How to distinguish genuine dermal fillers from fake ones.

18 February 2019

Dermal Fillers

8368

Successful sectors of the economy are often suffering with the production and distribution of counterfeit products. The international movement of counterfeit goods is quite widespread today and causes great difficulties for official manufacturers, distributors and consumers. How to distinguish counterfeiting in a competitive market?

It is not so hard to find out what is a copy of the Rolex watch or Louis Vuitton handbags. Usually, people know on which characteristics to look in order to determine the authenticity of the product. So, for example, when it comes to the comparing a real and fake Rolex watch, they are saying something like: “It is not genuine, because it feels too easy”. So, a counterfeit product might feel different from the real one. However, it is much harder when buying products online, for the reason, that you can not touch the product or try it in contrast to the real life.

The unfair competition

The global market of aesthetic beauty is constantly growing and valued of billions of dollars. We are familiar with some of the most popular brands of leading manufacturers, such as “Juvéderm” from “Allergan” and “Restylane” from “Galderma”. Both of them undoubtedly are making big profits as two of the leading manufacturers on the market.

Within the industry with economic growth and high profits, it is not so unexpectedly, that manufacturers and distributors of counterfeit products enter the market to get some piece of that “cake”. Moreover, given the very large amount of dermal fillers available throughout the world, it is not surprising that counterfeit products are sold online as well. Therefore, the circulation of false dermal fillers creates some level of distrust between buyers and sellers. So, it is important to be aware about this situation, when buying dermal fillers online.

Fake versus Genuine

When someone is searching for dermal fillers on the Internet, it is important to have an ability to distinguish between genuine and counterfeit products. A fake product is a product intended to deceive a buyer by labeling a particular good with the same name as the genuine one. The packaging is almost identical to the original product, making it difficult to identify a fake product. Usually, the only way to distinguish a false and authentic product is to look precisely and know the small details that can not be replicated by illegal manufacturers so easily.

Sometimes, the counterfeit product has a different brand name. Although the name and branding are different from the original product, the counterfeit item still claims to have the same capabilities as the original.

On the aesthetic market, counterfeit products are widely presented causing a high risk for patients. Counterfeit products often contain cheaper ingredients and other unknown substances that may cause various undesirable side effects, such as allergic reactions, soft tissue damage and infection. Therefore, it is important to buy dermal fillers from a reliable partner.

Things, to pay attention on

When you go online to buy dermal fillers, there are a number of things you should know to be prepared. It is very important to make sure you buy authentic fillers from a trusted and reputable retailer. In order to save a lot of time browsing the Internet in such uneasy topic, we have prepared a list with the things you need to check:

1. Hello there?

The first thing you need to check when you are getting familiar with an Internet Aesthetic Products Provider is the possibility of contacting the company. Is there a web-contact form you can fill in or is there a phone number that you can call? Perhaps an online chat is available, where you can interact with real employees (and not just a robot). So, if you contact with “true” employee, the chances that the company will be reliable increasing.

2. Product identification

Products, especially medical devices and injectable drugs, usually have certain identification. It is necessary to identify the batch code or the batch number in order to be able to track and recall the product. In addition, such products must have the identified date at which the product can be safely used (expiration date), written as a month and year. These identifications must always exist on the packaging (except in a few cases). Moreover, if you doubt, you can always ask the seller for addition identification details before making a purchase.

3. Where the company’s headquarters are situated?

When you are planning buy dermal fillers online, perhaps it is a good idea to check where the company is located and from where products are shipping. If the company is within the EU, you can do a small background research: most companies in the EU have a special identification number or VAT code. You may look at the local database regarding its existence, because this number indicates the legitimacy of the manufacturer.

4. Strange Prices.

If the price is too good to be true, it probably requires further research. Thus, if the product’s price is too low comparing to other products at the local market, there is a chance that the product is fake. Despite the fact that product prices are changing in the volatile and competitive market, distributors and importers of authentic dermal fillers initially buy products within a certain price range, set by manufacturers. Therefore, if you suddenly encounter a product at a price much more below the average market price, this is definitely a strange fact.

5. Famous Brands.

A name of fake product will be obvious to most people, for example, if someone offers you to buy very cheap “Festylane” (instead of “Restylane”), you will recognize this fake. Actually, it is more difficult to detect a counterfeit product, when it looks almost the same as the original one, hard to distinguish from the first sight. So, if the product has an official holographic sticker, it will be helpful for comparison.

Other thing to look for on the outer packaging is incorrect or different font. The real case with “Allergan” regarding a fake “Juvéderm Ultra 4”, where there was an error on one side of the outer packaging. The authentic product says “Science of rejuvenation,” but the fake one states “Science of Erjuvenation”. In the same case, the font of the word “ALLERGAN” was also incorrect.

6. Social communications.

Is the company presented in social networks? This is a sign that the company might be legal. Try to find a company accounts on different media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn to see if they are active and post new posts regularly. If a company frequently updates its social media profiles and publishes relevant information (e.g. photographs of products, employees) this subsequently increases the trust level of the company. In addition, is the company responding to the comments that customers and followers have left? It is important when someone is on the “other end of the line”.

7. What do people say?

It is very important if someone outside the company says something positive about it. Look for company recommendations on different rating sites, such as My Google Business, or customer reviews on company’s website. Of course, not all companies are presented on rating sites, but it is for sure, if the company practices fraudulence, people will spread the word – bad experience travels quite fast online.

Happy Shopping

These advices are just some of basic things you should observe when you buy dermal fillers online. Interesting fact, it’s always a good idea to bring your common sense and listen to the intuition, searching for dermal fillers on the Internet. If something seems strange or wrong, or just too good to be true, it’s likely to be so.