Comparison

Revofil vs Juvederm

Revofil has no FDA approval for use in the United States. Juvederm is approved through premarket approval, area by area, product by product.
Written & medically reviewed by the Dermapedia team
At a Glance

Revofil has no FDA approval for use in the United States. Juvederm does. That is the comparison, and it is not a close one. A search of the FDA's device approval database returns no record under the Revofil name.

Dermal fillers are Class III devices in the US, and there is no lighter route available for them. They go through premarket approval, which requires a clinical trial supporting a specific, named use in a specific part of the face. Juvederm's seven products sit under two such approvals, granted in 2006 and 2013. Revofil sits under none.

Products sold under the Revofil name here arrive through online resellers rather than an approved supply chain. The name belongs to Caregen, a South Korean company. FDA's consumer guidance on this is blunt: do not buy dermal fillers sold directly to the public, approved fillers are prescription-only, and products sold that way "may be fake, contaminated, or not approved for use in the U.S."

In practical terms, a product with no US approval should not be being injected in the US. This page does not describe how Revofil performs, how long it lasts or what it is made of, because none of that can be checked against a US regulatory record. Anything you read that does describe those things is not verifiable.

Revofil
Caregen, no US approval
Juvederm
Allergan Aesthetics, FDA-approved

US regulatory status

No FDA approval. No record exists under this name in the device approval database

Fillers are Class III devices, so there is no lesser clearance route a product could have taken instead.

Approved through premarket approval — one application from 2006 covering the Ultra line, one from 2013 covering the rest

Each individual product was added by a supplement that FDA reviewed separately.

What it is approved to treat in the US

Nothing

There is no US indication because there was no US application to grant one.

Named areas, product by product

Folds, lips, lines around the mouth, cheeks, chin, temples, jawline definition, the under-eye hollow, and skin smoothness of the cheeks and neck — each belonging to a specific product rather than to the brand.

What is published about how it performs

Nothing that can be checked

FDA publishes a summary of safety and effectiveness data for every approved filler. There is none for Revofil, because no application was reviewed. Figures quoted for it cannot be traced to a US regulatory record.

A separate trial per product, each with its own follow-up window

Voluma XC was followed to 24 months, Vollure XC to 18, Volux XC to 12, Ultra XC to 12 months in lips and 24 weeks in folds, and Skinvive to 6 months.

How it reaches a clinic

Through online resellers outside the approved supply chain

FDA warns the public not to buy dermal fillers sold directly to consumers.

As a prescription device supplied to licensed health care providers

FDA states that approved dermal fillers are indicated for prescription use only.

If something goes wrong

The same risks as any filler, without a verified record of what was injected

In one hospital series of 31 people treated for filler complications, over half the products involved were uncertified or of unknown origin, and the most common problems were biofilm and chronic immune reactions.

Hyaluronic acid, so hyaluronidase can break it down — an off-label use of the enzyme in the US

Juvederm gels were among the most resistant tested in one laboratory comparison, needing 300 units to break down within an hour.

Both
Hyaluronidase only works on hyaluronic acid. If nobody can tell you what was injected, nobody can tell you whether it can be dissolved.

Who tends to be happy with it

Best for
No one in the US. Nothing is approved for use here, and there is no way to verify what is in the syringe.
The mindset
Ask for the product name, the manufacturer and the FDA approval number, and expect a straight answer.
Best for
Someone who wants a filler with a named approval covering the exact area being treated.
The mindset
Ask which product, for which area, and what its own trial measured.

What "no FDA approval" actually means

It does not mean FDA looked at Revofil and rejected it. It means no approval application appears in the record at all.

For most product categories that would be a technicality. For dermal fillers it is not, because of how they are regulated. A filler cannot be sold in the US on the basis of resembling an existing product. It has to go through premarket approval with its own clinical evidence for its own named use. That is why the approved products have such specific indications — cheeks, chin, temples, jawline — rather than a general licence to be injected anywhere.

So when a product has no approval, three things follow. There is no FDA-reviewed evidence that it works. There is no FDA-reviewed evidence about its safety profile. And there is no approved labeling telling an injector where and how deep to place it.

What to ask if a clinic offers it

You are entitled to see what is being put in your face. FDA's own guidance tells patients to "know the type of product to be injected" and to "request and read the patient labeling information on FDA-approved injectable dermal fillers".

