Is Sculptra Safe for People with SLE and APS?

Thank you for your question. The safest thing to do is to have nothing injected.  You have to determine how much risk you want to undertake, and how important the cosmetic improvement is worth to you.  No procedure or injection is zero risk.  Thus, you have to decide what risk you want and the value of the benefit. No one will know with 100% certainty, what will happen. I hope this helps!

With retrospective analysis, people who developed granulomas after Sculptra injections were disproportionately more likely to have an autoimmune disease than ones without granulomas.  In reality, very few people actually develop granulomas.  It has been recommended by the company not to inject a person with autoimmune disease like SLE but it is still safe.  The theory is that the immune system is not normal and the reaction to the Sculptra is not predicatable with some over reacting and cause granuloma formation.  It's something you need to discuss with your physician and decide amongst yourselves.

Hi,

Since Sculptra works via stimulating your own collagen to develop in areas where it has been injected, I would shy away from Sculptra if you have a history of lupus. I have personally told patients with lupus that I would not choose Sculptra since having a complication of granulomas or a lupus flare is not worth trying to obtain an aesthetic result.  Your health is always more important than a cosmetic complication.

 

Warmly,

Dr. Liu

In general, Sculptra (PLLA) is a very safe product with very few side effects when properly injected.  Granulomas or nodules are very uncommon when the product is injected in the proper plane. In very rare situations, a granulomatous response is found.  Because the frequency of injecting this product in immune compromised patients is low, it is unclear if the incidence of granulomas is increased in patients with SLE.