“Jabba the Hut Puffy Eyes After Botox for Glabella Region”

Hi Tried But Failed - Thanks for your comment. Yep Jabba the Hut eyes they are -- I am nothing if not descriptive. I have read your posts and believe me you have my sympathy. I am now nearing 3 weeks since my botox in glabella and bunny line and sad to say the wrinkly bags and sunken eyes remain. I get up every morning hoping they will be gone but no such luck. I will say there is some improvement to the huge swelling all around my eyes but not to anything else. I have some ptosis as well but it is to both lids so if you did not know how my eyes normally looked you may not notice that part -- but the bags horrible, especially when I smile. I have gotten botox shots for about 3 years and probably have had problems more times than not. You may wonder why I keep doing it -- because when the reults are good they are wonderful. With my previous provider (also a plastic surgeon -- I would never go to a spa for this) my result was OK. But one time his nurse did it (I did not know she was going to do it but was too chicken to stop her once I got there and was in the chair and realized she was not just prepping me but also injecting me). She pumped nearly the entire syringe straight between my eyes and I looked VERY surpised for months -- not a good look. So I let that wear off and returned to the Doctor and he injected me for the glabella again. I ended up with uneven eyebrows. So I stopped going there and started with my current guy who is a very well known plastic surgeon. He did a fantastic job -- I looked like I had had a brow lift -- really ten years younger. The second time I had it done by him (always for the glabella - I have very strong "11" lines), I was so pleased I went back and had my crows feet done. It was a disaster. I ended up with the "dented apple" effect -- resembled a cast member from the Night of the Living Dead. I did go back and show my doctor the unfortunate results and, to his credit, he agreed. He said he had treated me conservatively and next time would use even less. Well there will never be a next time for botox in the crows feet for me. I will keep my crows feet. It is just too risky. But I digress. To answer your question, yes the botox, at least for me, lasts up to 8 months. By 8 months it is completely gone but certainly not by 6 months. That is why I was such an idiot to get my glabella region done after only 3-1/2 months had passed. My "11's" were just starting to be visible but hey, I wanted to look good for my niece's wedding. I think my Doctor injected the same amount of botox as he normally does (25 units) but I did not need that much because of my early return. I think that's part of the reason for my bad result but I also believe he injected deeper and put more in the bunny line. That line is very close to they eyes and I have a small face -- that is why I think it diffused into my eye muscle. I am hoping because I did not have my crows feet done, not a whole lot seeped in and the bags will be gone in 3 months. Hope springs eternal . . . I have not yet returned to the Doctor who injected me but will if I don't see improvement by next week or so. I will post here about that if I go back. You take heart, the botox will eventually wear off. It may take 6 to 8 months depending on how much was injected and where but it will go away. In the meantime, get yourself a nice pair of "Leslie Banfield" glasses. You know the big black rimmed ones that are so popular now. They do a lot to hide those Jabba bags. Good luck and it really helps to get sympathy from my sister victims.

Hi KGB - I actually got an apology from my injector after my bad botox result. Maybe it is different in Australia because giving an apology does not mean the doctor is legally liable for the mistake. I did, however, have a very bad experience when I sought a second opinion from a prominent plastic surgeon about how I could make my muscles recover more quickly from the botox. He was rude and dismissive and said that he could see nothing wrong. Clearly he thought I was there because I was planning to sue my injector and wanted him to be a witness later on. AS IF! Law suits (especially personal injury claims) are for lawyers, not for victims. They take ages to resolve and very rarely have positive outcomes. Who could be bothered?? I just want it all to go away and HOPEFULLY it will in several months' time. I read your review and posts. I agree that you were too forgiving with your injector. What most doctors don't understand is that we already know that they are not perfect and mistakes happen but what we expect when these mistakes occur is for them to admit it and take responsibility. It is the denial that makes people really angry, don't you agree? NAME YOUR DOCTOR! Why not? Okay, a mistake was made and initially you were kind and forgiving and didn't assign blame BUT you have been treated very poorly and you should at least name the doctor for that. Cheers

yeah you're right. I should name him.

