[Soft tissue fillers: state of the art and future perspectives]

In addition to cosmetic use, filler materials are frequently employed for reconstruction of contour defects. Scars and tissue defects after accidents, surgery and irradiation are also ideal indications for injectables. The ideal filler should be easy to inject, easy to form, and should remain in the body as long as possible. It should neither be allergenic or carcinogenic nor susceptible to infections or biofilms, but still potentially reversible, temperature-stable, and cheap. There is still no augmentation material that fulfils all of these criteria. A wide range of materials with widely varying characteristics is available on the market. Hyaluronic acid, collagen (human or bovine), polylactic acid (PLLA), calcium hydroxyapatite (CaHA), polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), silicone and natural fat are all used in clinical practice for various indications. The current research efforts carried out at industrial institutions and universities are directed towards the development of augmentation materials with higher biocompatibility on the one hand and better durability on the other. In this review we provide an overview on filler materials currently used with their pros and cons. We further give an outlook on promising new approaches in the development pipeline.