In these gloriously transparent times, if a brand dares to harbor dirty laundry, it will most certainly be aired—if not used to hang them out to dry. <\/p>
While this open-book ethos pervades nearly every industry in 2019, certain aesthetic treatments, we’ve noticed, seem somehow exempt. Reported side effects and complications may be voluntarily logged into a little-known FDA database<\/a> or, perhaps, discussed by doctors at medical conferences; but on the whole, they tend to be downplayed to the public. So when we leave our lunchtime filler<\/a> appointment, two days before our best friend’s wedding, with a burgeoning black eye or needle-inflicted hickey, we can’t help but feel blindsided.<\/p> Bruises after cosmetic injections take us by surprise, precisely because nobody talks about them. Contusions may be covered in the consent forms you “sign and initial here, here and here” prior to treatment, but injectors rarely dwell on the topic. And when black-and-blues do rise up, patients go to great lengths to hide them. All told, our collective reticence has made injectable bruises seem like an anomaly when, really, they’re “a common and often unavoidable” part of the procedure, says Great Neck, New York, dermatologist Dr. Jeannette Graf<\/a>.<\/p> Pause for perspective: a bruise after injections is hardly cause for boycott. It’s the price we pay for beauty, some might say. And I get that. I am admittedly grateful to Botox<\/a> for sparing me crow’s-feet and fine lines and forehead grooves<\/a>; I appreciate the balance hyaluronic acid fillers<\/a> bring to my aging face. But when expensive “no-downtime” procedures undertaken to make us look and feel more beautiful render us swollen and bruised for days to weeks—well, it’s a cruel irony indeed.<\/p> Tens of millions of filler and neurotoxin shots are administered each year, and every one of those needle pokes poses a risk for bruising. Why? Because the human face is an arterial minefield, its intricacies beautifully detailed in this frequently regrammed illustration<\/a> commissioned by aesthetic nurse Connie Brennan<\/a> from artist Kevin Cease<\/a>.<\/p>Why filler bruising is more common than you think<\/strong><\/h2>