How Painful Are Restylane Injections?

This does not have to be any more painful than two tiny needle pricks (1 per side) to anesthetize the infra-orbital nerves, and two needle pokes to numb the mental nerves, These can also be done via intraoral approaches after first numbing the mucosa with topical anesthetic like the dentist uses, making the injections virtually pain-free. Then your injector can enlarge your lips as desired.

If you like the look of Restylane-enlarged lips, you may want to consider dermal fat graft permanent lip enlargement, which can give you soft, sensate, natural, and permanent lip enlargement with your own tissues. Best wishes! Dr. Tholen

There are a few options for preinjection anesthesia. The most effective is perioral nerve blocks. We can numb the mucosa and then perform 4 injections and numb the upper and lower lips. This isn't necessary for most patients but is something we offer if you can't tolerate the infections. 

Thank you for the question.
There are many ways to minimize discomfort.  With Restylane and other injectable fillers, your doctor can apply a topical anesthesia first in order to numb the area.  Also, most hyaluronic acid fillers are now formulated with lidocaine to make the process as comfortable as possible.  Lidocaine containing fillers immediately numb the areas giving you a more pleasant experience.  Ice applied after the injection also helps.
Overall, most patients find the procedure very quick and comfortable.
As always, an in-person consultation with a board certified dermatologist with cosmetic training is the best way to assess your needs and provide medical advice. 

The lips are probably the most sensitive area to inject dermal fillers.  Pain and sensitivity can be improved with numbing cream or injection lidocaine in nerve blocks.  The product itself also contained lidocaine.  Sometimes icing before and in-between injections helps as well.  If you have had a rhinoplasty before the good news is recover from a lip injection is much quicker.  Unfortunately it is difficult to avoid a small amount of pain during the nerve blocks or the injection itself.  Good luck.  

Most filler injections are well-tolerated in the office with just a small amount of numbing cream (no numbing at all in some patients, depending on the area). When injecting the lips, we will often perform a dental block to ease the discomfort, but otherwise, a little topical numbing cream is usually adequate. There is still a slight amount of discomfort for some patients, but most everyone does quite well.
As with anything else, each patient is unique and some tolerate injections much better than others. We do everything we can to make the entire process as easy and comfortable as possible.
All the best,

The majority of my patients have not required a dental block and have tolerated Restylane injections well with out any type of anesthetic besides the lidocaine that is already mixed in with the product in the syringe. Many find that a topical anesthetic cream can reduce the discomfort of the injections and cold packs applied immediately prior to injection also help to minimize the discomfort. Once the product is injected, the lidocaine starts numbing the area. Although you will feel some needle pokes, most people find that once they go through their initial injectable experience, they now know what to expect and are not as intimidated with future injections.

Pain tolerance varies from patient to patient when
injectable fillers are used. In some
cases, patients are able to undergo the procedure without anesthesia, while in
other patients, anesthesia is an absolute requirement.The
lips have a high density of sensory nerves and for this reason are very
sensitive to pain.Pain thresholds vary
from patient to patient for a variety of reasons including anxiety.In some patients this procedure can be
performed without anesthesia, while in others, this would never be a
consideration.Based on your history,
quality anesthesia will be an absolute necessity for you.Multiple
options for anesthesia are currently available under these circumstances.These include topical agents, injectable
agents and drugs that address anxiety.In many cases slowing down the process and using these tools in
combination can make this a more comfortable experience.Topical
anesthetics are relatively easy to use.These agents are simply spread over the area before the procedure.They take approximately 10 to 15 minutes to
work and are moderately effective.The
administration of these agents is pain free, but doesn’t totally alleviate pain
from the injection of dermoid fillers.They can also be used intra-orally prior to intra-oral anesthetic
injections.When
using injectable fillers, nerve blocks with local anesthetics are extremely
effective.This procedure is performed
by infiltrating local anesthetic intra-orally in the area of the infra-orbital
and mental nerves.This effectively
provides anesthesia of the upper and lower lips and surrounding areas.This approach provides excellent anesthesia
which is almost instantaneous.Treating anxiety with valium is
also helpful when these situations arise.Using topical anesthetics prior to injecting and giving these drugs
adequate time to work is important as well.When injecting local anesthetics, it’s important to inject slowly to
avoid unnecessary pain.When these steps
are taken, treatment with injectable fillers can be a much more comfortable
experience for patient

With an adequate "dental" block, lip enhancement with Restylane should not be a painful procedure at all. One additional suggestion may be to ask your plastic surgeon if they offer topical anesthesia. The upside to topical anesthetics is less pain. The down side is that, in order to get maximum effect, the anesthetic must be applied to the skin for at least thirty minutes prior to the procedure. 

Our office typically will do a dental block before injecting into the lips.  We also give topical numbing medicine as well.  It is usually well tolerated.  Make sure your injector is well trained and experienced.

If a patient is sensitive to injections then I will apply a topical anesthetic prior to their Restylane injection.  If they are extremely sensitive I will apply topical anesthetic and a dental block.  I also will put ice on them to keep swelling and bleeding down.

I have found that many patients in my practice are not excited about getting nerve blocks for pain control in lip augmentation.  My technique now consists of topical lidocaine around the mouth before injection and then using a small blunt tip, microcannula to inject the entire lip.  An entrance to the lip is created in at the oral commissures and the entire lip is able to be enhanced though 2 small needle holes.  This has greatly reduced the pain and bruising for my patients.