Restylane for Eye Hollowing... but I Did Have Some Side Effects - Charlotte, NC

I wanted to post about Restylane for eye hollowing. I had this injection done about 2 years or so ago. I went to a medical spa. Everything went fine. I had no swelling or horror stories the day of. However, after a few days or so I noticed that I had a purple looking shadow under my right eye. I didn't worry about it and just covered it with makeup. No big deal. After about a year or so, I noticed puffiness starting to develop under this eye especially in the mornings when I woke up. Again, didn't think much of it b/c I was getting older. Yesterday morning I woke up and my eye was burning and felt really odd to blink and the skin under my eye right over the purple shadow was very sensitive. I took 600mg of ibuprofen and by 11AM everything was back to normal. I was a bit worried so I made an appointment that same day to see a plastic surgeon in my area... one of the better surgery centers. The doctor essentially told me that all of the product was still in there and whoever did the injection #1 placed too much product and #2 placed it too close to the surface of my skin. I asked why the product would not have dissolved by now and she said that it's different for everyone. She went on to tell me that I have 2 options: 1) leave it alone and it will eventually be broken down normally by my body and will go away but since it had already been 2 years and not much had been removed naturally, that it could take quite a while and 2) use a dissolving agent to get rid of it. I wanted to understand what the dissolving agent is and how it works. I was worried about putting something else in my body and having an even worse result. She explained to me (I'm paraphrasing here) that Resylane (which is HA) is essentially a form of glucose but is a larger molecule so it takes longer for the body to break it down and dispose of it than let's say a teaspoon of sugar eaten and deposited in your gut. The dissolving agent is an enzyme that will process the HA similar to enzymes you release in your gut to break down what you eat. I found this interesting b/c I'm insulin resistant and that is most likely a contributing factor as to why it takes so long for my body to break this stuff down and dispose of it naturally. Just as an FYI if you are reading this and don't know what insulin resistance is... the hormone insulin helps control the amount of sugar (glucose) in the blood. With insulin resistance, the body's cells don't respond normally to insulin. Glucose can't enter the cells and be used as energy as easily, so it builds up in the blood and eventually gets stored as fat. So, I decided to do the dissolving agent and the doctor and I decided that we would start with using 1/4 of what she thought was necessary. I was concerned about potential side effects from using the dissolving agent and she understood my skepticism. We agreed that I would come back after a week and see the results and if I needed more, she would inject more dissolving agent at no cost. I would advise anyone that is nervous about the dissolving agent to ask to do a little bit at a time. I had the dissolving agent injection yesterday around 4PM and it is now 9AM the following morning so not even 24 hours later and it really does look better. I still have puffiness which i think will go away with time. The purple shadow and bump that was underneath is gone. I have a little bit of a dent, but I think that will eventually look normal when the puffiness subsides. I also have a product I put underneath my eye that I got in Key West that tightens the skin immediately and when I put that on, there is no crepey skin or puffiness. I'll find the name of that serum when I go home and post it here. It's expensive and supposed to be used once per week but I will most likely use it every night until my lower eye lid tightens back up. I'll also update my results from the dissolving agent in a week. My advice is to please go to a plastic surgeon to get fillers under the eyes and make sure whoever does it has done it many many times and possibly teaches others how to do it... someone with experience lots of experience. DO NOT EVER go to someone that offers a groupon, livingsocial, etc. for this type of procedure.