What is facial balancing?

Sally's take

The term has been used to sell some very large treatment plans, so I want to be careful with it. Balancing is a way of thinking, not a package you buy.

In practice it means the area bothering you often isn't the area causing the problem. Someone unhappy with their lips sometimes has a chin sitting slightly back, and adding more lip makes the relationship worse rather than better. A small amount at the chin can quietly solve what looked like a lip complaint.

So when I use the word, I mean spending the consultation looking at proportion before deciding where anything goes. If someone hands you a balancing plan of five syringes across your whole face at a first appointment, that's a sales structure wearing the language of an assessment.

What it actually involves

• Assessing proportion between the upper, middle, and lower face
• Looking at profile as well as front view, since chin and jaw read mostly from the side
• Identifying which feature is driving the concern, which is often not the one you noticed
• Small amounts in several places rather than a large amount in one
• Staging across visits, so each change can be assessed before the next

Common examples

• Chin projection changing how lips read, without touching the lips
• Cheek support improving the midface and reducing the appearance of folds
• Temple volume changing how the whole upper face reads
• Jawline definition improving the lower face more than a lower-face filler would

How to tell good balancing from a sales plan

• A good plan is staged, not delivered in one appointment
• It includes areas that will be left alone, and says why
• It starts with the smallest change likely to matter
• It is described in terms of your face, not a standard set of ratios

Quick answers

Is facial balancing more expensive?

Not necessarily. Done properly it often uses less product, because it puts it where it actually changes something.

Do I have to do it all at once?

No, and you shouldn't. Staging across visits lets each change settle before the next decision.

Does it work on profile as well as front on?

That's often where it shows most. Chin and jaw read largely from the side, which is why I look at both.

Questions worth asking

• Which feature is actually driving what I do not like?
• If we only did one area, which would change the most?
• What would you stage across visits rather than doing now?
• What are you deliberately not treating, and why?

Build your own list with the consultation planner.

Related questions

• Why can less treatment look better?
• Botox or filler, which one do I actually need?
• What should I expect from my first filler appointment?
• What should a good consultation include?