Friends say you look rested, months after your appointment. Here is when your Sculptra results show, why the change builds so slowly, and why it stays.
You noticed the change in a lift mirror, or in a friend’s photo from last summer. The cheeks look flatter, the temples have dipped, and the face reads tired even after a good week. Sculptra at Dr Joney De Souza Clinic in Marylebone rebuilds that lost support from your own collagen.
| Performed by | Course | Results | Your plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dr Joney De Souza or Dr Mattia Parducci | Two to three sessions | Build over two to three months, last up to two years | Set by the doctor at consultation |
Every session is performed by Dr Joney De Souza (GMC 7008632) or Dr Mattia Parducci (GMC 7635663). What surprises most people is the pace: Sculptra adds almost nothing on the day, and that slow start is exactly why the result lasts.
That slow start is also why it lasts. Twenty-five months after their final session, 81 percent of people treated with injectable poly-L-lactic acid in a randomised trial still rated their result as improved. Sculptra results are judged in years rather than weeks.
The trial compared injectable PLLA with a collagen implant in 233 people with smile-line folds. Those treated with PLLA were followed for 25 months after their last session, far longer than most aesthetic studies run. Patients had up to four sessions three weeks apart. That is a tighter rhythm than clinics use today, but the principle being tested is the same one at work in your cheek.
The two groups started almost level. Three weeks after treatment, 99 percent of the PLLA group and 96 percent of the collagen group felt improved. By month thirteen the collagen group had fallen to 15 percent, while the PLLA group still stood at 91 percent.
The investigators saw the same shape. In a companion report in the Aesthetic Surgery Journal, their own ratings of improvement stayed above 85 percent through month 25. A gel that sits in a space is absorbed and gone, while collagen your skin has made holds on.
The material has been in clinical use for a long time. Sculptra was first approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in August 2004, and the clinic treatment page notes more than two decades of use.
For the first day or two the treated areas look a little pink and full, with some tenderness at the injection points. That early fullness is mostly the water the product was mixed with, and it settles within days. Most people are back at their desk the next morning. Hard workouts, saunas and strong sun wait for 48 hours. The area can stay tender to press for three to five days, mostly along the cheekbone.
Then comes a stretch when the mirror seems to show no change at all. Underneath, the particles are prompting a controlled response that draws new collagen into the treated layer. You are not being filled, you are regrowing your own support, and growth of that kind takes a few weeks to reach the surface.
The five, five, five massage belongs to these early days. You press and smooth the treated area for five minutes, five times a day, for five days, so the particles spread evenly beneath the skin. It is a small routine with clean fingertips at the bathroom mirror, and it keeps the finish smooth.
The first real change usually appears six to eight weeks after the opening session, and it rarely arrives as a single moment. More often you notice that concealer sits better over the cheekbone, or that the temple no longer catches a shadow when you tie your hair back.
From there the improvement keeps developing for three to six months. Each session builds on the collagen the last one started, so the cheek gains a soft, even fullness and the skin over it feels firmer under your hand. Overhead light that once pooled in the hollows now slides across a smoother curve.
Sculptra is used at the temples, the mid-cheek and cheekbones, along the jawline and chin, and around the mouth. Because the collagen builds across a broad zone rather than at one point, skin quality and firmness improve along with the shape.
Friends tend to say you look well rested, or ask whether you have been away. Nobody can name the day something was done, because there was no such day. The final result keeps maturing for several months after your last session.
Because the collagen builds across a broad zone rather than at one point, skin quality and firmness improve along with the shape.
Picture the same face two summers on. The temples still hold their soft curve when you sweep your hair back, the cheekbones still catch the evening light in photographs, and the jawline reads clean in profile. That is what collagen you grew yourself looks like over time, and it is why so many patients return for upkeep rather than a fresh start.
A gradual change is easy to live with and hard to judge from memory. Seeing yourself every morning, you adjust to each small gain and forget where you began. That is why the clinic records a clear starting point before a single injection goes in.
At your first visit, VISIA skin imaging documents your baseline under consistent, even light. The doctors use it to plan placement around your anatomy, and later you can see your own progress against it, side by side, on your own face rather than a stranger’s.
Keep a few photographs of your own too, taken in the same spot by the same window. Daylight from the side shows the temples and the curve under the cheekbone better than any bathroom bulb. Compared at three or four months, those pictures tell the story more clearly than the mirror does.
Sculptra rebuilds structure and firmness, but it does not resurface the skin or clear brown marks. Fine crepey texture, open pores and sun spots sit at the surface, and a laser reaches them. UltraClear resurfaces texture and lines, and PicoSure breaks up pigment.
Many plans use both, with Sculptra building the frame and a laser refining the finish on separate visits. The doctors look at your VISIA images and tell you which layer holds the main change before anything is booked. The laser comes once the Sculptra course has settled. Each change is then easy to read on the next set of images.
