Skin booster brands fall into distinct categories: hyaluronic acid boosters such as Restylane Skinboosters hydrate, NCTF 135HA adds vitamins and amino acids to non-cross-linked hyaluronic acid, polynucleotides such as Rejuran and Plinest are directed at repair, and Profhilo is a hybrid hyaluronic acid. None adds volume or lifts; the category matters more than the brand.
Key facts
- Hyaluronic acid boosters
- Lightly stabilised or non-cross-linked HA placed in the dermis to hydrate; Restylane Skinboosters is one example
- NCTF 135HA
- Non-cross-linked HA with vitamins, amino acids, minerals, coenzymes and nucleic acids, made by Fillmed; nicknamed the 'Chanel injection'
- Polynucleotides
- Purified DNA fragments, usually from salmon, directed at dermal repair; Rejuran and Plinest are separate brands
- Profhilo
- 32 mg high and 32 mg low molecular weight HA per 2 ml, thermally stabilised without BDDE, made by IBSA
- Collagen biostimulators
- PLLA, PDLLA, CaHA or PCL: a scaffold that prompts the body's own collagen, aimed at structure rather than surface quality
- What none of them do
- Add volume, lift descended tissue or clear pigment
- Worth asking
- The product name, its category, whether it is HSA-registered, and who is injecting it
Why are there so many skin booster names?
Because skin booster is a category label, not a product. It covers injectables placed into the skin to change its quality, such as hydration, texture, fine lines and elasticity, rather than its shape. Under that label sit several different materials, each sold under brand names, and many of those brands have picked up nicknames along the way.
So one appointment can be searched for in several ways. Water light injection, the Chanel injection, salmon DNA, PN healer and bio-remodelling all describe real treatments, but they are not interchangeable, and the nickname rarely says what is in the syringe. The useful move is to translate every name back into its category: what the material is, where it is placed, and what it is meant to do.
One line holds across all of them. A skin booster is not a filler. A filler is engineered to occupy space and hold a contour; a booster is designed to spread through or act on the dermis. The overview of how the classes are chosen is on the skin booster treatment page. This guide is the glossary that sits alongside it.
What are hyaluronic acid boosters, such as Restylane Skinboosters?
They are hyaluronic acid gels placed in the dermis mainly to hydrate. Hyaluronic acid binds water, and when it is delivered into the dermis rather than applied to the surface, it holds that water within the tissue itself.
Restylane Skinboosters, made by Galderma, is a well-known example. It uses a non-animal stabilised hyaluronic acid that is much softer than a volumising filler and is delivered as many small intradermal micro-injections. An Italian expert panel consensus described this type of booster as designed to improve skin texture and maintain skin quality over time, with treatment planned in an initial phase followed by maintenance. Other manufacturers make comparable products under their own names.
What the class does not do is just as clear. It does not restore lost volume, correct a hollow, lift a jowl or treat pigment. Hyaluronic acid boosters are one of the classes used at this practice, chosen for dull, dehydrated skin with fine surface lines once the examination confirms that hydration is what the skin is actually short of.
“A skin booster treats the quality of the skin. A filler occupies space. Confusing the two is the most common error patients arrive with.”
Dr Sin YongOn the difference between a booster and a filler
What is NCTF 135HA, the so-called Chanel injection?
NCTF 135HA is a hyaluronic acid skin booster combined with a mixture of vitamins, amino acids, minerals, coenzymes and nucleic acids. It is made by the French laboratory Fillmed, previously known under the Filorga name. The nickname used in parts of Asia has no connection with the fashion house, and it says nothing about what the product does.
The hyaluronic acid in it is non-cross-linked, so it hydrates rather than adding volume, and it is usually delivered by many fine superficial injections in the manner of mesotherapy. The rationale for adding the other ingredients is that ageing fibroblasts may work better when supplied with the substrates they use. A review of polycomponent formulations of this kind describes that rationale and laboratory findings in fibroblast cultures; laboratory findings explain the idea behind a product, and they are not a prediction of what an individual's skin will do.
In the categories here, it sits with the hydrating hyaluronic acid boosters. It is directed at dull, dehydrated skin and fine surface lines, and it is not interchangeable with polynucleotides or Profhilo, which work by different mechanisms.
What are polynucleotides: Rejuran, Plinest and PDRN?
