Now your hands can hide your age too

People always say your hands give away your age first (hello, wrinkles and sun spots!). While there are things you can do to prevent aging on your hands (like wearing SPF daily), until recently, there wasn’t much you could do to counter the signs of aging that are already present. But that’s about to change.

On June 5, The Food and Drug Administration announced that it had just approved for use the first injectible filler for hands. The filler, Radiesse, was first approved by the FDA in 2006 to fill in wrinkles on the face. An FDA advisory committee panel voted in favor of approving it to be used for “hand augmentation” back in February. The majority of panelists voted that the benefits of using the injectible outweigh the risks, and that it is “safe and effective” for use. 

According to the FDA, some doctors have already been using Radiesse to fill out hand wrinkles, and it has already been approved for that purpose in 52 other countries. A study of 114 patients, some of whom used the injectible for hand wrinkles, found that Radiesse was pretty effective, too.

Seventy-five percent of patients who used it had at least a one-point improvement in hand wrinkles based on the “Global Aesthetic Improvement Scale,” compared with three percent of patients who didn’t receive the injectible. (The scale includes worse, no change, improved, much improved, and very much improved).

But a word of warning: FDA reviewers found that patients had more negative reactions when they used Radiesse on their hands versus their face, and the side effects increased as the amount of Radiesse used increased.

Swelling, bruising, pain, and itching were the most common side effects, but nearly half of the patients had some problem with their ability touse their hands (although the FDA notes that it was “short-lived for most.”).

Is ditching your hand wrinkles worth giving up the use of your hands for a bit? Um… 

The injectible isn’t recommended for people with severe allergies, skin infections, or for hands “severely depleted of fat.” So if you have super skinny hands, you might be SOL.  

Another downside: One treatment can cost up to $2,400 per hand, so you really, really have to hate the way your hands look to invest in this procedure.

It’s great to have options, but we'll stick with slathering our mitts with SPF for now, #thankyouverymuch.

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Source: womenshealthmag.com