What is Hyaluronic acid injections (fillers/skin boosters)?
Hyaluronic acid is a natural component of connective tissue that binds a lot of water. Injected as a gel it fills wrinkles and restores volume (filler), or as a thin “skin booster” is meant to improve skin hydration; the body breaks it down over months.
How well studied is Hyaluronic acid injections (fillers/skin boosters)?
Approved fillers are backed by controlled pivotal studies and many years of clinical experience; evidence for wrinkle correction is good. For “skin boosters” it is much weaker and highly product-dependent.
What side effects and risks does Hyaluronic acid injections (fillers/skin boosters) have?
Bruising, swelling, redness and pain are common. Rare but serious: accidental injection into a blood vessel causing tissue death, visual disturbances up to blindness, or stroke; also infections, nodules and allergic reactions. Self-injection, online products and needle-free “hyaluron pens” are considered particularly risky.
Is Hyaluronic acid injections (fillers/skin boosters) approved in Germany?
In short: yes. In the EU these are not medicines but CE-marked medical devices (MDR). In Germany, filler injections count as practising medicine (OLG Karlsruhe 2012) – beauticians may not perform them, only doctors (and, with restrictions, Heilpraktiker). No doping relevance; counterfeits from online sales are a known problem.
Sources
- FDA: Dermal Fillers (Soft Tissue Fillers)
- LTO: OLG Karlsruhe – Kosmetikerin darf Falten nicht mit Hyaluronsäure unterspritzen
Note: We deliberately do not list any doses here. For approved medicines, your doctor sets the dose; for unapproved substances there is no reliable information.