“Horrible results from juvederm under eye injections!”
Juvederm: NOT worth it
Cost: $500
Pain: Uncomfortable
Review of Juvederm:Pain: Uncomfortable
Juvederm satisfaction: Poor
I do not recommend my Juvederm provider: Sign in or join to view provider name
Why: he is horrible, tried to fix it with thermage, didn't refund ANYTHING even after they realized how bad it was. Also continued to recommend face lifts. I'm 38 years old and look pretty darn good! Even his nurse and partner told me later that an idea of a facelift would be rediculous for me.
about 7 months ago i had juvederm under eye injections. they have looked horrible from beginning to end. not only were they puffy like a little pillow, the pillow outlined the bags that were there to begin with. Now that the juvederm is starting to disapate, it is lumpy and the skin looks baggy.
nothing but cons to report. puffiness, bruising TO THIS DAY, they tried to "fix" it in the begining with thermage? what a joke!
Is a law suit applicable here? if there is anything i can do, i certainly don't want to go back to the same doctor! Of course after the fact i heard negative reports about him. DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE YOU GO! What was I thinking :-(
Oct 19, 2009Comments and replies (31)
4 of 4 people found this review helpful
This review is the subjective opinion of a RealSelf member and not of RealSelf, Inc.
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1 post
20 Oct 2009
I have had very poor results with juverderm under my eyes, It has aged my appearance and my eyes always look swollen. Will they ever return to normal- it has been 6 months since my injections.
6 posts
21 Oct 2009
It's been 7 weeks to the day since my Juvederm injections under my eyes. It is finally smooth but that "blue" bruising still shows slightly; need lots of make-up and cover up to hide it; then it gets all caked up during the day! It started to get much better when I placed warm/hot wash cloth on my eyes twice/day for about 10min; then, gently rub Arnica Gel under your eyes smoothing out the puffiness. It really worked. I am pleased with the results I have; I bruise easily and I have had eye lid surgery in 1996 which made my skin very thin under my eyes;so, I had a higher risk of bruising. Massaging with the Arnica Gel will help with the "pillows"...and warm wet compresses for the bruising. good luck girls....
19 posts
26 Oct 2009
Cosmetic procedures all come with their own set of potential side effects. I am sure that you signed a whole slew of paperwork stating that you understand the potential side effects, therefore you wouldn't have a leg to stand on if you tried to sue. Not to mention, a mere 5 minutes of online research would give you an idea of the potential negative effects of hyaluronic acid injections around the eyes - the effects you have described are unfortunately very common. Sorry you are having to deal with this - I hope it gets better soon. :(
18 posts
27 Oct 2009
Juvederm can be completely and easily removed with hyaluronidase. I ALWAYS have a vial of hyaluronidase avaialable for my patients, in case I have a vascular occlusion. I am an aesthetics nurse and it sounds as though your practitioner didn't know what he was doing. Tear troughs require a special injection technique that is nothing like doing other facial areas, and most are simply guessing and using patients as guinea pigs. Go to a well-established cosmetic dermatologist or aesthetic nurse before you get Juvederm done again. It is a great product--I use it myself--, but many practitioners screw it up and patients are left with a bad taste in their mouth about the product, which is truly awesome.
18 posts
30 Oct 2009
1.What exactly did your liquid facelift consist of, and 2.how many syringes of juvederm or other hyaluronic filler were used? 3.What areas did he inject, and 4. why was the facelift so bad? If you have not had an immune response to the product, then the juvederm will still be in your skin (for the next few months until April at least unfortunately). There should be no problem with reconstituting the hyaluronidase to a higher concentration. Hyaluronidase is an enyme that is safely used in higher concentrations to distribute medications through the skin by IV subcutaneously in a widespread manner (as the skin has hylauronic acid as a component). It degrades the natural hylauronic acid (HA) and the medications diffuse thorugh the skin. Your doctor can safely increase the concentration of the hylauronidase to perhaps 150u per injection site. The enzyme works within 24 hours. So if you still see swelling in 24 hours, it is either injection site trauma or an inflamatory reaction (that is hopefully temporary) and not the filler still in your face. If he has tried this, and you still have lumps and bumps, you may be having a reaction to all of this intervention, and may be developing granulomas (which are like small scars under the skin--the skin's immune reaction to repeated trauma--your body is trying to repair your damage and works overtime causing scarring and lumps that are often permanent). He may need this higher concentration under the eyes. Smal injections fo this hugher concentration with a small 27gauge needle, into the uppder dermis should do it, I think. Tear trough and eye bag injections are difficult and again, the techniques differ from other areas of the face. Please let me know the answers to my questions above, and maybe I can help you. Take care.
