Do Restylane Injections Cause Cold Sores?

Cold sores are associated with many different potential causes. Trauma to tissue, such as that asssociated with an injection of a filler material, can be associated with the development of cold sores.
If you have a history of cold sores, be sure to tell your doctor before having any procedure performed so an anti-viral medication may be prescribed.

Cold sores are caused by activation of dormant viruses living in nerve cells. Stress, UV light, and any form of trauma or stimulation can activate them. Restylane injections, laser peels, any procedures around the mouth can trigger them.
If you know you are prone to them, ask for a prescription for antiviral medication and you should be ok.

Anytime you have an injection procedure there will be some trauma to the area being injected. The reason your physician asked the question was because it's a possibility that after you have your lips injected, you may get a cold sore. There are ways to avoid the possibility of this happening (with a preventative prescription) and he/she may have been trying to determine whether or not to offer you a prescription as a way to prevent a possible cold sore after treatment.

Almost 95% of the population carries the virus associated with Herpes simplex I. All of these patients are at risk for developing a cold sore after surgical or non-invasive manipulation of the skin using chemical peels, laser, or surgery.
If you have a history of cold sores, speak to your physician prior to the procedure in order to avoid postprocedural outbreaks of cold sores.

 

Thank you for your question. Cold sores are caused when dormant viruses living in nerve cells are activated. This can happen with stress, UV light and trauma, such as injection. Any procedure around the mouth can trigger a cold sore. If you have a history of cold sore, please make sure to notify your doctor before having any procedure done. This is so an anti-viral medication can be prescribed. I hope this helps.

Thank you for your question. Cold sores are caused when dormant viruses living in nerve cells are activated. This can happen with stress, UV light and trauma, such as injection. Any procedure around the mouth can trigger a cold sore. If you have a history of cold sore, please make sure to notify your doctor before having any procedure done. This is so an anti-viral medication can be prescribed. I hope this helps.

Your doctor is asking because if you have had cold sores before, you already have the virus present in your body. Having injections in the lips can "wake up" the virus, and therefore your doctor may want to write you a prescription to prevent this from happening. If you've never had a cold sore before, there is likely no virus to wake up and therefore no prescription necessary. Hope that helps. 

If you are prone to cold sores then you should let the injector know prior to treatment as dermal filler treatments to the lips can trigger a cold sore attack. If an injector knows that you are prone, then he write a script for an anti viral medication.

Restylane or any filler injections around the lips may reactivate cold sores. This is well established. Most doctors will do the procedure despite this history, but will give you a prescription for an antiviral medication that can prevent the flare of cold sores   

It is always important for your doctor to know your entire history and this is an important part of that history.  Any type of trauma to the lip can activate the virus that causes cold sores.  It may be a good idea to take medication to prevent this, or at least be on the look-out for a reactivation.