Downside 1: almost half notice something in the first few days

There are two types of figures here, and the difference explains a lot.

The manufacturer keeps a worldwide record of adverse events reported by doctors. Between 9 February 2015 and 8 February 2018, an estimated 42,394 patients were treated. Twelve reports were received over those three years. The treating doctors described all of them as non-serious, and the patients recovered without lasting effects. The reports involved swelling, fluid, redness and bruising shortly after treatment, plus two later reactions involving swelling and bumps.

Twelve reports among more than 42,000 people sounds reassuring, and it is when it comes to serious problems. But the researchers themselves note that underreporting of minor incidents cannot be ruled out. No doctor reports a bruise that disappears after two days to a manufacturer.

Clinical research does take everything into account, and then the picture looks different. A 2026 systematic review combined nine studies with a total of 278 participants. On average, 46 percent of participants experienced a side effect, although the range between studies was wide, from 20 to 75 percent. Across the studies, the percentage reporting bruising ranged from 13 to 88 percent. Other reported effects were swelling in 7 to 8 percent, small bumps in 17 percent, local bruising in 12 percent and a mildly prickling sensation in 2 percent. All side effects were mild and disappeared within approximately 72 hours.

The two figures together give the honest picture: there is a real chance that you will see something during the first few days, roughly one in two. The chance that it is anything more than a bruise or a bump that disappears within three days is small.

The small bumps have a logical explanation, by the way. Profhilo is injected at five fixed points on each side of the face and then spreads beneath the skin on its own. In the hours afterwards, you can still feel and see the product sitting in those spots. This is normal and disappears on its own.

The Dutch Society for Dermatology and Venereology is clear about genuinely rare reactions. Its guideline on injectable fillers states that product-specific adverse reactions to hyaluronic acid are very rare (0.06 percent), and that allergic or other inflammatory reactions can occur in rare cases (0.4 to 0.5 percent). Rare does not mean impossible, and that is exactly what you should expect a clinic to tell you.

Disadvantage 2: the result is temporary

A face consists of four layers, and all four change: skin, fat, retaining ligaments and bone. When the jawline starts to sag, they change together.

The skin produces less collagen and elastin and consequently becomes looser than the structures beneath it. The fat compartments in the midface become smaller. On our own page about cheek filler treatments, you can read that this starts at around the age of thirty. The result is that the upper face loses fullness while weight shifts downward.



Then there are the retaining ligaments, strands of connective tissue that anchor the skin at fixed points to the underlying tissue. These weaken. The tissue then sags between the anchored points and bulges out there. That is why sagging cheeks do not appear as an even swelling, but as a bulge with a clear indentation in front of it.

And then there is the layer that almost nobody writes about.

Disadvantage 3: Profhilo adds no volume and lifts nothing

This is the disadvantage that causes the most disappointment, and it is rarely stated clearly anywhere.

Profhilo improves the quality of the skin. Your skin becomes firmer, more supple and better hydrated, and fine lines become less visible. What does not happen: no volume is added and nothing is lifted. A filler does do that, because it provides shape.

If you recognise yourself in any of these points, Profhilo is probably not the treatment you are looking for:

• your cheeks have become hollow or flatter
• your jawline has become less defined and tissue is hanging over it
• you have deep folds running from your nose to the corners of your mouth
• your cheekbones are less prominent than they used to be

These are all questions of shape and support, and for those you need something else. For volume loss in the cheeks, for example, we use fillers or biostimulators, not a skinbooster. They do work well together: the filler provides the shape, while Profhilo improves the skin.

So if you read that Profhilo lifts your face, that is not correct. Your skin will look fresher and smoother, which often makes other people think you look more rested. That is different from a lift.

Disadvantage 4: you will not see it for weeks

If you have a treatment on Monday and expect to see the difference in the mirror on Tuesday, you will be disappointed. In the first few days, you mainly notice hydration: your skin feels softer and looks fresher. The full result takes four to six weeks after the course, because during those weeks your skin starts producing collagen and elastin itself.

Then factor in the course structure. The standard approach is two to three sessions about a month apart. From the first injection to the final result, you are therefore looking at two to three months at the very least. Do not schedule it two weeks before a wedding or photoshoot.

Disadvantage 5: most of the research comes from the manufacturer

You will not read this point at many clinics, but it belongs in an honest overview.

The 2026 systematic review we mentioned above brought together nine studies with a total of 278 participants. The researchers themselves identify several limitations. All the included studies took place at a single centre. Six had fewer than thirty participants. Only one study included men. The participants were predominantly white women, and the way the effect was measured differed between studies. In addition, the review itself was funded by IBSA Farmaceutici Italia, the manufacturer, and three of the authors are employees of that company. The same applies to the 2020 safety study.

What does that mean in practice? It does not mean that the results are inaccurate. It does mean that the evidence is less robust than the marketing suggests, and that there is less certainty about the effect than with a product tested in large groups by independent researchers. You deserve to know that before making a decision.

There is no ambiguity about the composition. One syringe contains 64 milligrams of hyaluronic acid in 2 millilitres: 32 milligrams with a long molecule and 32 milligrams with a short molecule, combined using heat rather than a chemical cross-linking agent.