Dr. Stef Gatica, DNP

Austin AMI Training Center week recap! Some of the best faculty, clinical educators and attendees❤️Always grateful for these opportunities to share what I have learned🙌🏽

Let’s cook!! 🙌🏽

Precision starts with the markings.

When I’m using MD Codes, I’m not randomly placing filler where someone points or where a line happens to be visible.

Every mark has a reason.

CK1 is a perfect example. That area plays an important role in cheek support and facial structure, so accuracy matters. A few millimeters can change the way product supports the face, how the filler lifts, and ultimately how natural the result looks.

That’s why I take my time with assessment, anatomy, symmetry, and precise marking before I ever inject.

MD Codes is not paint-by-numbers. It is a structured way to evaluate the aging face, identify the true problem, and prescribe treatment intentionally.

The markings may look simple.

The thought process behind them is anything but.

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❤️