How Long Do Dermal Fillers Last? By Product and Area

FDA's figures give no average for "filler" as a whole, because duration is estimated by material.

FDA's general estimates: hyaluronic acid fillers last approximately 6 to 12 months, calcium hydroxylapatite approximately 18 months, and poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA) up to 2 years.

PLLA is also the slow starter.

FDA notes its effects appear gradually over several weeks, so the result builds rather than landing on the day of treatment.

Those are material-level estimates for fillers in general.

They are not promises for any one product, and product-specific maker claims can sit above them — Allergan says Juvéderm Voluma XC lasts up to 2 years in the cheeks, above FDA's generic hyaluronic acid range.

However long a filler lasts, the number is not the whole story.

The Restylane Kysse label states that biodegradation varies by individual and treatment area, and that product remnants may remain in tissue even after the visible effect has returned to baseline.

A small MRI study makes the same point: mid-face hyaluronic acid filler was still detectable in all 33 patients at least 2 years after injection, and in some, 8 to 15 years later.

The study covered the mid-face and 33 people is a small group — but it shows how a filler can linger in tissue long after its visible effect has faded.

For what dermal fillers are, which materials are approved and what treatment costs, see our dermal fillers guide.

By FDA's material estimates, the longest-lasting absorbable material is poly-L-lactic acid, at up to 2 years — ahead of calcium hydroxylapatite at approximately 18 months and hyaluronic acid at approximately 6 to 12 months.

Sculptra is the poly-L-lactic acid filler.

Galderma says results can be seen as early as 1 month after treatment and last up to 2 years — a manufacturer claim, not a trial figure.

The label's cheek-wrinkle study is the measured version: in it, 70.7% of treated subjects were responders (at least a 1-grade improvement on both cheeks, rated by a blinded evaluator) at month 12, against 25.9% of untreated controls, and 76.9% of the 65 subjects followed were still responders at month 24 in the extension study.

Our guide to how long Sculptra lasts covers the build-up timeline and the maintenance question in detail.

One filler steps off this ladder entirely.

Bellafill — PMMA microspheres in bovine collagen, originally sold as ArteFill — is the only permanent US filler, and FDA says it has approved just one product made from a material the body does not absorb.

It was approved in 2006 for nasolabial folds (smile lines), gained a second indication for moderate to severe atrophic distensible cheek acne scars in patients over 21 in 2014, and was renamed SANAE with FDA's approval in 2026.

None of the temporary-fill timelines applies to it.

FDA's estimates do not break down by area.

The per-area figures we found come from the makers themselves, and only for the products and areas each maker publishes.

Here is each figure, with its source.

Every maker figure in that table is an "up to" maximum — not an average and not a promise.

Allergan's are stated with the phrase "with optimal treatment".

The trial row is a different kind of number: 60% is the share of studied subjects a blinded evaluator still rated as lip-fullness responders at week 48, not the result any one person gets.

The table also shows how much the area itself matters.

Allergan puts the same filler, Voluma XC, at up to 2 years in the cheeks, up to 13 months in the temples and up to 1 year in the chin.

A duration figure travels with its product and its area — not to another product, and not to another area.

A product used in an area that is not on its own label is an off-label use, and none of these figures covers it.

For the lips in depth — the approved brands, the trial data and what the Kysse label says about remnants — see how long lip filler lasts.

For areas with no published figure from any maker, we will not invent one: we could not confirm a duration, and a licensed provider using a specific product in a specific area is the right person to ask what to expect.

The Restylane Kysse label's own answer is the baseline: biodegradation varies by individual and by treatment area.

No label or controlled trial we reviewed puts a number on how much any one factor shortens a filler's life.

What the sources do show is where the differences come from.

The material: FDA describes hyaluronic acid as a sugar naturally present in skin and cartilage, and says filler HA is often chemically crosslinked to last longer, so formulation choices are one reason products differ in how long they last.

The area: the same product carries different figures for different sites, as the Voluma XC numbers above show.

The product: even one maker publishes different maximums for different formulations in the same area — up to 18 months for Vollure XC versus up to 1 year for Ultra Plus XC, both in the smile lines.

Claims you may have seen about habits — exercising filler away, a "fast metabolism" burning it off, sun exposure melting it — are not measured in any label or trial we found.

If your filler seems to fade unusually fast, the reasons a treatment underperforms are a conversation to have with your licensed provider, who knows which product went where, and how much.

We found no label, and no regulator, that sets a touch-up schedule for filler.

What the record gives you is a window by material: approximately 6 to 12 months for hyaluronic acid, approximately 18 months for calcium hydroxylapatite and up to 2 years for poly-L-lactic acid, on FDA's estimates.

Each maker's own maximum applies only to its specific product and area.

When the correction starts to fade is something you notice; whether and when to retreat is a decision to make with your licensed provider.

Sculptra runs on a different clock, and its label is explicit that it is not instant.

The immediate fullness after a session is mostly water swelling that resolves within hours to a few days, after which the original contour deficiency reappears; correction then develops gradually, the label directs that the area be under-corrected, and at least 3 to 4 weeks should pass before reassessment.

In the cheek-wrinkle trial, sessions were spaced 4 weeks apart, for up to 4 sessions.

One caution follows from everything above: because remnants can remain in tissue after the visible effect fades, fading is not proof the area is empty.

A provider who knows what was placed, when, and how much, is the right person to plan what comes next.