What Can I Do About Cheek Lumps from Silicone Injections?

Question

I had silicone injections to my cheeks an now i have 3 small lumps on the side of my cheek that are very obvious?? Is there anything i can do to minimize them? I really want them gone.

Raffy Karamanoukian, MD, FACS · Answer

Injected silicone can sometimes be removed from the face, but this requires experience and a conservative approach. I have successfully treated many patients with facial silicone and believe that long term results can be acheived.

Carlos Alberto Ríos García, MD · Answer

Regards, 
Liquid silicone is unsafe, please do not use it ever. The autoimmune response could be triggered by this substance, if you look around on the Internet, you will find patients that have a lot of problems with this product. The use for lips and other areas is off label. 
The Biopolymers cause a severe inflammatory reaction that can cause permanent damage to the tissues, known as Iatrogenic Allogenosis and an Autoimmune Syndrome (A.S.I.A. Syndrome). The risk of having autoimmune diseases and deformities in your face due to tissue damage is very high, then the use of any substance that is permanent is not advised. So, if you want to increase your cheeks, you have to use safe substances that are resorbable like hyaluronic acid; there are brands like Juvederm and Restylane that are qualified, within the Juvederm family, it exists Juvederm Voluma, that has a durability of 2 years approximately. In your case, you would need an MRI and remove the susbstance as soon as possible. In my medical center I developed the technique of resection of biopolymers in face, lips, buttocks and lower back through video endoscopy, a surgery performed with minnimal incissions to treat patients with permanent deformities, secundary to biopolymers injections.
Please remember to be aware, do not let any permanenrt filler to be injected into your face, breast, buttocks, calfs, genitalia, etc. 
I hope the information was usefull, have a nice day! Dr Carlos Alberto Ríos.

Raj S. Ambay, MD · Answer

Silicone injections in various parts of the body has been done quite frequently all over the country.  The difficulty with silicone injections begins with the quality of the silicone itself.  I have seen many cases where industrial grade silicone has been injected inside the human body.  This can be a tremendous disaster.  Problems can include infections, granulomas, cellulitis, and persistent skin infections, disfigurement and skin dimpling.  It is very easy to have silicone injected, but very difficult to have it removed.  The removal can frequently be very complex and involved lengthy surgery. Multiple operation is not uncommon.   It is not uncommon to expect scars in locations that would otherwise be undesirable.  If you do have silicone, or are having problem with silicone that was injected by a non-healthcare provider then you should certainly seek medical attention.  Some solutions include IV antibiotics, oral antibiotics and surgery after the inflammation has subsided.  Removing the silicone is not just a cosmetic issue but also an issue of better health.  Depending on the type of silicone injected concerns with autoimmune diseases and infections are foremost.  Taking medications such as ibuprofen or cortisone is only a temporary measure.  The real solution is surgery.  Not all plastic surgeons are willing to operate on patients who have had silicone injected in their body.  Many of these cases are not covered by insurance because they were performed for cosmetic reasons.  My recommendation to anyone that has had silicone injections and wishes to have it removed, is to seek a board certified plastic surgeon who is likely willing to do more than 1 operation as well as willing to do some of these operations in a hospital setting. I have had patients visit me for removal of silicone and the discussion to proceed is never an easy one.

Peter A. Aldea, MD · Answer

Regarding: "What Can I Do About Lumps from Silicone Injections?
	I had silicone injections to my cheeks an now i have 3 small lumps on the side of my cheek that are very obvious?? Is there anything i can do to minimize them? I really want them gone"

	One of the most tragic aspects of human existence is our inherent inability to learn from past mistakes which results in REPEATEDLY making the same costly mistakes. How many times did people vote in dictators which then cost the lives of millions only to repeat these choices? How many abused women senselessly choose the same abusive relationships or an alcoholic chooses to repeat his mistakes?

	This happens in Medicine as well. To understand the sadness of Silicone as a soft tissue filler you either must be in your 60's or 70's as a surgeon or to be a keen student of Plastic Surgery history and appreciate the irony. Silicone has been tried as a filler in the mid and late 40's and failed. High grade versions of silicone were tried in the 50's and failed. Medical grade silicone was tried in the 60's and by the 70's it was found to be disastrous. But not until thousands of patients ended with "collagen overproduction" (in Plain English HEAVY SCARRING) in addition to collection of silicone "siliconomas'). And yet - it has been re-introduced one more time about 15 years ago in "micro droplet" form used mostly by dermatologists.

	I would advise you to see the ?doctor who injected it and ask him/her what would smooth these lumps and what his/her back up plan would be if plan A does not work.  In reality, you MAY need these lumps to be removed. This means permanent scars, potential depressions to say nothing about additional costs.

	Get several opinions before having anything done. As bad as things are now, they CAN get worse.

	Dr. Peter Aldea

Barry Resnik, MD · Answer

Liquid Injectable silicone injected with the microdroplet technique is a wonderful soft-tissue filler. The vast majority of lumps and bumps are the result of collagen overproduction rather than collections of silicone or active foreign body reactions. Diluted cortisone can be injected into the areas to gently reduce their size. A light touch is needed as is an abundance of patience.

What Can I Do About Cheek Lumps from Silicone Injections?

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What Can I Do About Cheek Lumps from Silicone Injections?

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Answer: What Can I Do About Lumps from Silicone Injections in Cheeks?

Answer: What Can I Do About Lumps from Silicone Injections in Cheeks?

Answer: There is something to do for bumps after silicone

Answer: There is something to do for bumps after silicone

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