Hi tried but failed ... I really should find a way to get your email address because it is only by reading these posts that I realized that what is going on with me is very similar to what you went through and is NOT just the hyaluronidase nightmare but a combo of that and the botox. I also have a herniated fat pad, under my right eye (and in my other post I told you my upper eye inner fat pad on the left is also sticking out). My doctor, an oculoplastic surgeon, today couldn't figure out why my lower eye lids didn't match ... fine on the left side, a mess on the right side. He kept touching under my right eye and said it was fat; I showed him a photo taken in December (no fat pads). When I touch it there it feels like the muscle is all bunched up or something. I do not have the chipmunk look but am sure this is a herniated fat pad, and I did not have anything remotely resembling this before the botox near the crows feet. How long, if you have any idea, will it take for the herniation to disappear? If ever? (The posts of docs say it will improve with time and disappear when the botox goes away, but for me the botox is pretty much worn off in other areas of my face, e.g., the frown lines)

Hi EyesC - I will send you a private email with my real email address. I am also happy to give you a call over the weekend if you want to email me your phone number. Might be best if we chat about all the issues and try to work them out one at a time? Firstly, let me start by saying that I got ahead of myself with that post. The puff bag under my eye was REALLY bad and it was the first time I saw ANY improvement at all at about the 2 month mark. In fact it had continued to get worse and protrude more for about 4-5 weeks following botox. I have photos of this and it was unbelievable actually. I wrote that post in response to the fact that it had stopped puffing out MORE and had actually gone down a bit. Celebration way too early, I'm afraid. For you, I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is that I got a tiny bit of movement back in my face after about 8 weeks and the hard, solid fat protrusion went down a bit as the skin that had been tightened by botox started to loosen up and allowed the bag to start to 'blend' back in with the rest of my face. I was relieved that it was not continuing to get worse and I was focused on that and the improvement. I did not realise how SLOW it was going to be to get better. The bad news is that I was fooled into thinking the worst was over and that recovery was only weeks away. (I was still thinking 3-6 months and it would be back to normal at this point - stupid me!) In all honesty, I STILL have the herniated fat pads that I never had before (way worse on the left side) and it is almost 35 weeks post-botox. The natural asymmetry in my face was also markedly exacerbated by botox. I think this has happened to you also. The herniated fat pads under my eyes are definitely not as noticeable as before and really only show up when I move my face. If my face is completely still then they just make me look really tired. One thing to be very conscious of is that botox initially makes the skin very tight and then the skin loosens up as it wears off. This is why you get ripples on your forehead as botox wears off, for example. The loose skin is pushed around by the botox when muscle movement starts to come back. The same thing will happen under your eyes - the skin will become really loose. This is generally when people go back for more botox because they think it has worn off. Not so. It is only about half way through at this point. Apparently as the muscle strength comes back, the skin tightens back up again to its normal tone ( because in the face, the muscles are unique in that they are connected to the skin). I have yet to see the skin re-tightening claim come true 9 months later but I live in hope! This is why I think facial exercises (manual or by exercising device) are really important to make this second phase occur more quickly. From the reports on RealSelf, the forehead always seems to wear off more quickly and the area around the eyes takes the longest. Ugh! If you tell me how long ago you had the botox, where it was injected and how much you had then I can probably take a guess at where you are up to in the 'wearing off' process so you know what to expect. Remember I had extreme botox so my horrendously long timeframe is not the norm, although the 3-4 month estimate is also a complete fabrication of the truth! I hope we get to chat on the weekend. Cheers, K

