Profhilo: how many sessions, how far apart, and how long it lasts

Profhilo is hyaluronic acid, the molecule your skin uses to hold water, in a form that spreads through the skin rather than sitting where it is placed. Five small injections on each side of the face, and over the following weeks it draws in water and asks the skin to make more of its own collagen and elastin.

The course: two, a month apart

The first session starts the process. The second, four weeks later, is not a top-up; it is the second half of the treatment. Skipping it is the most common reason people say Profhilo did not do much for them.

By about six weeks after the second session the skin is at its best: firmer, smoother, with the kind of surface that makes make-up sit better and mornings look kinder.

Then: one session, roughly every six months

The effect fades gradually. A single maintenance session at around six months keeps it where it was. Leave it a year and you are starting again with two.

• Two sessions, four weeks apart, to begin.
• One session at about six months to maintain.
• A course again if more than nine or ten months have passed.

Face, or face and neck

The neck responds well and is often the area people wish they had started earlier. The combined option treats both in the same appointment, which also means one round of settling rather than two.

Why the second session matters more than people think

The first session gives the skin its dose of hyaluronic acid and starts the process; the second, a month later, arrives just as the first is being absorbed and asks the skin to keep going. The firmness people admire in Profhilo results is largely the work of that second session. Someone who has one and stops tends to see a pleasant hydration that fades within a few months, and concludes the treatment is overrated. It is not; it is unfinished.

What can shorten how long it lasts

• Sun without protection. Ultraviolet light breaks down hyaluronic acid and the collagen it prompted.
• Smoking, which slows every repair process in the skin.
• A course started very late, in skin that has lost a great deal of firmness; here Profhilo helps but works alongside other treatments.
• Skipping the maintenance session at six months, after which the course starts again rather than continues.

Profhilo alongside other treatments

Profhilo sits well with almost everything. Anti-wrinkle treatment two weeks before or after keeps expression lines soft while the skin firms. A facial in the week before clears the surface. Polynucleotides, where the skin is thin or sun-marked, are best given first, with Profhilo following a month later into skin that is already repairing. The consultation sets the order, and the order is what makes each treatment count.

For very dehydrated skin, or as a first step before committing to a course, the Ejal 40 booster is gentler and less expensive. The consultation will say which is the better fit.