Can Restylane injections damage my eyes?

Restylane is used to decrease the appearance of “sunken eyes”. The incidence of serious side effects with this treatment is low when you’re working with a medical doctor with experience in this treatment. The most serious complication I can think of would be injection into the eye itself. I have never heard of such a thing happening, and it should never happen with an experienced doctor.

When injections are too close to the nose, this can disrupt the nasolacrimal duct system. These ducts drain tears from the inside corners of the eyes into the nose. The result of duct disruption could be excessive tearing on the effected side, and would need to be corrected by an ophthalmologist. Again, rare but not impossible, and I’ve never heard of it happening with a trained doctor.

Common occurrences can include bruising and swelling, which usually resolves within 10 days. Another possibility: failure to fully correct the “sunken eyes”. Sometimes more than one treatment session may be necessary to obtain the desired results. The key here is small corrections to avoid the opposite problem: “puffy eyes”.

Occlusion of blood vessels that go to the eye is much more likely with injections between the eyebrows that are too deep, too much volume, or too thick of a filler. Again, in experienced hands, Restylane can yield great results in this area.

Restylane injections are very safe. While it is possible to have long term complications associated with Restylane injections (or any other dermal filler), retinal artery occlusion is extremely rare. You are far more likely to get in a car accident on the way to your appointment than you are to get retinal artery occlusion!

Restylane is a very safe product. It is made out of Hyaluronic Acid, which is naturally found in your body. The Hyaluronic Acid in the Restylane (and other hyaluronic acid fillers) is crosslinked so that it will last longer. This crosslinking is not natural, and theoretically it could cause you to develop an allergic reaction to the Restylane. Again, this is extremely rare. I have only heard of one case of a true allergic reaction to Hyaluronic Acid filler, and it was easily treated with a few steroid injections.

Try to relax and have a good time!