"SkinVive before and after" is searched more than 5,000 times a month, and the answers on the first page are clinic galleries. This page does not show photographs of anyone. It sets out what the FDA-reviewed trial behind SKINVIVE by Juvéderm measured and when, what independent raters saw when they looked at the trial's own photographs, and why a gallery cannot tell a reader how often the result occurs. Figures are from FDA's Summary of Safety and Effectiveness Data for PMA P110033/S059, read on 3 November 2026.
What the gel is, its label and its full safety record are on our SkinVive analysis; what clinics charge is on SkinVive cost. The wider category is sorted on skin boosters.
What the trial was built to show
SKINVIVE is a hyaluronic-acid gel at 12 mg/mL with lidocaine, injected in small droplets into the skin of the cheek. It is approved for cheek skin smoothness in adults over 21 (11 May 2023) and, since 11 June 2026, for neck lines. It is not a volumizing filler, so the "after" it is designed to produce is smoother skin, not fuller cheeks.
The cheek trial randomized 209 adults 2:1 to treatment or to no treatment for a month. The treatment group could have a touch-up after a month and was followed at 1, 2, 4 and 6 months; at 6 months a repeat treatment was offered, with visits 1 and 4 months later. The untreated group was offered treatment after its control month. The primary measure was a blinded evaluating investigator, judging live, scoring each cheek on the five-point Allergan Cheek Smoothness Scale. A "responder" improved by at least one grade on both cheeks. The median volume across both cheeks was 3.2 mL at the first treatment, 2.0 mL at touch-up and 2.7 mL at repeat.
The results, month by month
| Visit (after initial or touch-up treatment) | Treated participants meeting the one-grade improvement |
|---|---|
| Month 1 — primary analysis, all randomized, missing data imputed | 57.9% (control 4.5%) |
| Month 1 — observed data | 58.4% (73 of 125) |
| Month 2 | 61.7% (79 of 128) |
| Month 4 | 59.1% (75 of 127) |
| Month 6 | 55.6% (69 of 124) |
| 1 month after repeat treatment | 68.5% (50 of 73) |
| 4 months after repeat treatment | 65.7% (44 of 67) |
Two things follow from the table. About four in ten treated participants did not reach the one-grade improvement at the primary visit, so an "after" is not guaranteed. And among those who did, the rate barely moved between month 1 and month 6 — the measured effect held across the trial's six months rather than fading by half. Nothing in the trial shows what happens after month 6 without retreatment. Seventy-nine of the 124 participants who completed six months chose the repeat, and the repeat-treatment figures come only from them, a group that may differ from those who declined.
Fine lines were scored on a second scale for participants who had them: 58.3% of treated participants improved at month 1 against 5.4% of the control, and 63.2% at month 6. A moisture meter showed a mean rise of 2.35 units at month 1 against 0.11 in the control, an analysis FDA labels post hoc.
What the photographs showed
The trial also photographed every participant and had three independent raters, blinded and not involved in the study, compare baseline and month-1 images of 163 people. They judged the photo better on both cheeks for 38.8% of treated participants and 9.5% of the untreated group.
FDA's summary is direct about the gap: changes in skin smoothness and texture "are not well-captured in photographs", and a live assessment is "considered more appropriate". That has a practical meaning for anyone looking at a gallery. Even under controlled lighting, an identical camera set-up and blinded raters, the photographs showed a difference in fewer people than the live examination did. A clinic photograph — chosen by the clinic, taken in its own light, at a time it picks, sometimes with make-up — answers a different question from how often the result happens.
How participants rated it
Treated participants' mean FACE-Q satisfaction-with-skin score rose from 34.3 at baseline to 66.5 at month 1 and was 60.2 at month 6, on a 0–100 scale; the untreated group moved from 32.5 to 35.0 over its control month. On individual questions, the share somewhat or very satisfied with how their skin looked at the end of the day went from 23.0% at baseline to 82.4% at month 1 and 75.8% at month 6. Satisfaction scores are reported by people who knew they had been treated, so they measure how participants felt, not what an outside observer would see.
"Six to nine months" and other claims
Answers on the search page, including the AI summary built from clinic pages and Instagram posts, state that results last six to nine months. The pivotal trial measured to six months after treatment and four months after a repeat; it has no nine-month figure. A longer duration may come from clinical experience or from other products in the same gel family, but it is not what the FDA-reviewed evidence shows for SKINVIVE.
What the trial recorded as side effects
In 30-day diaries after the first treatment, 79.4% of treated participants reported at least one injection-site response, most often redness, lumps or bumps, and swelling; three participants had lumps that took 12 to 15 months to resolve. The full tables, the June 2026 neck approval and FDA's device-report counts are on our SkinVive analysis. On 3 November 2026 FDA's MAUDE database (data to 20 October 2026) held 405 reports naming SKINVIVE, up from 376 on 2 October; a report count is not a rate.
What this record does and does not show
- In a blinded, controlled trial, a majority of treated adults — not all — had measurably smoother cheek skin at month 1, and the rate held through month 6.
- The trial has no data beyond six months without retreatment.
- Photographs captured the change less often than live examination, by FDA's own account.
- No published trial compares SKINVIVE with Sculptra, Profhilo or another booster on the same scale.
Whether the treatment suits a particular person's skin, and what result is realistic for them, is a conversation for a licensed clinician — the same method our Sculptra before and after page applies to that product.
Sources
Opened 3 November 2026: US FDA, Summary of Safety and Effectiveness Data, PMA P110033/S059 (SKINVIVE by Juvéderm, cheek smoothness), accessdata.fda.gov/cdrh_docs/pdf11/P110033S059B.pdf — study design, disposition, Tables 15, 17, 18 and 19, the Independent Photographic Assessment and the FACE-Q results; ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT03728309 (A Randomized, Multicenter, Evaluator-blind, Controlled Study … JUVÉDERM VOLITE XC … Cheek Skin Smoothness; completed, results posted); FDA MAUDE via openFDA device/event, device.brand_name skinvive (405: 403 injury, 1 death, 1 malfunction). Approval dates, composition and the diary figures as recorded, with sources, on our SkinVive analysis (read 2 October 2026). Corrections go to the contact page.