Evolence: Stories

Evolence is the worst dermal filler ever! My plastic surgeon who I have been to for 20 years decided to use it under my eyes. BIG MISTAKE. He hit a vein and it left a huge soft bump and in other areas around my eyes you can see where he injected it. He has tried small doses of cortisone but apparently there is no way to reverse it's effect except hope it finally goes away.

It has been 6 months and there is no improvement. He tried to minimize the bump by adding restylane but it just made it look like a longer raised scar. Now he is going to try to laser the area in hopes that it tightens the skin.

I have made countless visits to his office. It has been a waste of money and time. I look worse than prior to this procedure and have grown very impatient besides dissatisfied. My plastic surgeon appears to be lost as to how to correct it. He does not want to try and surgically remove it for at least a year.

Don't ever use this filler especially around your eyes.

Updated on May 7, 2010:

Warning to anyone thinking of using Evolence.. Disfiguring Results..never let anyone inject you with this product My long time Plastic Surgeon injected the hollow of my eyes in November 2009. It has been a on going disaster since the day he performed this disfiguring act. I trusted him and believed he knew what he was doing and at no time was I made aware of the side effects. There are lumps in every area that he injected. There is severe swelling under one eye (that looks like a eye bag) that will not go down (after 5 shots of cortisone) and 5 months after the injections a huge granuloma spontaneously formed in the corner of my eye. This large pea shaped type cyst oozes liquid and makes my left eye becomes partially swollen shut. Cortisone shots only keep the swelling down for around 4 days and then it returns swelling the entire eye to being partially closed. I was given Prednisone to stop the infection (my body trying to reject the product) and experienced terrible side effects from this wicked drug. Once again I was not warned of the side effects of this drug. The prednisone did stop the infection an of course did not effect the side of granuloma and about put me in psych ward due to the psychotic side effects this drug does to you. I work with the public on a daily basis and this experience has not only disfigured my face but impacted my ability to perform at my job, and caused me a great deal of mental anxiety and stress along with loss of income. My Plastic Surgeon did not want to surgically remove any of the bumps but now has agreed to excise the granuloma since it is so unmanageable and disfiguring. Of course there is trepidation as to how it will look after he removes it and how big of scar will be left. My PS has appeared to be doing everything he knows to correct the problem but I am sensing little compassion and in fact some irritability by the staff in trying to correct this. I am now being viewed as the problem, not the problem the Surgeon and product created. Now, that I am having very serious complications that require more time than just a quick cortisone shot there is growing concern with both parties of who will pay for fixing his error. I believe he delivered poor medical service and choose the wrong filler resulting in a detrimental outcome. I do not want to file a medical malpractice suit but with each month of this nightmare I am starting to consider this. I know there is a class action suit filed in Canada against Johnson & Johnson in regards to evolence and disfigurment. I have done intensive research on line and I am not a plastic surgeon but here our a few of my personal findings. Evolence is not FDA approved to be put in the hollow of your eyes. The majority of PS's would never use evolence due to this, it's thickness and the fact there is no way to reverse it. I am also questioning his technique as it appears to have possibility been injected too superficially and with too much filler. I cannot wait for this nightmare to end. What I thought would be a simple dermal filler to enhance my looks turned out to one of the worst experiences in my life in trying to freshen my look. The long term results may be scaring and 18 months or more of bumps and lumps around my eyes.

A YEAR LONG SUMMARY OF MY NIGHTMARE JOURNEY OF DISFIGUREMENT CAUSED BY EVOLENCE

I have posted many updates/reply's on this site of my almost year long journey since I was first injected with the terrible filler Evolence and it's devastating effects. Here are a few things one should know about Evolence.

I have discovered these facts both personally and on line in my desperate attempt to restore the damage evolence did. I am so grateful for this website and the threads by other victims and plastic surgeons remarks that has assisted me in coming to the below conclusions and informing me of the true facts of evolence and it's ability to MAIME your face.

Here are my conclusions and personal story about Evolence and it's terrible and ill reversible effects:

1. NEVER USE A FILLER THAT CAN'T BE REVERSED... I have had other dermal fillers injected in my face before but never in the hollow area of my eyes nor I had ever used Evolence. Evolence requires no prior testing yet left granulomas starting the first day of injection. I did not request this filler it was selected by my Plastic Surgeon with no warning nor did I sign any consent. This is the only filler that has ever caused terrible ill reversible side effects. I was never told that there was no drug to reverse it once it's injected under your skin.

2. NEVER USE EVOLENCE IN THE HOLLOW PART OF YOUR EYES... From my on-line research and from this evolence nightmare I have found out that evolence is too thick and requires a larger needle plus lots of massage immediately after injection. My PS started out with a big needle hitting a vein then switched to a smaller needle for the other side of my face. There was a huge hematoma where he hit the vein, very little massage and all sites appeared way over filled. I contacted Johnson & Johnson who took evolence off the market. All I was told by them is that it is not approved to be used in the hollow part of your eyes. When I shared with my PS head nurse she said all PS used products off the label.

3. DERMIAL FILLER INJECTION IS MORE COMPLICATED THAN YOU THINK... Since I had used other dermal fillers in the past and botox I thought this procedure would be a quick innocent cosmetic procedure to assist in a younger look. I had no idea the complications of Evolence and because I was using a PS that I have been going to for over 15 years felt confident in his abilities. It is my understanding that this filler cannot be injected the same way as Restylane or Juvederm. It is apparent to me that my granulomas are the results of evolence. being used off the label and perhaps the lack of skill of the PS injector.

