask your doctor about availability in your area
Available privately through MediPhill, 020 7937 2377
Costs around £1,200 for four sessions
Technical information available at www.newfill.com
Carl’s story:
I have always been totally opposed to plastic surgery. I guess I am a bit of a Buddhist at heart. You know: every line tells a story. But after losing two partners to Aids and going through cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and viral meningitis I was at rock bottom. I had stopped going out and, thanks to a less than caring ex-partner, my confidence had sapped away. Every time I looked in the mirror I saw Aids staring back.
So I was willing to take a gamble. I didn’t care if I ended up looking like Leslie Ash or Joan Rivers. I just wanted a new face.
Chosing my treatment
Friends had had New-Fill but success seemed to depend on people’s genetic make-up. A mixed-race friend of mine had instant success but a white friend had to have eight treatments before it began to show. So I opted for Bio-Alcamid.
It had been used for many years in Italy for other parts of the body but its use for HIV-related facial atrophy was new. Dr Sean Cummings was just setting up his Bio-Alcamid business at Freedon Health, and was willing to use me as a guinea pig.
Sculpting
A friend filmed the procedure which took 40 minutes in total for both sides. It involved three jabs to the side of my face with a local anaesthetic. It hurt a bit, but it was nothing compared to what I had been through with Aids. He used a large needle to introduce the liquid which forms its own sack and knits itself into place.
Then he put his finger in my mouth and manipulated it quite firmly, squishing it into place. It is essentially a beauty treatment and sculpting is important.
No laughing matter
For the first 24 hours, I was not allowed to engage in heavy grimacing or violent laughter, to allow the liquid time to form its own membrane. Of course, when someone tells you not to... The gel is an injectable prosthesis containing a small amount of silicone but it is 96 per cent water and is supposed to be 100 per cent migration-proof.
A month later I went for a top up and more manipulation to get the symmetry right. There was a small amount of post-op bruising and swelling but it really was small.
Instant results
The effects were instant. I immediately reclaimed my life, reinvented myself. I visited friends I hadn’t seen for ages and started going out again. I couldn’t believe the transformation. I’m still smiling now. I told everybody.
But it was the effects on my health that were astounding. A couple of years ago my CD4 count was at seven. But after the treatment it hit the 700-900 mark. Even the doctors at the Caldecott Centre think it has done more than the drugs could ever do. All this and frankly it was no worse than going to the dentist.
Bio-Alcamid
Bio-Alcamid (Polyalkylamide) is an injectable water-based gel
Used in Italy for six years as gel type prosthesis in plastic
surgery without major complications
Needs one to two sessions
No touch-ups needed unless lipoatrophy continues
Can be removed easily if too much is injected
Large quantities can be injected without an immune response
Only available privately in the UK
Costs upwards of £875 for a minimum treatment
Available from private clinics such as Freedom Health, www.freedomhealth.co.uk
