The Bounce Test, and What Profhilo Actually Does to Your Skin

Press a fingertip into your cheek and let go. At twenty-five the skin sprang back before you had finished looking. Now it takes a beat, and in the mirror the face looks a little flatter and drier, as though the light has stopped catching it. We call that small pause the bounce test, and it explains what Profhilo is and why so many people ask for it at Cannelle Skin Clinic in Oxford.

Profhilo is an injectable made from highly purified hyaluronic acid, and Dr Mattia Parducci, our Lead Aesthetic Doctor, performs every treatment himself. It does not fill, lift or reshape. It spreads through the skin, draws in water and prompts your own collagen and elastin. The skin becomes firmer, smoother and more radiant, while your face stays entirely your own shape.

The clever part is how few places it needs to go. Dr Mattia uses five points on each side of the face, ten in all. From those ten the gel travels evenly beneath the skin on its own. A session takes 20 to 30 minutes and you are back at work the same day. The result of a two-session course typically lasts six to nine months.

The Bounce Test, and Why Skin Starts to Fail It

Bounce belongs to the dermis, the layer beneath the surface. Hyaluronic acid there holds water like a sponge, and collagen and elastin give the skin its spring. All three thin steadily with age, sun and the ordinary wear of the years. The skin that results looks dry and dull even when you moisturise faithfully. Its fine lines come from lost hydration rather than from expression.

You notice it in small ways at first. Foundation settles into lines it used to glide over. The neck and the backs of the hands begin to look crepey, sometimes before the face does. A good night’s sleep no longer shows the next morning, and the complexion looks tired in photographs taken in daylight.

None of this means your routine has let you down. A cream works on the surface, and the slow bounce starts well beneath it, in a layer no serum can reach. That is the gap Profhilo was made for. It sits in a category of its own among injectables, because it treats the quality of your skin rather than the shape of your face.

What Is Profhilo, and How Does It Work Beneath the Skin?

Profhilo is made by IBSA, and its gel is built on a patented hybrid hyaluronic acid that the company developed to counteract skin laxity. It combines long and short chains of hyaluronic acid in one stable gel. That pairing is what lets it behave so differently from anything else Dr Mattia injects.

A filler is firm enough to hold a shape where it is placed. Profhilo is free flowing. Dr Mattia begins by mapping the five Bio Aesthetic Points, known as BAP points, on each side of your face. He chooses them so the product spreads evenly and sits well clear of blood vessels and nerves. A small amount goes in at each point, and it starts to disperse through the skin almost straight away.

Once under the skin it draws in and holds water, which is why the first change you see is hydration and glow. Over the following weeks the hyaluronic acid encourages fresh collagen and elastin. That process is called bio-remodelling, and it is what firms the skin from within. Your own skin does the rebuilding, so the result looks like you on a very good week rather than like a treatment.

The research behind it is reassuring to read. In the original clinical study, 64 women aged 38 to 60 were treated at the same five points on each side. Each had a second session four weeks after the first. Their skin had improved by week 4 or 8 and was still significantly better at week 16, three months after the second session. A 2026 systematic review of nine studies and 278 participants found gains in hydration, elasticity and skin density across the face, neck and hands.

A Skin Quality Plan Set by a Doctor

Profhilo is at its best for skin that shows one or more of these:

• Dryness, dullness or dehydration that no cream seems to shift
• Early laxity or crepey texture on the face, neck or hands
• Fine lines driven by lost hydration and firmness
• A tired complexion that no longer bounces back

It is just as useful to know what it leaves to other treatments. That is where a good plan comes from. Profhilo adds no volume, so where cheeks or lips have lost shape, dermal fillers are the tool. Our guide to Profhilo and fillers explains how many people combine the two. Forehead lines, frown lines and crow’s feet respond to anti-wrinkle injections instead. If longer, slower collagen building is the goal, our comparison of Sculptra and Profhilo sets the two side by side.

The neck, décolletage and backs of the hands often show change before the face, and Profhilo works beautifully there too. Our article on the neck and décolletage looks at when it is the right choice. Where delicate under-eye skin is the main concern, Dr Mattia may suggest polynucleotides. They focus on repair, and can work instead of Profhilo or alongside it.

This is where a doctor-led clinic earns its place. Dr Mattia decides the area, the number of sessions and the order of anything you combine. He works from what he sees in your skin rather than from a fixed template. If another treatment from our skin boosters range would suit you better, he will tell you before anything is booked.

What It Feels Like, and When the Bounce Returns

The appointment itself is quick and calm. Numbing cream is optional, and most people describe the fine needle at each point as a brief scratch rather than anything painful. Small raised bumps appear where the gel was placed and settle within a day, along with a little redness or tenderness. You can head straight back into your day. We simply ask you to avoid make-up, heat and strenuous exercise for the first 24 hours.

The first change is hydration. Within a couple of weeks the skin looks plumper and catches the light again. The second session, four weeks after the first, completes the course, and the firmer, smoother finish builds as new collagen forms. It is usually most visible a few weeks after that second visit, which is a good moment to try the bounce test again.

The result typically lasts six to nine months, depending on your skin and lifestyle. A maintenance session once or twice a year keeps it going. After the first course, the rhythm becomes light and easy to plan around.

Where Your Profhilo Plan Starts

Your first visit is a consultation with Dr Mattia Parducci (GMC 7635663) at our clinic in Summertown. He looks closely at your skin and asks what has changed and what you would like back. Then he confirms whether Profhilo is the right tool, or whether something else would serve you better. You leave knowing the area, the number of sessions and the price.

Profhilo at Cannelle is £350 for a single session, £650 for the recommended course of two and £870 for a course of three. Three sessions suit more advanced dryness or laxity, or treating the face and neck together. Our guide to what Profhilo costs in Oxford walks through the plans, and every treatment is listed on our prices page. Dr Mattia confirms a clear price at your consultation before anything begins.

If your skin has started taking that extra beat to spring back, a consultation is the natural next step. Patients come to Summertown from across Oxfordshire, including Headington, Kidlington, Witney and Abingdon. Read more on our Profhilo treatment page, or call 01865 537885 and we will take it from there.