Dr. Stef Gatica, DNP

CK1 Curve is powerful, but only if the face can support it.

CK1 Curve can lift, support, and project the lateral cheek beautifully.

Before I choose it, I’m looking at the full facial structure.

I want balance between the bi-zygomatic width and the bigonial width, or in simpler terms, the cheekbone width compared to the jawline width.

If the jawline is too narrow, adding too much projection in the cheek can make the face look top-heavy.

In that case, I may need to support JW1 on bone first, or choose CK1 Anchor instead of CK1 Curve.

If the temples are already moderately to severely hollow, they cannot be ignored.

When you project the lateral cheek without treating hollow temples, the temples can look even more depleted.

So yes, CK1 Curve can lift and support beautifully.

But only when it fits the full-face plan.

The goal is not a bigger cheek. The goal is balance.

Before you add more lip filler, look at the chin.

The lower face works as a unit…lips, chin, support, projection, and proportion all matter.

When the lower lip is overfilled, or when it does not have the support it needs, it can fall outward and visually cover the submental crease. When that happens, the lower-face ratios can look unbalanced.

That is why I do not treat lips in isolation.

Sometimes, the more natural-looking answer is restoring chin structure first. And prior to the chin, we support the cheeks!

The goal isn’t to just keep adding filler to lips over and over…

The goal is balance.

Just for fun!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers, aunts, grandmas, step in moms, adoptive moms and future moms❤️

Who’s tired of those lines dragging the corners of your mouth down🙋🏻‍♀️

Marionette lines are rarely just a “line problem.”

When we see heaviness or shadowing around the corners of the mouth, it is easy to think the answer is to place filler directly into the fold. But with an MD Codes™ approach, we have to step back and ask why the line is showing up in the first place.

Often, marionette lines are related to structural support loss, bone recession, an over active mentalis , and how the midface is influencing the lower face.

That is why treating only the line can sometimes make the area look heavier instead of more lifted.

A more strategic approach looks at the full face first:
Where is support missing?
Where is the tissue descending?
Where can we create lift and structure before refining the line?

This is why treatment planning matters.

The goal is not to chase every fold. The goal is to restore support in a way that looks natural, balanced, and clinically intentional.

Patients pay attention to this.

If you see someone injecting straight through their markings on social media…

That’s a red flag. 🚩🚩

Proper technique is always:
map → cleanse → inject.

It’s the small details that protect your results.

CK4 is one of my favorite codes to inject for a reason. It creates a beautiful combination of slimming and lift when placed intentionally, especially through the lateral quadrants.

If CK1 anchor was injected 1st, the active number for CK4 is 0.7 mL of Voluma. When CK1 curve is injected, the active number is 0.5 mL. This is where understanding structure and sequence matters. We are not just placing filler. We are building support.

Placement is subcutaneous, above the parotid gland. Depth and control here are everything.

For educational purposes, I marked CK4 into quadrants. We are very intentional about avoiding the anterior inferior quadrant to prevent unwanted fullness or bulging.

We need to learn how to inject with an anterograde and retrograde approach to improve patient comfort and achieve a more controlled, even distribution.

Aesthetics is not guesswork. It is medicine. Every code has a purpose when you understand how to use it.