Reasonable questions: what is the product's name and manufacturer, is it FDA-approved, which approval number, and what area is that approval for. A clinic using an approved product will answer all four without hesitation. If the answer to the second question is no, the honest follow-up is why an unapproved product is being used when approved alternatives exist for essentially every facial area.

The clinical reason this matters is not abstract. In a hospital dermatology series of 31 people treated for filler complications, injections had been given by cosmeticians, non-medical practitioners or people of unknown qualification, and over half the products involved were uncertified or of unknown origin. That is a picture of who ends up in hospital rather than a rate — but the pattern is consistent.

If you have already had it

Do not panic, and do not go looking for a way to remove it on your own.

Tell a licensed dermatologist or plastic surgeon exactly what you had, when, and where. Bring the box or any paperwork if you have it. If the product was hyaluronic acid, hyaluronidase may be an option, though that use is off-label in the US and the dose depends on the product. If it was not hyaluronic acid, or nobody can establish what it was, hyaluronidase may do nothing — the enzyme works on hyaluronic acid and on nothing else.

Ultrasound is now routinely used to look at filler in the skin and to tell a nodule from an infection from a blocked vessel. That is worth asking about.

Get emergency help now

Go to an emergency department or call 911 if any of these happen during or after a filler injection:

Sudden change or loss of vision in one or both eyes

Pain that is far worse than the procedure should reasonably cause

Skin that goes white or pale in a patch, then turns dusky, grey or mottled

Weakness on one side, a drooping face, slurred speech or confusion

These are the signs of filler entering a blood vessel. Published guidance treats a suspected eye event as a same-hour emergency and a suspected skin event as a same-day one. One caution about pain: in a survey of 52 experienced injectors, pain was mild or absent in 47% of the intravascular events they reported. Pain is not a reliable alarm, and its absence is not reassurance.

Call your injector if

Swelling is still growing after the first few days instead of settling

A lump has not softened

Redness is spreading outward from an injection site

Tenderness, swelling or a new lump appears weeks or months later, which can mean a delayed inflammatory reaction or an infection

The filler looks like it has shifted out of place

None of these are emergencies, but none of them should be left alone either.

Questions people ask

+
Is Revofil FDA-approved?No. There is no record for Revofil in the FDA's device approval database. Dermal fillers are Class III devices that require premarket approval, and there is no lesser route a filler could take instead, so the absence of a record means the product has no legal route to the US market.
Is it legal to inject Revofil in the United States?An unapproved Class III device cannot legally be marketed in the US. This is different from off-label use, where an approved product is used in an area it was not approved for — that is legal and routine. Revofil is not an approved product being used off-label; it has no US approval at all.
How long does Revofil last?There is no answer that can be checked. FDA publishes a summary of safety and effectiveness data for every approved filler, including its trial design and follow-up length. No such document exists for Revofil, so any duration figure attached to it is not traceable to a regulatory record.
Where does Revofil sold in the US come from?Products under this name are associated with Caregen, a South Korean company, and reach US buyers through online resellers rather than an approved supply chain. FDA advises the public not to buy dermal fillers sold directly to consumers, and states that products sold that way may be fake, contaminated, or not approved for use in the US.
What should I ask a clinic that offers it?Ask for the product name and manufacturer, whether it is FDA-approved, the approval number, and what facial area that approval covers. A clinic using an approved product can answer all four. FDA's own guidance tells patients to know the product being injected and to read its patient labeling.
I have already had Revofil. What now?See a licensed dermatologist or plastic surgeon and tell them exactly what you had and when. Bring the packaging if you still have it. If the material was hyaluronic acid, hyaluronidase may be an option, though that use is off-label in the US. If nobody can establish what was injected, nobody can say whether it can be dissolved.
Is Juvederm one product?No. Juvederm is seven products under two FDA approvals: Ultra XC, Ultra Plus XC, Voluma XC, Vollure XC, Volbella XC, Volux XC and Skinvive. Each has its own approved area and its own trial. Ultra XC is approved for lips, for example, and Ultra Plus XC is not.
Does an approval mean a filler is risk-free?No. Every filler, approved or not, carries the risk of the material entering a blood vessel, which can cause skin loss or vision loss. Approval means the product's evidence and labeling were reviewed for a named use, and that an injector has instructions on where and how deep to place it. It does not remove the risk.