Quantitative Assessment of Polydioxanone Microsphere Fillers for Nasolabial Fold Correction: A Comparative Study

Dermal fillers are essential tools for facial rejuvenation. This study evaluated the clinical efficacy and safety of a polydioxanone (PDO)-based filler from UltraV, compared with established commercial alternatives for improving nasolabial fold wrinkles.

Thirty-one participants (aged 20-59 years) were enrolled in this prospective, split-face comparative study. Each participant received 1 ml of the test product on one side of the face and an equivalent volume of a control filler on the contralateral side. Skin texture and sunken volume were quantified using ANTERA 3D CS imaging technology (Miravex, Dublin, Ireland) at three time points: baseline, four weeks after the first injection, and four weeks after the second injection. The imaging system's internal software was used to perform topographical analysis of skin surface changes.

Quantitative 3D analysis showed that the polydioxanone (PDO) filler yielded significantly better results than all controls in volume restoration and texture refinement (p<0.05). By week 8, the PDO group recorded a 22.68% volume reduction [vs. 7.69% for hyaluronic acid (HA)], 16.40% [vs. 12.15% for poly(D,L-lactic acid) (PDLLA)], and 23.55% [vs. 9.50% for polynucleotide (PN)]. Skin texture improvement in the PDO group reached 12.07%, a 2.22 fold increase compared to the PDLLA group.

PDO filler demonstrated favorable clinical efficacy in enhancing skin texture and volume, achieving improvements that were comparable to those of established fillers. These objective findings support PDO fillers as a viable nonsurgical option for facial rejuvenation.