MIAMI BEACH – It's time to consider being blunt with your aesthetic patients, at least in terms of how you administer filler products for facial and hand rejuvenation.
"The blunt cannula is really an exciting tool for us," Dr. Susan H. Weinkle said at the South Beach Symposium.
Dr. Susan H. Weinkle
Instead of multiple puncture wounds with needles, Dr. Weinkle creates one entry point with a percutaneous stick of a 26-gauge needle. Then she inserts a cannula. "You can treat the midface [and then] you can turn the cannula and treat all along the cheekbone and the zygomatic arch. Then, through the same injection point, you can turn the cannula south and treat the nasolabial fold."
Less trauma, lower risk for bruising, and quicker downtime are among the advantages, compared with multiple needle injections, Dr. Weinkle said.
Less precise delivery of the filler – because the cannula holes are not at the tip like a needle – is a drawback, but not a significant one, she added.
Cannulas already have gained popularity in Europe and South America. "We are not learning this as quickly as our colleagues," she said.
"A year ago, I went to an exciting meeting in Paris where I heard a little about cannulas." Dr. Weinkle brought some back to her private practice in Bradenton, Fla., with the best intentions, but did not use them. "This year I went back to the same meeting in January, and I decided I did not want to be left behind."
Filler augmentation of the dorsal side of the hands is another procedure that is well suited to the use of these blunt cannulas, Dr. Weinkle said.
Patience is advised when the technique is tried for the first time. "It's not always easy. You're not going to love it right away. You have to finesse the cannula through the skin." However, she added, "Don't get discouraged."
These are not cannulas that are used for liposuction, but newer products that are specifically designed for use in soft tissue. Only one such cannula – CosmoFrance Inc.'s DermaSculpt microcannula, a 1.5 inch, 27 gauge cannula with a nonbruising blunt tip – is currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States.
"More are coming. We will have shorter, fatter, thicker, thinner, and different gauge cannulas," Dr. Weinkle said. "We're going to see some of the companies that provide fillers for us adopting this. Maybe we'll find one needle and one cannula in the future in our packaging."
"This is the wave of the future. We really want to embrace new and exciting things," she said.
Dr. Weinkle said she had no relevant financial disclosures.