Polynucleotide boosters are purified DNA fragments, usually from salmon, placed into the dermis to support how the skin repairs itself. Purification means that what is injected is the polymer, not genetic information. Their primary intent is a repair signal rather than hydration, which is why they are directed at texture, fine lines, elasticity and thin under-eye skin.
Rejuran, made by PharmaResearch in Korea, is the polynucleotide product used at this practice. It is registered with Singapore's Health Sciences Authority as an injectable medical device, and the range includes formulations for the face, for scarred skin, for the thin skin around the eyes and one combined with hyaluronic acid. Plinest is a polynucleotide product from the Italian manufacturer Mastelli, marketed under its PN-HPT name and used by some other clinics; an Italian consensus report describes how that family of products is used in aesthetic practice.
Two terms cause confusion. PN refers to longer polynucleotide chains, and PDRN to shorter polydeoxyribonucleotide fragments of the same family; products built on each are not the same. Because the material is fish-derived, a fish or salmon allergy is raised before any polynucleotide is considered. The fuller comparison of PN and PDRN is set out in the polynucleotide skin booster guide.
Why does Profhilo sit in a category of its own?
Profhilo is hyaluronic acid, but it behaves differently from both fillers and conventional hyaluronic acid boosters. Made by IBSA, it contains 32 mg of high and 32 mg of low molecular weight hyaluronic acid in a 2 ml syringe, stabilised by a thermal process rather than with the chemical cross-linker BDDE.
Without cross-linking it holds no shape. Injected at defined points, it spreads through the tissue plane, hydrating and, according to laboratory work, prompting fibroblast activity. The manufacturer calls this bio-remodelling. Dr Sin Yong uses Profhilo with a modified placement that keeps the defined points as a safety framework and adds placement according to the individual face.
Profhilo Structura is a separate product from the same company, formulated for structural support in a deeper plane, so a quote for Profhilo is worth clarifying. The side-by-side comparison of a hyaluronic acid material and a polynucleotide is set out in Profhilo vs Rejuran.
What to expect is gradual and modest in the right skin. Profhilo is directed at crepey texture, loss of hydration and early fine lines on the face, neck and hands; it does not tighten in the way an energy-based device does, and it does not replace volume where volume is missing. Like all hyaluronic acid products it is broken down by the body over time, so the skin resumes its own course once the material has gone.
Where do biostimulators and needle-free boosters fit?
Collagen biostimulators are often marketed next to skin boosters, but they are a different class with a structural purpose. Poly-L-lactic acid in Sculptra, polycaprolactone in Ellansé, calcium hydroxylapatite in Radiesse and PDLLA formulations act as a scaffold that fibroblasts respond to by laying down new collagen gradually. They are directed at diffuse volume loss and firmness rather than surface hydration, and unlike hyaluronic acid they cannot be dissolved with hyaluronidase, which shapes how conservatively they are planned. These are covered on the collagen biostimulators page.
At the other end sit needle-free treatments. The Deep Synergy Booster delivers actives from the surface using focused ultrasound rather than a needle, which some patients prefer, with the trade-off that product cannot be placed at a chosen depth as an injectable can. Serums sold as boosters for home use are cosmetics: large molecules cross intact skin poorly, so they are not the same intervention as an injected material.
Classes are sometimes combined, because faces often show more than one problem at once. A face with crepey skin and a deflated midface may need a booster for the first and a biostimulator or filler for the second, and the order and spacing are decided at assessment so that each treatment is given at a sensible point. Combining two boosters of the same category rarely adds much; combining categories that do different jobs can make sense when the examination shows both jobs need doing.
What should you ask before any skin booster?
Ask what is actually being injected. The product name, its category and the reason it suits your skin should all be clear before treatment, and the product should be recorded in your notes so that it is known later if another doctor needs to see you.
Ask whether the product is registered with the Health Sciences Authority. Injectable skin boosters are regulated health products in Singapore, and HSA's online register allows registration to be checked. Ask who is administering it: injectables are given by a doctor in a licensed clinic, and a product of uncertain origin or an injection outside a medical setting removes the safeguards that make treatment predictable.
Ask what it cannot do. If the complaint is a hollow, a jowl or pigmentation, no skin booster is the right category, whatever its name. This site does not publish fees; they depend on the category indicated, the area and how treatment is staged, and they are set out at consultation before anything is agreed. SMC guidelines bar doctors from offering discounts, time-limited offers or other inducements.
