What is the Recovery Time from Sculptra?

Sculptra is similar to most other injectables and seldom has any actual recovery time. You can easily go about your daily routine immediately after the treatment.  The only potential negative response is sometimes minor swelling or some scattered bruising. When bruising occurs, you might find you need some type of camouflage. Generally, most patients have very little bruising unless they were taking certain supplements or pain relievers within 10-14 days of treatment.

The bigger culprit in bruising is the patient's innocent use of over the counter supplements like Vitamin E, Fish Oil, St. John's Wort, aspirin, ibuprofen - all which are heart healthy, but make bruising far more likely to occur. The avoidance list is more inclusive than these noted, so checking beforehand is a good idea. We encourage all patients coming in for injections to refrain from these and other specific supplements or medications 10 to 14 days prior to their appointment. Check with your doctor to get a comprehensive avoidance list.

**Of course if you take prescription blood thinners, you should check with your prescribing physician before any discontinuance of medication and be certain your cosmetic physician is well aware of all prescription medications you may be taking.

Sculptra is a "volumizing agent" injected in a sterile water suspension. Mild swelling may be present for a day or two until it dissipates. The actual collagen volume production occurs in the month after the injection and is gradual in onset.  The recommended treatment dose per session is up to two vials per session. In my experience, the most noticeable benefit occurs after the second session (total of four vials), so patience is required when having Sculptra.  The majority of the initial treatment involves relatively deep injection along the skeletal framework of the face, so bruising can occur but is still relatively rare (assuming the patient has stopped aspirin, ibuprofen, fish oil, vitamin E, and herbal supplements).

In summation, Sculptra recovery is fairly rapid, but Sculptra results are relatively slower to unfold, requiring patience and understanding of the process.

As long as one does not have post-injection bruising, there should not be any downtime at all after a Sculptra injection session. In fact, there will be a nice post-treatment swelling that may last for a couple weeks that will give you a good hint of where we want to be when the production of collagen stimulation is completed several weeks down the line. Most Sculptra physician injectors will use lidocaine with epinephrine (which vasoconstricts) as part of the reconstitution for Sculptra preparation to minimize pain and bruising.

Sculptra is not an immediately gratifying procedure.  One has to be patient with the results of your body's production of new collagen as a response to the injection of the Sculptra material.  Usually it is done three times separated by six weeks.  The needle is slightly larger diameter than the finer needles of Restylane and Juvederm so there is a greater chance of bruising with Sculptra and in addition, the Sculptra is injected more deeply in the fatty layer than Juvederm or Restylane so there may be more brusiing for this reason as well.  Bruises are gone usually by two weeks, rarely longer.  Swelling occurs and is gone usually in several days. Taking arnica by mouth, an herb, may reduce swelling and bruising. Avoiding aspirin, and non-steroidal antiinflammatory agents such as Motrin (Advil, Ibuprofen) and Alleve, fish oil, garlic tabs, ginko, ginseng and other blood thinners may decrease the risk of bruising.

Because Sculptra involves several needle sticks, bruising and swelling can occur. This has not been a sigificant problem in my experience when the injections are down carefully and by someone experieced with this product. After a few days, the "fill" will go away as your body absorbs the liquid. Your body will then build collagen over the next 4-6 weeks, increasing your volume naturally. Depending on how much volume you need replaced, you may need 3-6 treatments done about 4-6 weeks apart.  Again, make sure your doctor is experienced in using Sculptra.