3rd Time Around with Lip Fillers - Denver, CO

I've been receiving lip fillers for about 5 years now. I've done it 3 times and each time my experience is better. My first was with Juvederm and I had excessive swelling for about a week. I think it was partly due to the Dr.'s technique, and partly due to my lack of research (I did it on a complete whim post botox). The second time was with Restylane (close to a full syringe). I swelled considerably that evening after, but it was mostly gone the next day and I was able to work. I did a lot of reasearch then and took arnica a week prior, along with no drinking alcohol or caffeine for a week. I had one small bruise on my upper lip. Fast forward to NOW. Two years later once more and I've decided to do restylane again since my experience was so good with it vs Juvederm. I went to the same place (The Center for Cosmetic Surgery - Rejuvenate) and had the procedure done by the same injector (Polly, she is AWESOME). This time I prepped by taking arnica montana and bromelain for a few weeks leading up to my appointment. Also, no booze or caffeine. I even refined my diet considerably by not eating excess garlic, overly salty, sweet, or spicy foods. I've read that also has an effect on healing. After my first horrible experience, I probably went overboard on research ;) Polly had me ice and also applied numbing cream. We let that sit for about 15 min & she got to work. She used a full syringe and immediatly I loved the results. There was some minor discomfort during the initial first pokes of the needle, but the lidocane kicked in pretty quick. I will say it's pretty weird though feeling a need track through your lips.
As you can tell by my pictures, afterwards there was hardly any swelling at all, and no bruising! 6 hours after the procedure is when the most swelling occured. I iced & applied arnica cream (weleda 30%). It helped. I didn't sleep elevated & had very minimal swelling the next morning. I did notice one small spot from the needle in my top lip. But that was it! I'm LOVING the results and had such a great experience. Putting on lipstick is so much more fun when you have a little more real estate to work with!