Does Restylane Injections Hurt?

While some patients choose to undergo sedation in order to get fillers, its more typical when there is a large amount of product being used.  Injecting Restylane into your tear troughs to address dark circles or hallows will likely not require much product, relatively speaking - and therefore, not many needle pricks.  That being said, given your fear of needles, its important to understand that things have come a long way in terms of patient comfort and pain management with non-surgical treatments. Restylane currently comes in a formulation containing lidocaine (numbing medication) which numbs the area immediately.  To calm your nerves, you might consider speaking to your doctor about prescribing Valium prior to treatment (just make sure you arrange a ride home, as you should not drive).  

  It is difficult to treat a patient with a real, genuine needle phobia with injectable fillers.  Of course, you could have sedation but as stated by others, the cost of this could be prohibitive.  But if your fear is really of the pain more than of the needle, there are numerous techniques that can be employed to make this injection tolerable.  Certainly, I see no reason why you could not close your eyes during this treatment.   Do mention your fears to your treating physician and he/she will likely go out of his way to make you comfortable.

The most popular hyaluronic acid (HA) fillers, Restylane and Juvederm, both now come with the numbing agent lidocaine premixed in, and it is often added to Radiesse but doesn't come that way. With the use of some ice and good technique there is almost no discomfort. Important aspects of the technique are slow injection and what is called anterograde injection, which means that the product is pushed ahead of the tip of the needle; this leaves no room for error though so it requires some experience to do it consistently well. Ask for Restylane-L, Perlane-L, or JuvedermXC, or make sure your injector adds some lidocaine to Radiesse if that is your product preference.