What Profhilo is, and how long it actually lasts.

What is Profhilo? Profhilo is an injectable of stabilised hyaluronic acid, at a high concentration: 64 mg in a 2 ml course. It is not a dermal filler. A filler is placed to add shape; Profhilo spreads through the skin to improve its hydration, elasticity and quality. It is for skin that has lost condition rather than volume. The course is two sessions, four weeks apart.

The complaint I hear most is not a line or a fold. It is a sentence: I look tired when I am not. The skin has lost some of its condition, its water, its firmness, the evenness it used to have, and no cream reaches far enough to put it back. That loss of quality, not shape, is what Profhilo is for.

Is Profhilo a filler?

No, and the distinction matters. Profhilo is hyaluronic acid, the same water-binding molecule the body already produces, made without the chemical cross-linkers that stiffen a filler. That is why it stays fluid and spreads through the skin rather than holding a shape where it is injected. It will not sharpen a jaw, lift a cheek or add volume. If shape is what you want, this is the wrong tool, and I will tell you so before you pay.

How does Profhilo actually work?

A filler adds material to change a shape. Profhilo does something different, and for the right person more appealing: it asks your own skin to behave the way it did a few years ago, rather than adding anything to alter how you look. Nothing is built. The skin is prompted. That distinction is why people who do not want to look “done” choose it.

The mechanism is worth understanding, because it is the interesting part. Profhilo is a cooperative complex of two forms of the same molecule. The high molecular weight hyaluronic acid, long chains of about 1,200 kDa, holds water and structure; the low molecular weight fraction, short chains of about 100 kDa, is the more biologically active part, the one that signals to the cells. Alone, each does little. Bound together by heat, twelve minutes at 120°C, rather than by a chemical cross-linker, they form a complex that is at once more stable and far less viscous, about a 22-fold drop in thickness, which is why it can be placed at high concentration through a fine needle and then spread through the tissue instead of staying in one spot.

In cultured skin cells and a three-dimensional skin model, the hybrid did what neither weight did alone: it reactivated fibroblasts, the cells that build the dermis, and raised their output of collagen and elastin several-fold over untreated cells at 24 hours (Stellavato et al., PLOS One, 2016). The authors’ own phrase is cellular bioprocess reactivation: quiet, ageing cells switched back on.

What will it do for my skin?

For the right skin, the change is quiet and specific. Over the weeks after the second session, the skin holds water better and reads as more rested and even. People rarely notice a treatment; they notice that you look well. It does not make you look like someone else. It restores the condition your skin had a few years ago, so the face in the mirror matches how you actually feel.

Profhilo suits skin that has lost quality more than shape: laxity, dryness, a crepey texture. It does little for deep folds and nothing for volume. If those are the concern, the honest answer is a different treatment, and the consultation is where we decide which.

How many sessions, and how long does it last?

The course is two sessions, four weeks apart. It is injected at five set points on each side of the face, chosen to sit away from major vessels and nerves, in the deep dermis. The effect builds: peak is four to eight weeks after the second session, so it is not judged on the day.

It lasts about six months from the second session, so maintenance is usually a single session every six months. It fades gradually, with no cliff edge to plan around.

The most common misunderstanding is that Profhilo plumps like a filler. It does not. It treats the condition of your skin, not its shape, and whether that is what you need is the one thing worth settling before you book.