18 posts
30 Oct 2009
One more thing---a lawsuit is always possible, if there is malpractice----no matter WHAT you have signed. I would NOT recommend this unless you have permanent, lasting damage as a result of negligence on the part of the practitioner. You would need to wait at least 6 months, try other ways to fix the problem, and if nothing else got better, THEN discuss this with an attorney. Lawsuits are emotionally exhausting, expensive, and more difficult to win than you think.
19 posts
2 Nov 2009
Ann1971 - I don't work in the medical field at all. I'm a law student. You asked a question in your post, which I felt I could answer: "Is a law suit applicable here?" You shouldn't have asked the question if you didn't want a response. Obviously you CAN file a lawsuit, but your odds of winning after signing multiple disclosures about the procedure are incredibly small. You would not only have to prove gross negligence or misconduct on the part of the doctor, but you'd need an astronomical sum of money to a) afford an attorney who could have any chance of winning, and b) have enough money to cover that attorney's fees for a case that could drag on for months to years. Good luck. Again, I'm really sorry this happened to you - it sucks, and first/foremost, I browse this forum because I too have been considering under-eye hyaluronic acid injections.
19 posts
11 Nov 2009
I wish I could help you, and I'm sorry you're dealing with this. :( I said "multiple disclosures" arbitrarily. Maybe the one disclosure you signed contained all of the necessary liability information - I don't know - I can't speak to that. The bottom line is though, NO cosmetic procedures are without their own inherent risks. It is up to the consumer to know and understand all of the risks before having these procedures done. Now, if there was blatant negligence on the part of the doctor, that's a different story. Poor injection technique isn't negligence. Also, when a patient reacts poorly to a procedure, that's not really the doctor's fault. The thing about it is, you just never know how your body is going to react to something until you do it. I have tear troughs and volume loss around my eyes that is very distressing to me, and I've been researching hyaluronic injectibles for months now, and am not sure I am ever going to do it simply because of stories like yours - I'm not sure it's worth the risk. If I were in your situation, I guess I'd call around to some prominent surgeons in the New York City area to see if anyone has any recommendations for your situation. Best of luck to you - I hope it resolves.
18 posts
13 Nov 2009
I agree with Te about "Why Me 99" going to NYC to find a plastic surgeon to assess her face. I doubt there will be a class action lawsuit, because as Te implied, this appears to be a practitioner problem and not a product problem. Class actions are brought about because of dangerous medications that pose a large public health risk, which Juvederm does not. Most malpractice lawsuits are settled out of court, as it is less costly to the insurance carrier and the physician. That's why I suggest using an attorney and attorney's letterhead for letters requesting both assistance from the Board of Medical Examiners and a direct request from the physician to refund the money. My husband is an Internal Medicine Physician, so believe me--I know whereof I speak. Thankfully he has never been sued. And it doesn't matter what or how many disclosures you have signed if you find that the doctor did not have the adequate training to perform the injections, or mislead you about his experience. So try to find out what kind of training this doc had, and how many patients he has performed this type of procedure on. Call his office and pretend to be someone interested in scheduling an appointment, and ask those questions. His office should be happy to tell you. I don't know what the gray area under your eye could be. I have seen bluish discolorations around the lips of patients who have been injected and have had a blod vessel burst, but never gray areas under the eyes post-injection. I disagree with Te however, when she states that "poor injection technique isn't malpractice." It can be construed as such by a jury of your peers if they find that the doctor misrepresented his ability to perform the procedure, and as such caused harm to the patient, that resulted in injury. Did the practitioner provide a reasonable standard of care? If he is CHARGING you to fix a problem, that he caused by not knowing how to inject product properly, or by misusing the product (off label), or by failing to refer you to someone who COULD have assisted you, I do not feel that he has provided a resonable standard of care. I am a reasonable person, and I would NEVER leave a patient wondering where to go for assistance. Ever. Please get a second opinion in New york City and see what can be done. Unless you do this, you will not win any suit, because you need to show a court that you did everything reasonably possible to resolve this as well without resorting to legal intervention. Good luck, and remember that YOU are your best advocate when it comes to medical care. Don't ever let a Dr. or nurse push you around.
