Side Effects
Do dermal fillers hurt and what are the side effects?
Depending on the area injected and the type of filler or pain control used, patients may find the procedure relatively painless to mildly uncomfortable. Treatments around the nose or lip areas are usually more painful.
The obvious immediate side effect is of slight bleeding after the needle has been inserted into the skin. Other risks include mild bruising, redness and swelling that may also occur around the site of injection. These signs may take 2 – 3 days to vanish completely, especially around the lips where there is little flesh and the skin is tender.
Rarely, allergic type reactions can occur after treatment with some fillers. These include prolonged redness, swelling, itching and or hardness and bumps in the skin. Such signs may appear at some or all of the points of injection. Sometimes, they can last for several months or longer, but this is extremely unusual.
If you have a history of cold sores, or fever blisters in the treated area, filler injections may cause them to break out again. In these cases, your practitioner may recommend that you take an anti-herpes medicine before treatment to help reduce the likelihood of an outbreak of cold sores.
Very occasionally, delayed side effects can occur many months after the first treatment. These side-effects usually appear as red lumps showing up underneath the skin. Sometimes, these may be permanent. There is some evidence that these may be more common with some of the newer, permanent, bead containing fillers.
What should you do after treatment?
It is important that you follow the advice of your practitioner carefully after dermal filler treatment. This will help you to gain maximum effect from the procedure and reduce the risk of complications.
Post-treatment advice may include:
- iced water soaks or ice packs to help to reduce swelling;
- the use of pain-killers such as paracetamol, if required for a few days after treatment;
- arnica (a homeopathic remedy) cream or tablets are sometimes recommended a few days before and a few days after treatment as there is some evidence that this can reduce bruising;
- bruising and swelling should go down after a couple of days, but if you continue to experience very painful swelling and bruising, or if any blistering occurs, you should contact your practitioner;
- similarly, if you experience any delayed reactions such as lumpy redness occurring any time after treatment, you should contact the person who treated you immediately.
Additionally, when you leave a clinic after a dermal filler treatment you are likely to suffer from varying degrees of redness depending on the areas treated, which may not be the most attractive face that you wish to present to the public as you walk down the street. There is however a solution.
Lycogel® are the first truly breathable, completely safe camouflage and concealer products that oxygenate skin at the cellular level, and are suitable for immediate use after cosmetic procedures such as dermal fillers. Doctors, skin specialists, aestheticians and beauty therapists use Lycogel® Camouflage & Concealer, because it is the only foundation that has the ability to promote the healing of damaged or postprocedural skin and can be used on the skin immediately following treatment, allowing you to face the world without a red face.
Few clinics currently offer this product, or any camouflage make-up, as part of the treatment service, so be prepared and take it with you. Lycogel® is available in a variety of shades to suit all skin colours.
Who should not have a dermal filler treatment?
As in any treatment to the skin, injections should be avoided in areas where the skin is swollen or where infections are present – e.g. active acne. This will reduce the risk of infection at the injection site after the treatment.
If you have even the slightest allergic reaction to a particular filler, it cannot be used and you will need to use a different brand. Dermal fillers have not been tested in pregnant women, so their use would normally be not advised by practitioners if you are expecting a child.
If you have suffered from a disease of the auto-immune system, you are likely to be allergic to bovine collagen and so it cannot be used. You need to give your doctor a detailed medical history to avoid such outcomes. Conditions which are not suited to the use of bovine collagen include: rheumatoid arthritis; psoriatic arthritis; systemic or discoid lupus erythematosus; or polymyositis.
