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Why Do I Get Infection After Juvederm Injections?

Last two times I got Juvederm injections in my lips, my upper left lip swelled to a massive size which caused it to collapse in a downward position. It was very heavy, stiff, and extremely painful. It filled up with pus forming a head, I pushed on it and a massive amount of pus came out, which of course I needed to be antibiotics afterwords. How can I prevent this from happening again? :(

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10 Doctor Answers | Asked by Terihome in Palm Harbor, FL

Doctor Answers (10)
Community Comments (2)

Repeated Infections after Lip Juvederm Injections?

Infections can happen any time our immunity is depressed AND there is a breach in the skin (puncture or cut). Infections after filler injections are possible but very uncommon. With one such episode I would suggest your injector may have hit a blood vessel (infection does not come on immediately; bleeding caused swelling will). The blood in the lip may have become infected. But - having this happen twice is problematic. If you ever decided to have it done again, I would suggest you have it... more

Peter A. Aldea, MD

35 reviews

Memphis Plastic Surgeon

Infection after Juvederm

I'm sorry you had this happen! I've never hear of anything like this. Did you have a cold sore after your injection that perhaps got infected? Otherwise, If there was a break in sterile technique it could be possible, but the lips tend not to be an area that gets easily infected. In general, this is extremely unusual, you should discuss this with your doctor and perhaps he/she can investigate it further, or develop a plan to keep this from happening again... more

Catherine Huang-Begovic, MD

3 reviews

Beverly Hills Facial Plastic Surgeon

Juvederm absorbs water and so does Restylane

Juvederm absorbs water and so does Restylane, so initially after the injection, you may see some over correction in the lip area. If it’s red, tender, and painful, that would indicate an infection. An infection with any injectable agent is possible and gets better with antibiotics. It’s important to be clear that the nature of Restylane and Juvederm is that they do absorb water. So, you can have swelling just from the injection, regardless of the... more

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Was the lip discharge ever sent for culture to determine the bacteria involved? What you are describing could be from herpes, but you'd have to have a history of oral herpes outbreaks. You could also have a reaction to something in the Juvederm. You should have consults with an allergist to test you for reactions to Juvederm and possibly with an infectious disease MD if the allergists workup is negative. Facial infections are quite serious and can lead to... more

Repeated infections after Juvederm injections may be viral or bacterial

Repeated infections after Juvederm injections may be viral or bacterial. Viral infections are inherent in the patient and bacterial infections may be inherent in the treating doctor. I would suggest you seek a second opinion.

Infection after juvederm, can it happen again

An infection after an injectable is uncommon but definitely possible. while it is horrible whlie it is happening, if managed properly with drainage and AB's there should be no long term issue. the weird thing is that it happened a second time. based on your experience this does not appear to be a herpes outbreak. the natural history of a herpes outbreak is usually a prodrome (symptoms prior to anything visible) of intense itching followed by a vesicualar (bubble like) eruption with... more

Lip infection after Juvederm injections

There are two possibilities here: 1. It may be a herpes eruption. If you get herpes or cold sores on your lips, a filler injection can stimulate an eruption, as herpes can be stimulated by any kind of trauma, including sun exposure. So you need prophylactic antiviral medication for three days before, on the day of and three days after the injection. 2. Herpes is the more likely however, herpes generally does not produce "massive amounts of pus" as per your... more

I wonder if you had an outbreak of Herpes after filler injection?

I wonder if you had an outbreak of Herpes after filler injection of your lips? This can [rarely] happen treatment with any filler causes a bit of irritation which reactivates latent Herpes [cold sore] virus. A very remote possibility would be an allergic reaction to Juvéderm®. Your doctor could test for allergic reaction by injecting some Juvéderm under the skin of your upper medial arm [where it would not be very visible, in case there was a reaction]. If you turn... more

Infected juvederm

The injector must follow the universal standards to decrease the rate of infection 1: use sterile new needle and syringe. NO OLD LEFT OVERS 2: Clean the site of injection Thoroughly 3: Take measures to prevent hematoma Inspite of all precautions you run a small risk of infection. The only 100% guarantee is to not have anything done.

Infection after juvederm

I would address sterile technique issues. There is no reason to to suspect the product itself if fresh material clean needles and some sterile prep are used. I have done thousands of filler injections and never had this complication.

David A. Bray, Sr., MD

6 reviews

Los Angeles Facial Plastic Surgeon

drbray.com

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Comments (2)

jm1976
14 days ago

This has happened to me too! The last 3 times I've had restylane, and always starting in the left upper lip! Its been mild in the right, not as bad as the left. No one knows what this it. They think unsterile technique, and I know for a fact its been as "sterile" as it can being in the medical field myself. I have restylane in my bottom lip with no problems. Also I've been injecting for 5 years with no issues.

Ms. Storm
8 months ago

this is very strange because exactly the same thing happened to me!!!! my upper left lip swelled up way more then the right side and got very hard and i went to the er because i can tell by the way it felt it was infected i told them to give me antibiotics and the swelling went down pain went away...a few days later i drained out the puss my self.. can i ask if you found out why this happened to you? so strange that exactly the same thing happen to both of us and on the same side of our lip

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