Dermal filler can be placed in nearly a dozen distinct zones across the face, each targeting a different aspect of volume loss, contour, or definition. The most common areas are the cheeks, under-eyes, lips, chin, jawline, temples, nasolabial folds, and marionette lines. Where filler goes depends on what you’re trying to correct, because aging doesn’t happen uniformly. The deeper fat pads in your face tend to shrink over time while some superficial fat actually expands, creating a deflated, sagging appearance that strategic filler placement can reverse.
Cheeks and Midface
The cheeks are the most popular starting point for filler because restoring volume here creates a lifting effect across the entire midface. Your cheek is divided roughly in half by an invisible horizontal line called the malar equator. Above it, filler placed deep against the bone restores the forward projection you lose as the deep cheek fat pad shrinks with age. This single placement can visibly soften nasolabial folds without ever touching them directly, because pushing the cheek forward re-drapes the skin that was folding downward.
Most people need one to two syringes (1 to 2 mL) per side for meaningful cheek correction. The filler is typically deposited right above the bone surface or within the deeper tissue layers beneath the muscle. Placing it too superficially between certain ligaments in the cheek can disrupt lymphatic drainage and cause persistent puffiness known as malar mounds, which is why depth matters here.
Under-Eyes and Tear Troughs
The hollow groove that runs from the inner corner of your eye toward the cheek is the tear trough. It forms as the deep fat around the eye socket deflates, making the transition between your lower eyelid and cheek look sunken. Filler here is placed deep, most of it beneath the thin muscle that encircles your eye, right down against the orbital rim bone. In the innermost portion where that muscle attaches directly to bone, filler goes into the muscle itself or just above the bone surface.
This area is unforgiving with technique. If filler is placed too shallow, it can scatter light through the thin under-eye skin and create a bluish discoloration called the Tyndall effect. The skin under your eyes is some of the thinnest on your body, so even a small amount of product sitting too close to the surface becomes visible. The angular artery and vein also run through this region near the inner corner of the eye, making it one of the higher-risk zones for filler. Very small volumes are used here, typically well under a full syringe total for both sides.
In many cases, filling the cheeks first reduces or eliminates the tear trough by lifting the tissue that was pulling down on the under-eye area. Your injector may recommend starting there before deciding whether the tear trough itself needs direct treatment.
Temples
Temple hollowing is one of the earliest signs of facial aging and one of the most overlooked. As the fat pad and muscle in this region thin out, the sides of your forehead begin to look concave, which can make the forehead and cheekbones appear disproportionately wide.
There are several tissue layers stacked in the temple, and the depth of injection depends on how much volume you’ve lost. For mild hollowing, filler placed between the two fascial sheets (thin connective tissue layers) that cover the temple muscle works well and carries minimal risk. For more significant volume loss, the product goes deeper, either into the fat pad between layers of the deeper fascia or beneath the temple muscle itself, right above the bone. These deeper planes provide more dramatic correction and a stable foundation for the filler. The space between the two main fascial layers is considered a particularly safe zone because it’s relatively far from the major blood vessels that run through the area.
Lips
Lip filler targets two distinct goals: volume and definition. The body of the lip (the soft, colored tissue called the vermilion) is where filler goes for fullness. The vermilion border, the crisp line where lip meets skin, is where filler goes for definition and shape.
Cupid’s bow gets its shape from the interplay of muscles pulling in different directions. A lifting muscle pulls the outer portions of the upper lip border upward on each side of the center, while the circular muscle around the mouth pushes the central tubercle slightly downward. Filler placed precisely along the border can sharpen these peaks without adding bulk. The philtral columns, those two vertical ridges running from the nose to the lip, are created by muscle fibers fanning out and inserting into the skin. Filler can subtly enhance these ridges for a more defined upper lip area.
Most lip treatments use one to two syringes. One syringe provides a noticeable but natural enhancement for most people. Two syringes push into more dramatic territory and are more commonly used for people starting with very thin lips.
Nasolabial Folds
The lines running from the sides of your nose to the corners of your mouth deepen with age for two reasons: volume loss in the midface above and bone resorption in the upper jaw area. There are two strategies for treating them, and the better option depends on the underlying cause.
The first approach skips the fold entirely and places a small amount of filler (0.2 to 0.5 mL per side) deep against the bone in the pyriform fossa, the bony depression beside your nose. This restores the structural support that bone loss took away and can lift the fold from underneath. The second approach treats the fold directly with superficial injections into the skin or just beneath it, physically filling in the crease. Many injectors combine both, using deep structural support alongside targeted smoothing of the surface line.
Chin
Chin filler adds projection, lengthens a short chin, or corrects asymmetry. The key landmarks are the pogonion (the most forward point of the chin), the menton (the lowest point), and vertical lines dropped down from the corners of the mouth to define the chin’s width.
The approach differs slightly between masculine and feminine goals. For a more masculine result, the chin is typically built wider and more squared, with injection points spread between the vertical lines aligned with each mouth corner. For a more feminine result, the chin is kept narrower and more tapered, with a focus on the central projection point. One to two syringes is the typical range for chin augmentation.
Jawline
Jawline filler creates definition along the lower border of the face, from the chin back to the angle of the jaw near the ear. Two key points anchor the treatment: the chin at the front and the gonion (the angle of the jaw, the corner you can feel if you clench your teeth) at the back.
For the posterior jaw angle, the injection zone starts about one fingertip’s width in front of the tragus (the small cartilage flap in front of your ear canal). A triangular or L-shaped area is marked out around the jaw angle. For safety, the access point is kept about 1.5 cm in front of the masseter muscle’s front edge to avoid the facial artery, which runs deep beneath the thin neck muscle in this region and can be felt pulsing just in front of the masseter. The facial artery’s exact path varies from person to person, which is why this area requires careful technique.
Areas With Higher Vascular Risk
Not every zone on the face carries the same risk. The glabella (the area between your eyebrows), the nose, and parts of the forehead are supplied by arteries that connect directly to the blood supply of the eyes. The supratrochlear and supraorbital arteries exit through small openings in the bone above each eye socket and travel upward through the forehead, changing depth as they go. They start deep, running along the undersurface of the forehead muscle, then shift to a more superficial plane roughly 1.4 cm above the brow bone. This depth change makes the forehead tricky because the “safe” layer depends on exactly where on the forehead you are.
The nose is another high-risk zone. Its blood supply comes largely from the same internal system that feeds the eyes, meaning a blocked vessel here can, in rare cases, affect vision. The nasolabial fold region is unpredictable because the angular artery’s exact course varies significantly between individuals as it travels from the corner of the mouth up toward the side of the nose.
These risks don’t mean filler can’t be placed in these areas. They mean that the injector’s knowledge of facial anatomy, their choice of depth, and their technique (using blunt-tipped cannulas in certain zones, aspirating before injecting, placing small volumes) are what separate a safe outcome from a dangerous one.
How Placement Strategy Changes With Age
In your twenties and thirties, filler is typically used for enhancement: fuller lips, sharper cheekbones, a more defined jawline. The deep fat pads haven’t deflated much yet, so the focus is on refining contours rather than replacing lost volume.
By your forties and fifties, the deep fat compartments have noticeably thinned, the bones of the midface and jaw have started to resorb, and the superficial fat has begun to slide downward. At this stage, effective filler placement follows a “deep then superficial” logic: rebuild the structural foundation first (cheek bones, chin, jaw angle, pyriform fossa), then address the surface-level folds and lines that remain. Trying to fill nasolabial folds or marionette lines without restoring the deeper structure first often leads to overfilled, puffy results because you’re adding volume on top of a deflated framework rather than re-inflating the framework itself.