Radiesse; Dissolving the Carrier Gel with Hyaluronidase?

Though Hyaluronidase is not typically recommended for Radiesse it can be used in the case of an emergency or severe case to try and ease the over correction.  More importantly you may have prolonged swelling or malar edema which in not the Radiesse per se but your body's reaction to it. 1.5 cc of Radiesse is not a lot of product. A teaspoon is 5cc. So it's hard to see how 1.5 cc could make your cheeks look over done. ( Of course without a photo it's hard to evaluate) Have you tried warm compresses or manual lymphatic drainage? These may be more helpful to try first. 

          Hyaluronidase can dissolve some of your own ground substance in a nonspecific action.  Kenneth Hughes, MD Los Angeles, CA

The carrier gel in Radiesse is water-based and normally is gone after about 2-3 months.  Hyaluronidase will only dissolve hyaluronic acid fillers.  Therefore, I do not believe that hyaluronidase will have any effect on the Radiesse injected into your cheeks.  

Hyaluronidase will not be helpful but there are methods that can help get rid of it quicker.  The safest method is aggressive massage to the product.  Your physician can contact the physician help line at Merz that may give some other suggestions.

Hyaluronidase will not dissolve any part of Radiesse. It can, however, break down some of your natural hyaluronic acid and decrease volume in your cheeks through an undesirable mechanism. The only eraser for Radiesse is time. 

The hyaluronidase will likely not help an "over correction" of Radiesse, I agree with Dr Naficy, that the total volume that you had injected does not seem like alot (one syringe), and that a picture would be helpful. Injection with hyaluronidase will likely break down your own hyaluronic acid , and could cause accelarated facial wasting. Going back to your physician injector is recommended at this point to express your concerns.

Unfortunately, hyaluronidase does not dissolve Radiesse (to my knowledge).  However, it can dissolve some of your own HA, which may make the appearance of the area less prominent.  I would urge, however, just massage and waiting for it to dissipate on its own, which it will (eventually) do.

Sorry,

Dr. E

Hyaluronidase or Vitrase is an enzyme that only works on hyaluronic acid. The carrier gel for Radiesse doesn't contain hyaluronic acid. 1.5cc is not that much, so it's hard to say that too much was used. The very unfortunate thing about Radiesse is that there isn't a counter product to it like with HA fillers, so I really prefer not to use it unless I'm injecting someone I am very familiar with who greatly likes the fillers I've done before. Ultimately, the product will eventually go away, but injecting hyaluronidase, in my opinion, won't have an effect because there's no HA filler or hyaluronic carrier gel present.

Radiesse does not have any hyaluronic acid in it. Therefore, hyaluronidase will not reduce the volume of Radiesse that has been injected as it will with products like Restylane, Perlane and Belotero that are made from hyaluronic acid.   Usually some anti-inflammatory drugs like Aleve or Advil, in addition to massage, will help soften the excess fullness until some of the product undergoes its normal shrinkage.