Captique Gel
What is "Captique Gel"?
Captique Gel is one of the newer, available, hyaluronic acid, dermal fillers. It's injected into the face, specifically in the nasal labial folds – those are these lines, in the upper and lower lips, in the marionette, or puppet, lines, which are the lines around here and now, also, in the upper face, specifically in the cheek area, the lower lid area, and sometimes in the glabellum area – that's the area between the eyebrows. As a hyaluronic acid filler, it's safe, effective, lasts anywhere from six to nine months and has been available in Europe for some time. Only in the last couple of months has it become available in this country.
Is Captique safe?
Captique, like all the hyaluronic acid substrates, is extremely safe and extremely effective. It's made of hyaluronic acid, which is a naturally occurring part of our body, then the body does not react against it, and over the course of 6 to 9 months, eventually it just dissolves by itself.
Who can administer Captique?
When you go to your medispa and Captique is offered, this is something that the physician at the medispa should be taking care of. Captique is an injection with a needle, so it's important that the doctor does do the procedure. Many times either a topical or a local aesthetic may also be involved in captique treatment, so that may require another injection. Again, another good reason to have a doctor involved in administering Captique. I know that there are many medispas and doctors' offices where a nurse practitioner or a physician assistant is doing the injections, but I believe that the doctor should be doing any injections, Captique or otherwise.
Who should not receive a Captique treatment?
Captique treatments are safe and effective and can be used by almost anyone. I think the areas where they shouldn't be used are number one, anyone that's pregnant. Number two, anyone taking a blood thinner or an anticoagulant such as asprin, coomadin, or any of the blood thinners. The reason for this is because it isn't an injection, there can be some bleeding and some bruising at the injection site that usually resolves. It's important that blood thinners be stopped for about two weeks before any procedure. Number 3, it's important that patients that don't have wrinkles don't have the injections because it's not going to prevent wrinkles from forming.
How should I expect my skin to look and feel after a Captique treatment?
I think when you go to a medi-spa you expect your skin to look glowing, to look radiant, to look more youthful. I think thats why Captique works so well. There's an immediate response. Patients are very happy because they can see those wrinkles diminish right away. Now, you may have a bit of bruising intially from the injection site but patients are very happy with the way the Captique treatments make their skin look.
What are the potential side effects when using Captique?
Really, the only side-effect involving Captique injections are the injection itself. For patients that are on blood thinners or Aspirin or anti-coagulants, there can be some bruising and bleeding at the injection site. The actual gel itself, there's really no side-effect. If you are taking a blood thinner, the best thing to do would be to stop taking it about two weeks before having the injection, if in fact it's safe to stop the blood thinner.
How long will the results of Captique last?
Captique should last about nine months. It does range from anywhere from six months to about a year, and a lot of that is depending on both how well it's injected by your doctor and also how you want the Captique to last and how you want it to look. If in fact you see that it looks like it's starting to resolve, you may want to go back to your doctor earlier. If you're happy with the results, and you're really waiting for it to run its course, it's probably closer to a year.
What should I be aware of after receiving my Captique treatment?
There's really very little downtime, really no side effects concerned with Captique. Patients can put makeup on rather quickly. The only recommendation that I make is I don't want them having a facial at a medispa immediately following the treatments, because I certainly don't want that material being jostled around at all. Other than that, putting on makeup shouldn't be a problem, exercising, and going to back to work, it's pretty quick.
How much will a Captique Gel treatment cost?
The cost of Captique ranges anywhere from five to six hundred up to one thousand five hundred dollars. A lot of that depends on the doctor, the medispa, and what part of the country you're in. Specifically, if you're in a highly populated area it may cost you a bit more. You may also pay depending on who the doctor is. If they're somebody famous you may end up paying more. The material itself costs the same amount of money. So, I think If you are spending less than five or six hundred dollars I would be concerned it wasn't the actual product.