18 posts
13 Nov 2009
I would also like to mention that in almost every study of post precedure complications regarding Juvederm, Sculptra (PLLA) and other injectables, it is RARELY a reaction to the product, but the injection techniques of the practitioner(and with Sculptra, the volume of reconstitution of the product) that has caused post-procedure complications. Especially with Sculptra. Reactions to Juvederm are statistically VERY VERY rare. Dissatifaction comes from inexperienced practitioners, not the product. There are documented cases of a suspected reaction to hyaluronic acid products in some patients, and that of course isn't the practitioner's fault. These reactions are so rare in fact, that pre-injection allergy testing (as they did with collagen) is not seen as medically necessary with these newer fillers. "Te" mentioned that it is not the practitioner's fault that your body may react a certain way to an injectable. She is correct, but I wanted to mention that these reactions to PRODUCT are extremely rare, and it is unlikely that this is what happened. The reactions to injection site trauma, such as lymphedema from an occluded lymph system, hematomas, vascular occlusions (injecting into a vein and not having the appropriate hyaluronidase or nitro paste to dilate the vessel or remove it from the vein), and actual skin necrosis (skin death from over-injecting the vein and not fixing it imediately) ARE the fault of the practitioner ALONE. When a practitioner has to use hylauronidase to correct overfilling, it tells me that they didn't know what in the hell they were doing. Period. Then, when these practitioners use the enzyme to degrade the product, they end up leaving their clients looking like hags because the product WILL remove your natural hyaluronic acid from your face---that is its medical purpose. Your body should replenish this, but it doesn't always do it back to baseline, and people feel as though they look sick and worse than before. And they probably do. In reality, they need to get their tear troughs filled again--but probably won't after their experiences with unscrupulous practitioners. I have never had to use an enzyme to degrade a clients product, because it IS your face, and I do NOT want to mess up the first thing that people see. Your face defines your self-esteem. Other don't feel this way--they want the quick profits. Injection technique is one of the most IMPORTANT things to know with these fillers. Lack of proper experience or training, and failure of the practitioner to disclose this limited ability is a definite malpractice red flag for me. When I started, I started on friends, explained my training AND lack of experience to them, let them know all the risks, and followed injection techniques absolutely by the book. I filled very conservatively, and still do, with excellent results, according to my clients. I have hours of CME's on various filler injection techniques, and as a nurse, have given more injections of medications than most doctors have in their lifetimes-----but I have been a nurse for 5 years. If one of my patients developed a hematoma under her eye for example, I would have immediately had her come into my office to assess her condition. I would have requested steroids from my Consulting Medical Director, provided an ice gel pack, given her written instructions for care, and scheduled a follow-up in a week to assess the swelling and to see if there was a need for further treatment. Because I took swift action and introduced appropriate interventions, and basically showed that I cared about my patient, my liability would have been significantly DECREASED. I also wouldn't have charged her for any of this. No one could say that I didn't attempt to assist my patient with a post-procedure complication. This is the part that is missing from all of these stories. The other part that is missing is the practitioner owning up to his mistake and knowing how to correct it---all of which I have no problem with. For the liquid facelift--that was a ridiculous misuse of a product--juvederm is NOT for volume filling of the planes of the face. Only for lines. He REALLY screwed up, in my opinion, and then to charge for ANYTHING is just stupid and poor practice.