Temple Filler: Patient Guide
The temple is a bowl of bone with a muscle sitting in it, and the material used to fill it can be placed on either side of the fascia that covers that muscle. Underneath the fascia the change is structural: the frame of the upper face and the way the lateral brow and the outer eye read. Above it the result is a soft pad that swells, settles and reads as fullness. Between the skin and the bone lie the vessels that supply the scalp and the nerve that lifts the brow, which is why depth here is decided by anatomy rather than by preference. This site covers what belongs to the temple alone: what a hollow is made of, who should not be treated, what the weeks afterwards look like, and what an injection here cannot do.
Chongqing West District Hospital, a tertiary general hospital in Jiulongpo District, Chongqing. Patient education reviewed by Ke He, MD. Every filler result is temporary and no outcome can be guaranteed.
The temple decision, in seven lines
The question this site answers is not whether filler is a reasonable treatment. It is what the temple adds to that decision. The temple is a shallow bowl of bone — the temporal fossa — with the temporalis muscle sitting inside it, a fascia layer over the muscle, and skin over that. Material placed beneath the fascia sits in a deep compartment with structure behind it, and what it changes is the frame of the upper face. Material placed above it sits in the skin and reads as a soft pad. The same substance produces two different faces depending on the plane, which is why depth is the first question here rather than a detail. The compartment is also small and crowded. The superficial temporal artery and vein cross it in front of the ear, a vein known as the sentinel vein runs near the outer orbital rim, and the temporal branch of the facial nerve crosses the same region on its way to the brow. The nerve is why a temple that has been treated can lose the ability to lift the brow, temporarily or otherwise, and the vessels are why material can travel away from where it was put. That is anatomy rather than any product, and it is what decides who should be treating you. Hollowing also has more than one cause. Deep fat is lost with age; the bony frame is recessed in some faces from the start; and a temple can read hollow because the brow beside it has dropped. Only the first is a volume problem, and the third is made worse by adding material. Nothing injected here lifts a brow or changes bone, and the effect fades more slowly than in the lip or the cheek because the compartment is deep and moves little. This is an area where a small amount does most of the work and a second session is usually planned from the outset rather than offered as a rescue.
What changes in the temple, and what does not
Four of these are changes an injection can make when the material is placed deeply. Three of them are problems people bring to a temple consultation and that an injection does not answer, which is why the assessment comes before the material in this area more than in most.
The hollow itself
Where the temple is genuinely short of tissue, restoring support beneath the skin returns the slope from the outer eye to the hairline and the upper face reads less narrow. This is the change the treatment is for, and it is the only one on this list that the material itself produces.
The outer frame of the eye
The temple is the wall the outer eye sits against. Restoring volume there changes how the eye reads from the front and from an angle, and the transition from the orbital rim to the cheek becomes a slope rather than a step. That change is often what the patient actually noticed before they found the word temple.
The way the lateral brow reads
Support added beneath the tail of the brow changes its apparent shape and how the upper lid space reads, and many patients describe that as the brow sitting better. What has not happened is elevation. The brow has not been raised, and a brow that has fallen is not carried back up by anything injected.
The width of the upper face, best judged in profile
The temple is the widest point of the upper face, so a change there is easier to see from the side than from the front. Judging it in a mirror held at close range is how a small change reads as too much and a sufficient change reads as nothing at all.
The bony frame — not changed
Where the temple was always recessed because of the shape of the bone, material placed in front of it changes the covering rather than the relationship. That can be the change you want, and it is a soft-tissue change, not a structural one.
A descended brow — not changed
When the brow has moved down, the temple above it looks deeper because it is in shadow. Adding volume to the temple fills the shadow and leaves the position exactly where it was, which is how an upper face becomes fuller without becoming more open.
Hollowing from illness or weight loss — not changed
A temple hollowed by illness, by treatment or by weight that is still coming off is a symptom of something that is still happening. Filling it during that process means treating a moving target, and the assessment belongs with the cause rather than with the contour.
