Can I ask my doctor to inject saline in my face to simulate Restylane/Juvederm or is this useless?

For many years I have been routinely using either dilute saline or more often dilute injections of local anesthetics to simulate the effects of fillers and volumizers for use in the nose, temples, cheeks, and jawline. Since the consistency of the actual materials differs from that of the injected saline or local anesthetic, it typically takes somewhat more of the saline or anesthetic to recreate the actual effect of the injectable. Nevertheless, this is one of the best ways in the real world to give a decent impression of what the actual effects of treatment would look like. 

I think it would be best to approach it conservatively with small amounts of filler. Perhaps start with one syringe in the areas of greatest concern and reevaluate at 2 weeks. The juvederm and restylane are dissolvable if you really did not like it. I have never had to dissolve the filler for a patient when we have used this approach. 

This is a very good question. You can always inject a test amount of saline to give you a rough idea of what your filler results would look like. The saline is reabsorbed rather quickly, yet it doesn't give you completely accurate results of what your filler injections would look like. I would advise against this because saline injections still involve using a needle along with its associated risks of bleeding, bruising, scar tissue formation, etc. If you choose an experienced injector and view their before and after photos then you will get an idea of how skilled the injector is and how natural your results will look. Worse comes to worse, if you do not like your results with Juvederm or Restylane you can have it reversed with Hyaluronidase. Hope this helps answer your question!

You are a smart cookie. This is exactly what I do for my patients when I am not sure whether to use a filler in a certain area or not. Saline is safe and goes away in a day. RegardsDr. J

Yes you can do this, but I don't see a reason to.  The HA fillers you talked about, Restylane/Juvederm/Belotero are reversible and if you don't like them they can be dissolved in the office without any consequence very quickly.  More injections means more swelling and bruising, I would find a dermatologist who performs filler with cannula for the tear trough.  Then, you have almost no risk of bruising or swelling and if you don't like it, it can be reversed!  Simple as that.  Best of luck, Dr. Emer.