What should I know about the safety of Juvederm?

Juvederm is a hyaluronic acid dermal filler that’s
associated with excellent clinical results and high patient satisfaction rates.
Juvederm filler treatments are considered to be some of the safest procedures
performed by plastic surgeons.Although
complications from Juvederm injections are rare, they do occasionally occur. The
most common complications seen following this procedure include bruising and
swelling. These typically resolve with the passage of time. Rarely patients
have unsatisfactory aesthetic results which require additional filler or some
cases reversal with hyaluronidose. In
rare cases, skin loss from pressure necrosis or intravascular injection may
occur.It’s
important that patients do their homework. It’s extremely important that they
choose a surgeon who is board certified and has experience performing this
procedure. When this approach is taken injectable fillers are extremely safe.

Yes, it's safe, as mentioned in many of these answers.  Juvederm is a gel made from a non-animal, cross-linked hyaluronic acid (HA), which is found naturally in your body, so in general, it's very safe for most people.

Who should NOT get Juvederm:

1)  Patients who have severe allergies.  This means you have a history of anaphylaxis or multiple SEVERE allergies.  Hay fever or mild allergies do not pose a problem.

2)  Patients with a history of allergies to Gram-positive bacterial proteins.

3) Juvederm XC formulations contain lidocaine, so therefore, should not be used in patients with a history of allergies to lidocaine.

4) Patients who are pregnant or breastfeeding, or who are under 18 years of age.  This is not to say that it's necesssarily dangerous for them, however,  the safety for these groups simply hasn't been established in controlled clinical studies.

 

Who should be careful and/or cautious about getting Juvederm:

1) Patients who are taking medications that can prolong bleeding, such as aspirin or ibuprofen, since they may experience increased bruising or bleeding at injection site. 

2) Patients on immunosuppressive therapy, since there may be an increased risk of infection.

3) Patients who have recently had any facial plastic surgery, lasers or chemical peels.

4) Patients history of excessive scarring (eg, hypertrophic scarring and keloid formations) and pigmentation disorders

If you don't fall into any of these categories, you should be fine, however, you should still be sure inform your physician before treatment about any and all medications, supplements and medical issues you have.  

Finally, one of the best precautions you can take as a consumer is to DO YOUR HOMEWORK and find a physician with the right credentials and a lot of experience with Juvederm.  True, you can probably save $100 by going to someone with little to no experience, however, that would be unwise.  You don't want to be the person someone new to Juvederm is learning on.  An experienced injector knows the nuances of working with Juvederm and the face, and those skills often make the difference between a beautiful and natural-looking result or an overdone, lumpy result.   

Best of luck!

Dr. Yamini