Who the temple injection suits, and who it will disappoint
The temple suits a face where the hollow is a real deficit: the temple is flatter than it was, the change is visible in profile, the brow tail and the outer eye are where they have always been, and the skin over the area is healthy. It suits someone who is not pregnant or breastfeeding, who has no active infection or broken skin there, who has no bleeding disorder and takes nothing that affects clotting without it having been discussed, and who accepts a temporary result with a review built into the plan. It also suits the patient who can point to the change in their own face rather than to somebody else’s. That last point does more work here than it does elsewhere, because the temple is small and sits beside the brow, and a target taken from another face is usually a brow position rather than a temple volume. The people most often disappointed are those whose dominant change is descent: the brow has dropped, the temple reads deep because of it, and the injection fills the shadow without moving anything. Migraine or a significant headache history is a reason for caution rather than an absolute barrier, because the temple sits over the temporalis and deep placement there is commonly followed by a dull pressure headache; in someone who already has frequent headaches that is harder to interpret and harder to live with. A hollow that appeared with illness, with treatment or with weight that is still being lost should not be filled, because the cause is still active and the shape is still changing. And there is a group that should wait rather than proceed: an active infection or a recent dental or sinus problem in the same part of the face, a bleeding disorder or medication that affects clotting, and any previous delayed reaction to an injected material. There is also a group that should not start at all — patients for whom a temporary result is unacceptable. Filler cannot provide anything else, and a plan that requires repetition should not be sold to somebody who will experience each session as a disappointment rather than as maintenance.
The temple-specific decisions inside the treatment
The substance classes and the general question of whether to have filler belong to the filler pages rather than to this one. What follows is what changes when the target is the temple, and in this area almost all of it is a question of depth.
Above or beneath the fascia
This is the decision the rest of the treatment follows from. Beneath the fascia the material sits in a deep compartment against structure, and the change reads as contour. Above it the material sits in skin and subcutaneous tissue, and the change reads as fullness that moves with the skin. Both are used; they produce different faces.
How deep within the deep plane
Under the fascia there is more than one level: against the muscle, in the fat pad beneath the fascia, and against the bone of the fossa. Each behaves differently in terms of how it settles, how it feels and how long it lasts, and the choice is made from the thickness of the tissue in front of you rather than from a routine.
Cannula or needle in this compartment
A blunt cannula is often used where a single entry has to cover the temple and the vessel risk is a concern; a needle gives more control at one defined point but enters tissue the operator cannot see ahead of. Which is used should follow the anatomy of the individual temple rather than a habit.
Where in the temple
The upper temple near the hairline, the hollow directly beside the orbital rim and the area in front of the ear are three different targets with three different effects. Treating the wrong one produces fullness in a place the patient did not ask about, and it is a common reason a result is competent and still wrong.
One side, then the other
Temples are rarely symmetrical, and the two sides are assessed and treated separately rather than matched. Treating both sides identically is how a difference that was always present becomes a visible one, particularly in a hollow that is judged in profile.
The order in a wider plan
Where the brow, the tear trough or the cheek are treated in the same plan, the sequence matters because each area changes how the next one reads. A temple planned in isolation from the areas beside it is harder to judge and easier to over-treat.
A short recovery, and a slow fade
The recovery from a temple session is short; the course it belongs to is not. On the day itself the temple looks fuller immediately, part of it the material and part of it swelling that has already begun. A dull pressure headache over the temple is common after deep placement, and it usually settles within a day or two. There can be an ache on opening the mouth wide or chewing something hard, because the temporalis muscle is what was injected against. Swelling peaks over the first three days and often moves down the face rather than staying where the needle went, so the upper lid and the outer eye can look puffy when the temple itself looks calm; bruising, if it appears, is often lower than the injection site for the same reason. By the end of the first fortnight most of the fluid has gone, and by the end of the first month the contour reads close to its real state, which is why the review sits at four weeks rather than at the end of the first week. The upper face looks fuller in the morning than in the afternoon throughout that period, because fluid collects overnight while you are flat and drains while you are upright. The longer part is the fade. The temple is a deep compartment with little movement in it, so the material is cleared slowly and the change lasts longer than it does in the lip or the cheek — and it fades the same way it arrived, gradually and without a moment at which the result ends. A second session is usually planned from the outset rather than offered as a rescue, and the interval is estimated from your own response at the review. Stopping returns the temple to its earlier contour, because nothing about the treatment changes the tissue underneath.
