Sculptra and Daxify:
What I Did This Week and Why I Am Finally
Working on My Whole Face

For a long time, my approach to injectables was simple and fairly narrow. Botox on the upper half of my face. A little filler here and there. I treated what I could see bothering me and left everything else alone.

What I did not realise — or perhaps chose not to look at too closely — is that the face loses volume and structure from the middle and lower half too. The jawline softens. The cheeks flatten. The skin around the mouth loses the scaffolding it once had. I was maintaining one floor of the house while the rest of it was quietly changing around me.

A new aesthetician pointed this out to me recently. Not unkindly. Just honestly. She looked at my face as a whole and gently noted what I had been missing — the lower face deserves the same attention. And it landed.

She introduced me to Sculptra as the starting point. And I listened.

Sculptra is not a filler in the traditional sense. It does not add immediate volume the way hyaluronic acid fillers do. Instead, it is a collagen stimulator. The active ingredient — poly-L-lactic acid — works gradually with your body to rebuild collagen from within, restoring volume and structure over time rather than all at once.

This is exactly what appealed to me. I am not looking for a dramatic overnight result. I am looking to support my skin from the inside out, in a way that looks natural because it actually is natural. My body producing its own collagen is not the same as a filler sitting under my skin. The results take longer to appear — and that is the point.

I used numbing cream beforehand, which genuinely helped. The injections pinched — I would describe the sensation as similar to Botox or filler from past experience — but nothing I would call painful. My aesthetician had an exceptionally light touch, which made a real difference to how the whole thing felt.

The whole session was calm and considered. We talked through everything before she began. I appreciated that she explained her reasoning at each step rather than simply proceeding.

I am five days out now. There is some mild swelling and I have been massaging the area regularly — which my aesthetician told me is important to ensure even distribution of the product. Nothing dramatic to report yet. And that is exactly what I expected.

I have used regular Botox for years. This visit, my aesthetician recommended Daxify instead — and I made the switch.

Daxify, also known as daxibotulinumtoxinA, is a newer formulation. One thing that stood out to me immediately is that it is vegan, which aligns with how I try to approach most decisions. My aesthetician felt it was the right choice for where I am right now, and I trusted her reasoning.

I debated whether to share this at all. Aesthetic treatments still carry a strange silence around them — people have work done and simply do not mention it, which means everyone assumes they are the only one thinking about it.

I am not interested in that silence.

I am 35-plus, I care about how I look and feel, and I am making considered choices about how to age on my own terms. That is not vanity. It is intention. And if my honest account of this process helps even one woman feel less alone in her own decisions, then it was worth writing.

I will share updates as the Sculptra continues to work over the coming weeks and months. The real story is in the long game. I have a return session planned in eight to ten months for the next two vials, and fillers may follow once the foundation has settled.

✦  If you have tried Sculptra or Daxify, or if you have been thinking about either, I would love to hear from you in the comments below.