What Is Sculptra?

Sculptra explained

What is Sculptra made of?

The short answer

Sculptra is a freeze-dried powder of poly-L-lactic acid, a biocompatible, biodegradable synthetic polymer from the alpha-hydroxy-acid family. According to the manufacturer's instructions for use (Galderma, revised July 2022), each vial holds 150 mg of poly-L-lactic acid, 90 mg of sodium carboxymethylcellulose and 127.5 mg of non-pyrogenic mannitol, and is reconstituted with 5 to 8 mL of sterile water before injection.

Sculptra and Olidia are separate products. Both are based on poly-L-lactic acid and Rewind stocks each, but their preparations and strengths differ and each has its own page.

Only one of the three ingredients does the work. The poly-L-lactic acid microparticles are what the body responds to. The other two are excipients that dissolve when the water is added, leaving a translucent suspension in which the particles are carried. The swelling that water and injection cause on the day resolves within hours to a few days, the same instructions state.

Sculptra is often called a filler, and the instructions do list it as an injectable implant for increasing the volume of depressed areas. It behaves differently from a gel, though. It leaves little lasting volume on the day, and its correction appears gradually over several weeks as the tissue responds.

Mechanism

How PLLA builds collagen over time

The collagen effect is a controlled tissue reaction to the particles. Review and laboratory papers describe it in stages.

01Placement

Particles are placed in the deep dermis or fat layer

The manufacturer restricts injection to the deep dermis or subcutaneous layer. Placed too superficially or in excess, the particles can form papules or nodules.

02Response

The particles provoke a subclinical inflammatory response

A 2018 review of the polymer's physical and chemical characteristics explains that the size and chemistry of the microparticles trigger this low-grade response, which in turn stimulates collagen deposition in the surrounding matrix.

03Capsule

Cells and collagen gather around each particle

A 2015 laboratory study found macrophages next to the particles with fibroblasts alongside, type III collagen deposited beside the particles and type I collagen at the periphery of the capsules that formed around them.

04Breakdown

The polymer degrades slowly

The same study observed slower degradation than earlier work had described, with particles still retrievable 28 months after placement under the skin. The volume a patient sees is the tissue built around them.

Pricing

What Sculptra costs at Rewind, vial by vial

Sculptra is dispensed and billed by the vial, so the price of one vial is the basic unit of any plan.

Listed rates exclude VAT, added at payment, and cover the numbing used during the session. The number of vials is decided at examination, and no package price for a course is set on this page.

Recovery

After Sculptra: what the manufacturer's aftercare asks of you

The aftercare for a collagen stimulator follows from how it works.

Reactions from the injection itself, such as pain, redness, bruising and swelling, generally resolve in two to six days. Papules and nodules are the product's characteristic complication, and delayed ones have been reported up to fourteen months after injection. Injection into a blood vessel is rare but can cause serious harm, and the instructions list vision change and skin blanching among the warning signs.

Questions

What is Sculptra: questions about the material