The risks that belong to this compartment
Every injected material carries the risks of injection, and the temple carries them in a particular form. The compartment is small and it is crossed by named vessels. The superficial temporal artery and vein run in front of the ear and divide above it into branches that supply the scalp, a vein known as the sentinel vein runs near the outer orbital rim, and the deep temporal vessels lie beneath the fascia against the muscle. Material entering an artery can travel, and the tissue it reaches is then starved of blood. Because the frontal branch of the superficial temporal artery communicates with the vessels around the eye, material that travels can reach the orbital circulation, and vision can be affected. This is time-critical rather than cosmetic, and the outcome depends on how quickly it is recognised and treated. That is why the treatment belongs in a setting that knows what to do in the first ten minutes: severe pain out of proportion to the injection, or skin turning white, grey, mottled or dusky, needs immediate assessment, and any change in vision needs emergency care. The nerve is the second specific risk. The temporal branch of the facial nerve crosses the region on its way to the brow, and if it is affected the brow does not lift on that side. Most such weakness recovers over weeks to months, and some does not. A dull pressure headache after deep placement is expected rather than a complication, and an ache on chewing is common; a headache that is severe, one-sided in a new way, or worsening after the first days is not ordinary recovery. Beyond those, the ordinary problems follow any injection: swelling and bruising, firmness and small lumps in the first weeks, asymmetry, and nodules that may need treatment rather than time. Delayed inflammatory reactions can appear weeks or months afterwards, sometimes after an unrelated illness or a dental procedure. And there is the limit that matters most in this area: adding volume to a temple does not lift a brow that has descended, and repeating the treatment makes the upper face fuller without making it more open.
What else is on the table, including nothing
Doing nothing is a reasonable option and, for an early hollow or a shape that runs in the family, usually the best one. The temple hollows with age in most faces, and treating it is an aesthetic decision rather than a medical one. Where the problem is not tissue that has been lost, the alternatives are the honest answer rather than a consolation. Where the hollow is shallow because the bone is recessed, the structure is the issue and an implant or a surgical opinion addresses the structure rather than the covering; a filler changes what sits in front of the bone. Where what actually bothers you is that the brow has dropped, the operation that repositions it is a brow lift, and it is the only thing in this area that answers position; an injection beside it changes how the brow reads without moving it. Where the temple hollow is part of a wider loss of facial volume, fat transfer uses your own tissue placed surgically in a single session and holds considerably longer, at the price of a donor site and a proportion that is reabsorbed. Where the hairline rather than the temple is what changed, hair restoration or a change of parting addresses a different problem again. Where the loss is from illness, treatment or weight that is still coming off, the answer is the cause, and the assessment belongs with the clinician managing it. Injectable materials that relax a muscle are a separate decision, and they change lines produced by movement rather than the contour of the temple. And waiting is always available: nothing about a temple hollow is urgent, a decision deferred by six months costs nothing except the result you did not have, and a face that has been watched for a year is easier to plan for than one that has been treated for a year.
Who reviews these guides
Ke He, MD, Deputy Director of the Plastic Surgery & Aesthetics Medical Center and head of its skin and laser aesthetic service, is the responsible physician for this site. Her practice is non-surgical, and the temple is where that practice spends most of its time on anatomy rather than on product: she works out where the superficial temporal vessels run in your temple by feeling for them, establishes whether a hollow is lost deep fat or a shadow cast by a brow that has moved, and decides the plane before any material is discussed. Where the honest answer is a brow operation, a structural opinion, or no treatment at all, that is the answer she gives. Her injectable work is framed by substance class rather than by brand, and her stated discipline in this compartment is deliberate under-treatment at the first session and a small refinement at review, because the temple sits beside the brow and a change there is read by the whole upper face. Her full credentials, memberships and publications are listed on the medical team page. Every guide here is reviewed against her clinical judgement before publication and reviewed again on a twelve-month cycle.
