Big Mistake: Restylane in Lips from Different Doc: Uneven Smile, Strange Lumps

Hi Sally Ann,

Sorry to hear about your misadventure in injectable land.  Unfortunately bleeding and hematomas can occur even with the best injectors.  There are some precautions that can be undertaken to help minimize bruising that an experienced injecting physician will use. 

If you are concerned about your upcoming television appearance, please email a photo, I will evaluate it, and then contact you.  It is not necessary to travel back to your original injecting physician, there are many experienced and skilled experts here in Los Angeles who have experience with actors, actresses, and those in television and film.  It is important to choose your injecting physician most carefully, choose one with artistic vision.

Good luck and be well.

Dr. P

Encino, Beverly Hills, CA

Hi Sallyanne.  You have a few options.  First you can do nothing and hope that with messaging that the unevenness will go away and with time the bruise will dissipate as well.  

If you want to be more proactive, you could of course get the injections reversed as you suggested and this will return your lips to the way they looked before. You should be able to do this where you are or at your normal injector's office.

Finally, we use pulsed dye lasers in cases that involve deep injection bruises.  If treated within 2-3 days of the initial injections, the bruises usually resolve within another 48 hours.  Good luck.

Be patient, swelling and bruising after fillers will resolve. If you truly were uneven before your treatment, and the doctor had to inject more in 1 area, that area will swell more. Bruising can also cause an area to swell more and therefore make you look uneven. I always warn my patients, during their treatment, not to judge their results during the week after their treatment, as swelling and bruising can alter appearances. As for your TV appearance, most swelling and bruising resolves by 7-10 days. If you still look uneven by 7 days after your treatment, you could have hyaluronidase injected into the plumper side, it usually takes less than 24 hours to dissolve Restylane or Juvederm Ultra.