Dr. Edward Terino has been the original pioneer in the history of safe FDA-approved facial fillers in the United States. He was appointed an FDA investigator for Southern California in the 1970s to scientifically prove the use of animal collagen injections to improve trauma scars and acne scars.
However, Dr. Terino dreamed up the idea that bovine collagen would be very useful for cosmetic defects of the face including wrinkles and adding volume for fat loss due to aging or heredity, as well as trauma and acne.
He was asked to treat a thousand patients and report his research results. In 1980, at the esteemed American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery meeting held in Los Angeles, he presented the first paper to report on using collagen filler for defects of the face and torso, both cosmetic and reconstructive.
For example, he used a large volume to inject into people born with “Poland’s syndrome” who were not born with a pectorals muscle on their chest. He also used bovine collagen for breast deformities, nose deformities, and many other practical uses. He submitted his paper to the white journal of aesthetic plastic surgery in the same year.
At first plastic surgeons did not endorse and embrace the use of this first safe FDA-approved filler using bovine collagen because they felt that it was not an important landmark in the history of cosmetic procedure especially for men who trained 13-15 years in general surgery and plastic surgery to perform very significant reconstructive and cosmetic surgical operations. It took a number of years for plastic surgeons to realize the importance of injectable facial fillers.
Unfortunately, its short-lived result in the body did not make it an ideal filler even though it was the only filler approved in the United States from 1975 to 2005 when a hyaluronic acid (HA filler), Restylane, came from Europe to Canada and then was approved by the American FDA.
Because hyaluronic acid fillers last for 6 to 8 months and sometimes a year or more depending on the area of the face injected, collagen disappeared from medical use around 2005 and hyaluronic acid fillers as well as others (i.e. Scultra and Radiesse) replaced collagen.
Dr. Terino’s vast experience qualifies him as the first injector of facial fillers. He still specializes in his daily practice in injecting what he considers to be the best filler for the best facial need on large numbers of patients. He also does thousands of Botox injections as well.
Dr. Terino treats large numbers of patients who have had injections elsewhere but who have not had a satisfactory experience or have had a complication. His large injection experience along with his exceptional artistic talent make patients extremely happy to have found him after their unsatisfactory experiences.
Dr. Terino is available 5-6 days a week at his office in Agoura Hills, CA for consultations and treatments with injectable facial fillers and Botox products including the more recent Dysport and even more recent Xeomin, the newest addition to the Botox product line.
He is also using the most recent hyaluronic acid filler, Belotero, with excellent patient satisfaction reports from patients.
Edward O. Terino, M.D.