The rest of the cluster
What filler is, whether to have it at all, and how the substance classes differ are answered on the dermal filler procedure pages, which this site narrows rather than repeats. The medical system behind injectable treatment is explained by the injectables and minimally invasive aesthetics authority site, and Dr. He’s own assessment process is set out on her physician site. Where the change you notice is at the brow rather than the temple, that is a position problem rather than a volume one and it is covered by the brow lift guide; where the outer eye has hollowed instead, see tear trough treatment. Two comparisons decide where the boundary sits: fat transfer or filler for a larger volume deficit, and facelift or fillers for a face whose tissue has begun to descend. Before any treatment, quality and surgical safety describes how safety is organised inside the hospital, vascular occlusion explains the emergency this area is known for, and appointments explains how to arrange an assessment.
Temple filler: a treatment course in the deep upper face
One session and the year and a half that follows it, which is the unit this treatment is actually planned in. The recovery is short; the compartment is deep and the fade is slow. Durations vary with the substance class and with the individual, and your own response sets your interval rather than an average.
The temple guides
Twelve guides, each answering one decision about the deep upper face. Read the two or three that match your situation rather than all of them; the first one decides what the others mean for you.
Is Temple Hollowing a Volume Problem, or Something Else?
A hollow temple can come from lost deep fat, from a recessed bony frame, or from a brow that has dropped. Only one of those is filler.
Read the guide →What Temple Filler Changes in the Upper Face
The lateral brow, the outer frame of the eye and the width of the upper face change as one set. Why this is a result judged in profile rather than at close range.
Read the guide →Who Is a Poor Candidate for Temple Filler
A headache history, a hollow still being created by illness or weight loss, and a target borrowed from another face. The temple refuses more often than expected.
Read the guide →How the Temple Is Assessed Before Injection
Feeling for the vessels, following the course of one nerve, measuring the depth of the compartment and reading the bone beneath it. What the consultation does here.
Read the guide →Why Depth Decides the Result in Temple Filler
Under the fascia the change is structural; above it the result is a soft pad. One layer of tissue separates two different faces, and the choice is made first.
Read the guide →Temple Filler: Swelling, Settling and the Weeks Between
The headache that follows a deep injection, swelling that moves down the face rather than staying put, and the four-week point at which the contour can be judged.
Read the guide →Start with an assessment, not an injection
Arrange a consultation. We will establish whether the hollow in your temple is lost deep fat, a recessed frame or a shadow cast by a brow that has moved, decide with you whether the placement belongs beneath the fascia or above it, and set out the alternatives, including doing nothing.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the temple hollow earlier than the rest of my face?
Because the fat in this compartment is lost early and there is little soft tissue over the bone to disguise it. A small loss of deep fat shows immediately where the covering is thin, so the temple can look older than the cheek beside it. It is a real change in tissue rather than a shadow, which is why photographs taken in the same light are more useful here than a mirror.
Does filling the temple lift the brow?
No. Support added beneath the tail of the brow changes how the brow reads and can make the upper lid space look more open, and patients often describe that as the brow sitting better. The brow has not moved. Where the brow has actually descended, the operation that repositions it is a brow lift, and an injection beside it fills the shadow without changing the position.
Why does depth matter so much in this particular area?
Because the temple has a fascia layer over the muscle, and material placed on either side of it behaves differently. Beneath the fascia it sits in a deep compartment against structure and reads as contour. Above it, it sits in skin and reads as a soft pad that moves with the skin. The same substance produces two different faces, so the plane is decided before the material is.
How long does temple filler last compared with the lip or the cheek?
Longer, in most people. The compartment is deep and moves little, so the material is cleared slowly and the change lasts more than it does in areas that move constantly. The honest version is a range rather than a figure, and your own response at review is what sets the interval for a second session rather than an average taken from other people.
What is the headache people describe after temple treatment?
A dull pressure ache over the temple, because the material is placed against the temporalis muscle under local numbing. It usually settles within a day or two, and an ache on opening the mouth wide or chewing hard is part of the same thing. A headache that is severe, one-sided in a new way, or worsening after the first days is not ordinary recovery and should be assessed.
Is the temple more risky to inject than the cheek or the lip?
It carries a different risk rather than simply a larger one. Named vessels cross a small compartment in front of the ear and near the outer orbital rim, and the temporal branch of the facial nerve crosses the same region on its way to the brow. That is why the treatment belongs in a setting that can recognise a vascular problem immediately and that knows what a brow that will not lift means.
Part of Facial Volume Loss and Hollowing — 8 sites on this topic