Fillers - The Pain of the Cost
Fillers aren’t cheap. From what I’ve seen, practices make a 75 to 100 per cent mark up. That might sound like a lot, given you could be paying $300 to $400 for a filler that costs the doctor $200, but a doctor’s time is expensive. Administrative costs are expensive. And there are ancillary costs: numbing cream or numbing injections, the consultation, and of course the marketing to get you there in the first place.
A doctor can perform a peel with about $20 worth of TCA (trichloracetic acid), and charge $1000. Easily. So when it comes to dermal fillers, the profit margin doesn’t prompt a lot of cartwheels.
Nor do patients often feel like they’re getting a good deal. Fillers usually come prepped and ready to go in a syringe, with sizes ranging from .4cc (.4ml) up to about 1cc (1ml). If this sounds like a small amount, it is, and that’s where discontent starts to boil.
I’ve never seen a smaller amount (say, the .4cc) make that appreciable a difference – perhaps if someone has a small scar they want filled – but the usual requests (lip lines, naso-labial lines, lip augmentation) will require the larger size. So, it’s probably safe to assume if you want a filler, you will most likely want the larger size – meaning if you see a price range, you’ll find yourself at the higher end.
The next decision to factor heavily into cost is: will you need more than one syringe? One milliliter may be good for lip augmentation, but it probably won’t cover naso-labial lines, unless they are very light.
Technique also factors into cost. Some fillers are not used close to the surface because they may cause visible lumping in the upper layers of the skin. So, one common technique is to layer fillers, i.e. Restylane deeper in the line, with a collagen filler layered on top of it. This, obviously, will affect cost.
Most advertising for fillers I’ve seen – advertising that quotes prices or ‘doctor specials’ are usually misleading in that they lead the consumer to assume a fixed price for the treatment. Whether intentional or not, it serves to suspend ‘sticker shock’ for as long as possible.
It’s not necessarily the special price, but how many syringes you will need. Some doctors may not discount the first syringe, but will any additional syringe, and this could prove cheaper in the long run than a special run on a ‘per syringe’ basis.
Another thing to consider is what exactly is included in the price: a consultation? Numbing by injection? That’s a pretty essential step, especially for lip area injections, and some offices may charge for it separately.
When it comes to fillers, unless you are one of the few where cost is no object, you may well object to the cost. Having read about it, and having researched prices, patients often find the price is double or triple what they were braced for, given the amount of filler and types of filler needed for the task.
The second big complaint is pain. More in our next article: Fillers - The Pain of the Pain.