K, Thanks for your message. I've changed my account settings so you can email me privately, if you would not mind trying again. Sorry about that. My left eye is totally normal. My right eye looks so awful right now, especially under the bright office fluorescent lights (and the elevator here is the WORST and where I seem to run into everyone). I have this white "shape" under my eye with a darker shadow beneath (very noticeable festoon effect) and I can't determine whether it's herniated fat or leftover filler. The surgeon I saw did not know what it was but said he could not feel filler there, so my thought is it's herniated fat. Looks TERRIBLE. Could not tell you how much botox he injected though I got it done around 2 months ago. He put one or two shots in the corner of each eye but not under the lash, and he did no "snap test." The thing is, I had no crows feet and it was HIS idea not mine. Also, I can move the eye and the muscles surrounding the eye, though they are still somewhat weak. I started exercising them more and the skin looked better while I was doing that but the effect was temporary. I woke up today and it's as bad as ever. Wish the hyaluronidase wasn't so devastating for me, as I would love to get the filler out and see what it is I'm dealing with, but I won't do it of course given my horrible experience with it.

It would appear that you and I are living the same nightmare on opposite sides of the world! I am so sick of not knowing what to do or what is really wrong too. I looked fine before and I regret every bit of this idiocy. I cannot remember the last time I felt good about myself. Must be about a year ago? Clearly injectables work sometimes. I had a decent (not brilliant) experience first time around but nobody warns you how devastating a disaster with injectables is really going to be. Moreover, nobody warns you that they will know what to do about it when one occurs. I never liked fluorescent lights because I thought they highlighted the dark circles under my eyes. What I would give to just have that minor problem back! I am now positively phobic about overhead lights, especially in the confined 'no place to hide' space of a lift. I am writing this at work and honestly feel like crying. I was never a crying person before this mess either. I was happy! I will send you a private email, chicagoeye. Cheers, K

Kim - I FEEL YOUR PAIN!! I can't believe you had cosmetic botox (that caused a problem) and then you had medicinal botox administered ONLY ONE MONTH LATER (to 'correct' a problem that was actually caused by botox in the first place). Unbelievable! First of all let me say that you are not alone. We are all victims of so-called medical professionals who clearly do not understand the product and do not understand the face properly. And you are so right about the denial when something goes wrong! Nobody wants to admit it. The biggest lie of all is that it goes away in 3-4 months. We all know this is not true. It takes much longer than that and the waiting is terrible. Maybe I am a cynic now, but I suppose if doctors told people the truth and informed them that they would not back to normal from botox after 3-4 months then more people would think twice before using botox and this would dramatically reduce the profit that doctors make from it.

Thanks for the update Chloerose and I am very happy for you that you are making such a speedy recovery. Well done! Hopefully that means it was just leakage into the wrong muscle and not much botox got in there. Not sure what to say about the black eyes - that seems most peculiar after almost a month? Cheek ptosis sucks. And I agree it takes much longer to resolve than some other unpleasant botox results. Gravity! Let us know how you are doing and when your situation sorts itself out completely. Cheers.

Sad to say, my improvement was short-lived. I woke up the next day with eyes as puffy and baggy as before. No doubt I am dealing with long term periorbital edema from the botox weakening my orbicularis ocularis muscle. I have a general edema problem to begin with (the reason I have to take lasix daily) so anything that reduces lymphatic action for me is disastrous. Naphcon A drops help by opening up my eyes a bit but I am afraid I am not going to be back to normal anytime soon and will have to wait it out until the botox wears off.

I feel your pain!! It is hard to tell the difference between oedema (excuse my Australian spelling) and pseudo-herniation of fat pads under the eyes caused by over-botoxing the lower parts of the eye muscle. Apparently, puffiness from oedema looks the about the same when you are looking straight ahead or when your eyes are in looking up. However, herniated fat pads look much worse when eyes are looking upwards (bulge out more). Take some photos to see the difference. Also, did your PS do a "snap test" on your lower eye lid before giving you the botox under your eyes?

