Is 3 mL of filler really enough?

This is the first question people ask when they come in about 3cc Face LINE ON, which uses 3 mL of hyaluronic acid filler in total across the whole face. The answer depends on what you’re aiming for.

If your goal is to make your face fuller, 3 mL isn’t enough. But if the goal is to reinforce areas that lack structural support, 3 mL is enough for most people. Afterward, many people are told they look younger or less tired, or that their face looks smaller.

This is also why I don’t charge per area. If you enhance only the lips, smooth only the nasolabial folds (smile lines), build up only the front of the cheeks or fill only the hollows at the sides of the cheeks, that area may look good in a close-up photo. But a face is about harmony, not close-ups. I start from a total of 3 mL rather than from a list of areas, and then decide where within that amount to fill first.

Let me also address two common worries. People ask whether the filler will slide down. When it’s placed deep, in small amounts, where structural support is needed, it rarely moves. Some also worry that it can’t be removed later and would have to be scraped out. But when an enzyme injection (hyaluronidase) is given properly, the filler dissolves, leaving almost no trace.

Here is what the research shows. Facial fat isn’t one mass; it’s divided into several compartments, and each one ages separately. A 2007 study that dissected 30 hemifaces (one side of the face each) concluded that the face doesn’t age as a single unit. Bone shrinks too. In a 2010 study that looked at the lower jaw on CT scans of 120 people, the height and length of the jawbone decreased significantly with age. This is why I choose the areas that provide support rather than filling a single hollow.

That said, no study has tested the number itself, the idea that “3 mL is enough.” How much to use is ultimately decided by examination. And filler stays longer than you might think. In a 2024 study that looked at MRI scans of 33 people who had filler in the midface, no one’s filler had completely disappeared within 2 years. Working within a set amount is also a standard that takes the next treatment into account.