4. FEW PLASTIC SURGEONS WILL ADMIT THEY MADE A MISTAKE.. So far my PS has taken many steps to try and reverse the damage evolence has caused. The only thing he has said is that in any plastic surgery there is always the possibility of side effects. My granulomas have been very severe and yet the real picture was not spelled out for me. They first said the product would dissolve in 12 months, they mentioned allergies, too thin of skin in my eye area, too many previous laser surgeries and at times it seemed like they gave any excuse except that it was the result of evolence. They implied that the steroid shots would take care of it. It appears looking back they said as little as possible including me having to find out on my own just how permanent of filler evolence is and the bleak road for restoration. In the first 3 months of this long journey my PS stated that he would not want to try to surgically remove them until a year. November 2010 will mark a very long year of terrible complications, results, missed work and emotional agony. Surgery appears to be my last hope but will leave scars with the severity depending upon how he surgically removes them. He is considering going under the bottom eye lid on those that he can but on some he can't reach them under the lid including the nose area.

5. FAILED PROCEDURES TRIED TO REVERSE GRANULOMAS CAUSED BY EVOLENCE
I have had 5-7 steroid injections over the past year with varying strengths. Some would reduce the bumps for maybe 24-48 hours only for them to return. I had one granuloma that became so swollen that it closed my left eye and oozed. This required taking oral prednisone that caused terrible physical and emotional reactions but made the swelling go down yet started to create a moon sized face. My PS tried to use restylane to smooth out many small bumps in a row and it failed miserably only resulting in making it appear like one long raised puffy scar. I have had fraxel laser surgery that tightened the area around the granulomas but did not effect the granulomas. The last attempt was 10 months after the initial injection where they injected each site with saline solution and massaged the area. This actually made it worse. My bumps are now more prominent and harder.

6 .DAMAGES CAUSED BY EVOLENCE

My evolence experience has dramatically effected me in how I look physically, damaged my self esteem, left me to feel very self conscious and I feel very victimized. For the past 340 days it has been a struggle. I have looked in the mirror each day to see a maimed face full of large lumps, bumps, brusing, oozing. I have dealt with missed time off work, drug reactions, made over 13 office visits back into the PS office and have dealt with repeated forms of mild to painful injections in addition to fraxel surgery without the aid of twilight. I spent $600.00 for a procedure that has resulted in disfiguring results. In as much as my PS has continued to try to resolve the issue he and his staff haven't appeared to demonstrate the compassion or full understanding for the problem they created. The effects of this procedure has been a nightmare and emotional living hell. They see me every 6 weeks or so but I see the damages every day in the mirror! My phone calls have felt at times as a nuisance to the head nurse. I have dreaded calling the office each time to report that another bump has appeared, or grown bigger, or that the last injection or method used did not solve the bumps. I feel it is my plastic surgeons medical responsibility and integrity to see this through until the problem is resolved. So far he has not abandoned me but his head nurse over the past year has mentioned that they would gladly refund my money and I could be on my way to find my own solution, or that they feel they have exhausted all means to fix it and perhaps it was time for them to refer me to someone else. I reminded his nurse that the doctor had said in the early stages that he wanted to wait one year and then would attempt to surgically remove them. So, I am waiting to see if indeed they will take full responsibility for their mistakes and schedule me in for surgery for restoration to a huge problem they caused. I called today for a scheduled surgery date but did not get a returned phone call. Since surgery appears to be the last hope. I am still facing the issues of scaring.
He might be able to reach most the bumps in my eye area by going under the bottom eye lid but maybe not.
Then there is the injection he made by my nose that has left a long bump. His nurse said that the incision has to be as big as the bump to remove it... and the long one by my nose looks impossible to remove without leaving a very long scar. This is a area I might have to leave as is as it might looks worse that the bump. My background is in Marketing, Sales and PR. I have not sought legal counsel as of yet because my PS has been trying. If we hadn't had the 20 years of association prior I would have filed a law suit and brought this to media attention months ago. Hopefully, he will see this through to removing the bumps surgically. I will keep you updated on the final outcome.

I am desperate for answers and would welcome any comment from a victim of evolence or other Plastic Surgeons that has found a way to resolve this issue.

Unfortunately, my newest update is not a very positive one. Yesterday, I went to see my PS as it has been a little over 3 months since he tried to surgically remove the bumps caused by evolence. It is evident by the remaining bumps still on my face that he did not get all the evolence out in surgery. He told me that we need to do another surgery but the earliest opening he had was June 7th. This is only 6 weeks prior to my high school reunion and requiring three more long months of bumps and lumps. I waited in his office for over an hour as I have had to do the last 4 visits. He did inject one of the bumps with a steroid and it has only made a slight difference in the size. I am not looking forward to another painful surgery and concerned about the healing time. Last surgery took at least 3 weeks before it even looked sort of healed. The idea of more incisions causes me great concern about scaring. I see very little scaring as of now and have faithfully applied bio oil but can't imagine repeated incisions in the same area not leaving a worse scar. He claims surgery should be easier and healing time faster as this bumps are not as deep. I am losing faith in what he tells me and in his abilities to totally remove the evolence. I do have an appointment set with an Oculofacial Plastic Surgeon for a second opinion. You would think my PS would be tripping over himself to make this right as soon as possible since me has ruined my eye area with this product but he is not. I'm feeling rather hopeless in how to correct this once and for all.