I have pseudo-herniated fat pads under my eyes from over botox as well as the wretched CHEEK PTOSIS that makes me look like a demented chipmunk when I smile. Yesterday, it was 9 WEEKS since the botox and I have to say there has been very little improvement at all. Will this nightmare never end.....?

The 'botox gone bad' club is sadly growing! So sorry to hear about your rubbish result. Unfortunately, nothing will really help make it wear off but time. Botox blocks the nerve-muscle connection resulting in paralysis of the muscle. It takes time for the nerve to regenerate and connect with the muscle again. I have heard that acupuncture can help with undereye swelling for people who end up with poor lymphatic drainage after botox in crows feet that diminishes the pump action of the eye muscle. However, I have not heard of acupuncture actually making botox wear off faster. (That being said, acupuncture certainly can't hurt!) I hope your eyebrows settle down soon and know that you are not alone in this awful wait. Cheers

Oh, and the antihistimine suggestion sounds like an EXCUSE because your doctor doesn't want to admit what he did, doesn't it??!

Thanks for your reply, I can't beleive how much you have suffered. I really do believe that laws should be tightened up against the use of botox, and more public awareness. Since my last post I have been given antibiotics for a sinus infection, a very bad dose of cold sores and an ear infection. I supposedly did this to give myself a boost after having a mastectomy, and I was feeling less of a woman and ageing, but beleive me I would rather go through the surgery again than this, at least there was a light at the end of the tunnel which at the moment there doesnt seem to be, but we can only wait. You are in my prayers.

Hi Sandra - thanks for your reply. How ghastly for you to go through a mastectomy and then try to make yourself feel better with "simple and safe" botox (read the sarcasm, please) only to feel worse. That is just awful. I totally agree with you that too many unqualified or underqualified medical professionals are allowed to use botox and its use should be restricted. (That being said, this kind of restriction would not have helped Chloerose who went to a top PS!) Restricting who can administer botox would make botox more expensive and probably less people would use it. This would reduce the profits of the pharmaceutical giants like Allergan et al so it is unlikely to ever happen. I also totally agree that there is not enough public awareness about the dangers of getting horrible aesthetic results from botox and, more importantly, not enough information about the side effects of botox. (Sinus infection is a reported side effect of botox!!) The reason for this is that hardly anyone reports their adverse events with botox, including bad cosmetic outcomes, to the regulatory authorities. It is evident from this website that most people just hide at home praying it will all go away so they can face the world again. A long and lonely wait indeed. The lack of reporting allows the medical profession to continue to promote botox as "safe and effective" and the side effects as "rare" unchallenged because there is not enough evidence to the contrary. Further, there is little public sympathy for "cosmetic procedures" that go wrong and nobody wants to be the public face of "botox gone bad". I know I certainly don't! I DID report my adverse events with botox to the manufacturer Allergan, the FDA and the TGA (which is the Australian version of the FDA). Reporting can be anonymous. Nobody was particularly interested in my reports. Surprise! However, if everyone reported their bad cosmetic outcomes and side effects then it would become harder and harder to ignore. Please keep us up-to-date on your progress. I know this website has stopped me from going stark raving mad from boredom while waiting for this horror to go away! Hope it helps you pass the time also. Cheers

Chloerose, aka Jabba here. Yes, it's evident that Botox can "go bad" no matter who administers it. I woke up this AM looking REALLY awful, my eyes puffier and more wrinkly than ever. I am feeling kinda down now and, pretty much hiding out at home just wishin' and hopin' this will go away -- but I know it will take time -- a long time. It's certainly true that we botox victims do not get a lot of sympathy. Even my sister was not very sympathetic to my plight -- hey, it's my fault because I chose to get botox. Anyway the support on this site does help a lot so I want to say thank you to all my sister victims, especially you Tried But Failed. You have obviously done an enormous amount of research on botox side effects and are doing a huge service by sharing the dirty little secrets that are kept hidden by our providers and of course Allergan.