What Happens when Restylane Wears Off?

Question

If you get Restylane injections and lets say you don't like the results or you just don't want to keep up with it. Is that a problem?Everywhere I see, they say every six months you need to do it again etc. I would just assume that after 6 months the fullness with go away. I don't want to get myself into something where my lips will look deformed after the Restylane wears off. Thanks for your advice.

Farbod Esmailian, MD · Answer

You do not have to keep gettng them injected if you dont like the result or for what ever the reason.  Once the restylane has gone away, your lips will go back to normal size and there are no issues.

Leila Kasrai, MD, FRCSC · Answer

Once the effects of your Restylane injection wear off, your lips will just return to how they looked before your treatment. There is no long term effect after a single treatment.

Jeffrey J. Roth, MD, FACS · Answer

There is the adage; the bad news is that it does not last forever, and good news is that it does not last forever. The Restylane gets broken down and the soft tissue usually goes back to its old form.

Joel Schlessinger, MD · Answer

Restylane is probably one of the easiest and most patient friendly procedures I do.  When it wears off, that is no problem and it will just go away gradually.
One thing to remember is that it is like an ice cube in your body.  It dissolves slowly and much like an ice cube dissolves in water.  So it doesn't go from there to not there in one moment, but over months and months.
The lips, by the way, are one of the most challenging areas to do with this product, so make sure you go to someone who is an expert for it or you could have a problem on your hands for six months or more!  Good luck!

Kenneth D. Steinsapir, MD · Answer

Dear Firepower
First I would say that the time frame for a Restylane treatment is more like 12 months or more. Treatment results tend to gradually diminish over time.  So it is not likely that one day you will wake up and find the effect has gone.  
Some treatment areas are a little more demanding that others. In particular having artful treatment under the eyes or at the lip edge is very important. How these services get done are very important to the aesthetic result. It pay to find a skillful injector. Liquidfacelift.com has a directory of highly qualified injector physicians and surgeons.
Finally, the beauty of Restylane is that at anytime, the material can be adjusted using an enzyme call hyaluronidase. This ability to adjust or alter a treatment after the fact makes this one of the most flexible means of volumizing  the face.

Tanveer Janjua, MD · Answer

Your lips will get back to their original size and form. There will be no permanent damage or scarring.
You might feel that lips have become smaller than original size. This happens usually when you get used to the new fuller lips and finally when Restylane wears off, you think your lips are smaller than original.
Regards

Monika Soni, MD · Answer

Thank you for your question. You don’t
need to worry because once the effect of the filler wears off your lips will
return back to its original form. There is no long term effect after a single
treatment. Best of Luck

David C. Mabrie, MD · Answer

Hi firepower84,
This is a great question, with a somewhat complicated answer. 
The short answer is:To maintain filler results you should repeat the injections at the midpoint of the filler treatment duration.
Here is an example: For fillers like Restylane and Juvederm Ultra that last 12 months you may overlap treatments by 6 months. After the third injection you may find the results lasting even longer. 
Remember of course you are also aging and losing volume over time and may need more filler to maintain the desired look.
The long answer is:Hyaluronic Acid (HA) fillers create and restore volume to the face in 3 ways:
1.     They physical volume of the filler.
2.     The physical volume of the water absorbed by the filler. 
3.     The collagen synthesis that is stimulated by all fillers. 
When HA fillers are injected, depending on the filler, different amounts of water are absorbed and this adds to the volume. 
As the filler is slowly degraded it turns into water and CO2 and is absorbed by the body. 
During the initial months, as the physical volume of the filler decreases, the remaining filler may absorb slightly more water, maintaining the same visible effects of the treatment. 
So at about the midpoint in the duration of the filler enough of the filler will have degraded so there is a visible decrease in the results. 
Finally, some of the newly synthesized collagen will persist even after the filler is gone. 
So in summary:
For the first half of the HA filler treatment, the results will look about the same. At the halfway point, the results will visually start to decrease. And because of collagen synthesis some of the visual improvement will remain long term after the filler has been degraded. 
You should consider re-treatments usually at 6 months intervals and should need less volume over time as results start to last longer. 
I hope this information was helpful.
Dr. David Mabrie

Hardik Soni, MD · Answer

Thank you for your question. You don’t
need to worry because once the effect of the filler wears off your lips will
return back to its original form. There is no long term effect after a single
treatment. Best of Luck

Jessica J. Krant, MD, MPH · Answer

Dear firepower,

	As everyone says on this page, for the most part Restylane and Juvederm wear off in 6 months to 12 months (be ready for 12), and on rare occasion (sometimes under the eyes), up to 2 years. That said, there has been recent research suggesting that injection of fillers can signal new collagen building in the injected locations, so there is a possibility of a longer term effect lingering, though probably not noticeable to the naked eye, if injections are only performed one time and then allowed to wear off.

	Good luck!

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