A completed course typically holds for eighteen months to two years, and often longer. That staying power comes from the method itself. The collagen you grow is your own tissue, and it does not disappear the way a gel that simply fills a space eventually does.
Several things shape how long your result lasts. The number of sessions you complete matters, along with how strongly your collagen responds, your age and the way you live. Sun, sleep and smoking all leave their mark on collagen, so the skin you look after holds its new structure longest.
The particles themselves are biodegradable and absorbed slowly. As natural ageing carries on, the rebuilt support softens very gradually rather than dropping away. There is no sudden morning when the cheekbones vanish, only a gentle drift you can stay ahead of.
A single maintenance session every twelve to eighteen months keeps the framework topped up. Many people book it as a yearly habit and keep the cheeks and temples looking fresh for years. The Sculptra treatment page sets out each stage, from the first injection to maintenance.
Your first visit is with Dr Joney De Souza or Dr Mattia Parducci in Marylebone. They look at your face from the front and in profile, map where collagen has thinned, and agree the areas to treat before anything is prepared.
The questions are specific, starting with any filler you have had, where it was placed and when. Are you pregnant or breastfeeding? Do you have an autoimmune condition, an active skin infection or a history of keloid scarring? For the week before, aspirin, ibuprofen, fish oil and vitamin E are set aside, and alcohol waits for 24 hours.
The treatment visit takes 45 to 60 minutes. A numbing cream needs about twenty minutes to take hold, the injecting runs for twenty to thirty minutes with a mild pressure and a brief sting, and the massage follows straight away.
Most people need two to three sessions, six to eight weeks apart, and the consultation gives the real answer because collagen loss varies from face to face. The plan and its investment are set out at that visit. You can read about Dr Mattia Parducci before you come.
Sculptra also fits into a staged plan with anti-wrinkle injections, hyaluronic acid fillers, polynucleotides or Profhilo. Each is booked on its own visit, so you can see what every step has added and the skin settles between them.
The clinic sits in Marylebone, close to Harley Street and a short walk from Baker Street and Bond Street, and patients come in from across central London. If you want results that arrive gently and stay, book a skin consultation and see what Sculptra in London can rebuild.
Short clips filmed at Dr Joney De Souza Clinic in Marylebone, so you can see how collagen stimulators is carried out before you book.
If your cheeks and temples have flattened and you want a change that builds and lasts, come and meet Dr Joney De Souza or Dr Mattia Parducci in Marylebone. Call 020 7043 0748, or send us a WhatsApp message to arrange your visit.
Waiting for collagen to grow raises its own set of questions. These are the ones people ask most about when Sculptra starts to show, how far it goes and how long the change stays.
Because nothing has been added that stays as volume. Any slight swelling settles within a day or two, and the real work then happens out of sight as your fibroblasts start making collagen. A face that looks unchanged in the first fortnight is exactly what a well-placed session should look like.
Usually somewhere in the second or third month, and rarely as a remark about treatment. People tend to say you look rested, well or freshly back from holiday. The change builds so evenly that friends notice a brighter face long before anyone wonders whether something has been done.
Yes. Collagen goes on maturing for several months after the final visit, and the cheek and temple often look their best a good while after the course has ended. That late gain is why the review after your last session is booked with some space.
A Sculptra course typically holds for eighteen months to two years or more, while most hyaluronic acid fillers are absorbed within six to twelve months. In the 25-month PLLA trial, over 80 percent of patients were still satisfied at the final check. You can compare the two on our dermal fillers page.
Collagen in everyone keeps ageing, and some habits speed that up. Strong sun without protection, smoking and very little sleep all wear on the skin. A daily SPF, a steady routine and a maintenance session every twelve to eighteen months keep the rebuilt structure holding well for longer.
You can. VISIA imaging at your first appointment records a clear, evenly lit baseline, and your later visits give you something real to compare against. Seeing your own face at the start and a few months in is far more useful than judging from somebody else’s photographs.
No. Sculptra builds structure gradually, so there is never a moment of sudden volume to overshoot. The clinic favours the smallest effective amount over the largest, and each session is planned after looking at how the previous one settled. The result reads as a fresher version of you.
Not usually. The first session starts the collagen response, and the second and third build on it. The clearest change tends to appear once the course has had time to work, and many patients notice the biggest step between the second session and the months that follow.
They build at the same pace but show in different ways. At the temple you notice a softer curve beside the brow when your hair is tied back. Along the jaw the edge reads cleaner in profile, and the skin over it feels firmer under your fingertips.
Nothing sudden. The particles were absorbed long before, so what remains is collagen that ages at your own natural pace. The support softens gently over time, and a single maintenance visit restores it. Most people simply book that top-up once a year to keep their cheeks lifted.
