Question

Can people with Black skin use New-Fill?

14 June 2007. Related: All topics, Side effects.

Does black skin respond differently to multiple fine needle injections of fillers (Sculptra, Restalyne, etc) to correct facial wasting resulting from HIV?

I know that darker skin tends to form keloids when cut or pierced.

Is there any data on this?

Thanks for your help.

Answer

Answer: Simon Collins

Hi

Thanks for your question.

New-Fill (Sculptra) is a treatment that is approved in both Europe and the US for correcting facial fat loss (lipoatrophy) caused by the HIV drugs d4T and AZT. Other fillers are being researched including hyaluronic acid (Restylane) but they are not approved for this use in Europe.

Most of the studies published on New-Fill show that it is a safe and effective treatment that has a dramatic improvement on someone’s quality of life, and that the effects last for 1-2 years or longer before re-treatment may be needed.

However, most of these studies did not include large numbers of African or African-Americans, so I asked one of the UK’s largest HIV-clinics, which has been treating HIV-positive people with New-Fill for several years. Treatment for lipoatrophy in many places in the UK is now free on the NHS.

Here is their reply: