Tissue necrosis after Restylane in lips. Is this normal bruising and swelling? (Photo)

I appreciate your concern and this does not look like tissue loss or necrosis. It looks like a bruise and likely your risks of bruising were elevated because you took ibuprofen. Unfortunately, this happens all the time as people tend to forget this important step for a quick recovery. Talk to your injector if your symptoms persist.Good luck. Dr. ALDO 

Hello and thank you for your question. It looks like what you have is just a bruise. Bruising and swelling are common minor adverse events that can occur after the injection of dermal fillers (or anytime a needle is placed into the skin). Fortunately, they are temporary and there are ways to help minimize the effects. Pre-procedure, I recommend my patients try to avoid blood thinners (aspirin, ibuprofen, fish oil, alcohol) for 5-7 days prior. Additionally, Arnica (a homeopathic medication used to help alleviate bruising, swelling, and inflammation) can be take a 2-3 days prior to your injections. During and immediately post injection, it is important to apply ice to the area being treated. Post injections, we apply a topical Arnica gel and provide Arnical tablets to our patients, which has been found to significantly prevent and reduce bruising and swelling. For our areas on the face besides the lips, we can use the V beam laser to also help prevent and treat the bruising. Your bruise should go away within a few days. Best of luck.

Thank you for your question. Bruising and swelling are common side effects, especially after taking Ibuprofen. The symptoms should subside given time. 

Yes, this bruising can be typical after lip filler. I would wait a full 2 weeks before judging the results. If it is after the two week wait, you can have the filler reversed with hyaluronidase.
I hope this helps!

bruising can be treated with vascular lasers but if you are concerned see your physician. swelling takes 2 weeks to go away.  Best, Dr. Emer.

This does not look like necrosis.  On the other hand, you are profoundly swollen.  These lips will settle down and be much less full once the swelling has resolved.  That is a good thing because having lips this larger would be ridiculous. 

Dear mercycarlson,dermal fillers can have a significant swelling post injection. I would follow up with you plastic surgeon but typically I tell all my patients to wait a full two weeks.  Generally at 2 weeks they are happy and glad they didn't dissolve. Based on your photos, it looks like bruising and not necrosis.  Daniel Barrett, MD, MHA, MS 
Certified, American Board of Plastic Surgery  
Member, Am. Society of Plastic Surgery

Thank you for your question. It is normal to have some swelling and bruising after fillers for lip augmentation. It can take up to 2 weeks for all swelling and bruises to resolve to see your final results. You can apply cold compresses to the treated area to help reduce any swelling. Also, you are correct that is best to avoid NSAID’s such as ibuprofen before and after treatment. If you have any other concerns please contact your treating physician. Best of Luck!

This looks like bruising.  If there is no gray/whitening or breakdown of skin I would not worry. Do not worry about not taking the ibuprophen, actually that might have been a good thing to forget. I do a lot of lips and do not instruct my patients to take anti-inflammatories after injection. There is the rare patient that knows that they will get extreme swelling and I might give them a steroid shot before injection but that is extremely rare event. Once swelling subsides use warm compresses for bruising