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I want to preface this review by saying that I...
I want to preface this review by saying that I waited for 9 months before finally choosing to get my tear trough filler dissolved due to reading all the super-scary and negative reviews on here - but if I could choose, I would have done this long ago!
So, the history: I had been getting under-eye fillers with my old doctor for a couple of years. I have very hollow under-eyes (and flat cheeks) and after I started gettting Voluma in my cheeks, I decided to supplement that with Volbella in my tear troughs.
The first few times I had Volbella it was absolutely fine - minimal bruising and really filled the hollows. However, last June I started noticing a weird ‘puff’ under my left eye. It sort of made me look like a hound dog, with one really baggy eye. It actually accentuated the hollow circles around my eye.
What I didn’t realise was at the time I was getting the beginning of a serious sinus infection that would go on to last about 6 months. So I went to my doctor and said ‘Hey, I have this weird puff’, and so he added MORE Volbella to smooth it out.
Obviously the puffiness remained and got progressively worse, and when I was diagnosed with sinusitis I assumed the puffiness was part of that. So I just lived with it for 6 months, getting unhappier and unhappier as it was just so obvious - my face looked tired and weird.
Once the sinusitis was finally over, I decided to visit a different doctor - Bianca at the Cosmetic Skin Clinic - and talk to her about it. She agreed that I had possibly been overfilled or not injected deeply enough, and that the sinusitis could have caused more water to bind to the Volbella (a substance which is highly prone to taking on water anyway, and which she would never use for tar troughs).
She did say that if I can live with the puffiness then she would prefer to leave it, as using hyalase or hyaluronidaise can dissolve all the filler in our faces and I’d be a bit lumpy for a couple of weeks before I got refilled. So I lived with it, and continued to get Voluma in my cheeks and my lower face, which I was really happy with - but it still didn’t distract from my puffy tear trough.
So, last week I finally decided to bite the bullet. I was so terrified that my skin would go crepey and wrinkled, I’d lose all the volume in my cheeks and that I’d basically look pretty weird for a couple of weeks.
But Bianca was amazing - she was so patient and answered all my questions honestly, explaining that I would lose some volume but because I’m quite young (32), it would be super unlikely that I’d suddenly get one really wrinkly eye.
Anyway, she injected a really small amount of hyalase under my right eye (which wasn’t puffy, but did have a noticeable ridge from the Volbella) and also a couple of units under my left eye. She then massaged it in.
I am not kidding - when I looked in the mirror minutes later there was NO PUFF. The thing that had been on my face for months was finally gone! It was a little bit sore but I was able to put makeup on that evening with no problems.
The next day I noticed my right eye - which hadn’t been a major problem - was looking really puffy. Basically it looked like my right eye before the hyalase. So I called the clinic up (in a bit of a panic, admittedly) and sent them some photos. They called back that day having spoken to Dr Mountford and said the swelling was totally fine and normal. And lo and behold, the next morning that had all but disappeared.
It’s now one week on from the hyalase and I could not be happier. I had been avoiding mirrors up until now as I hated the way the puff made me look tired, weird and pretty unattractive. Although my tear troughs are definitely more hollow now, I am way happier with that than I was with the weird puffiness.
I’m going back next week to get my tear troughs and cheeks refilled - not with Volbella, I hasten to add - but I just wanted to make this post to let you all know that hyalase is not as bad as some people make it out to be. It has totally changed my life after 9 months of misery. I think you just need an experienced injector and to use the tiniest amount. I can post pics if anyone wants to see, too.
So, the history: I had been getting under-eye fillers with my old doctor for a couple of years. I have very hollow under-eyes (and flat cheeks) and after I started gettting Voluma in my cheeks, I decided to supplement that with Volbella in my tear troughs.
The first few times I had Volbella it was absolutely fine - minimal bruising and really filled the hollows. However, last June I started noticing a weird ‘puff’ under my left eye. It sort of made me look like a hound dog, with one really baggy eye. It actually accentuated the hollow circles around my eye.
What I didn’t realise was at the time I was getting the beginning of a serious sinus infection that would go on to last about 6 months. So I went to my doctor and said ‘Hey, I have this weird puff’, and so he added MORE Volbella to smooth it out.
Obviously the puffiness remained and got progressively worse, and when I was diagnosed with sinusitis I assumed the puffiness was part of that. So I just lived with it for 6 months, getting unhappier and unhappier as it was just so obvious - my face looked tired and weird.
Once the sinusitis was finally over, I decided to visit a different doctor - Bianca at the Cosmetic Skin Clinic - and talk to her about it. She agreed that I had possibly been overfilled or not injected deeply enough, and that the sinusitis could have caused more water to bind to the Volbella (a substance which is highly prone to taking on water anyway, and which she would never use for tar troughs).
She did say that if I can live with the puffiness then she would prefer to leave it, as using hyalase or hyaluronidaise can dissolve all the filler in our faces and I’d be a bit lumpy for a couple of weeks before I got refilled. So I lived with it, and continued to get Voluma in my cheeks and my lower face, which I was really happy with - but it still didn’t distract from my puffy tear trough.
So, last week I finally decided to bite the bullet. I was so terrified that my skin would go crepey and wrinkled, I’d lose all the volume in my cheeks and that I’d basically look pretty weird for a couple of weeks.
But Bianca was amazing - she was so patient and answered all my questions honestly, explaining that I would lose some volume but because I’m quite young (32), it would be super unlikely that I’d suddenly get one really wrinkly eye.
Anyway, she injected a really small amount of hyalase under my right eye (which wasn’t puffy, but did have a noticeable ridge from the Volbella) and also a couple of units under my left eye. She then massaged it in.
I am not kidding - when I looked in the mirror minutes later there was NO PUFF. The thing that had been on my face for months was finally gone! It was a little bit sore but I was able to put makeup on that evening with no problems.
The next day I noticed my right eye - which hadn’t been a major problem - was looking really puffy. Basically it looked like my right eye before the hyalase. So I called the clinic up (in a bit of a panic, admittedly) and sent them some photos. They called back that day having spoken to Dr Mountford and said the swelling was totally fine and normal. And lo and behold, the next morning that had all but disappeared.
It’s now one week on from the hyalase and I could not be happier. I had been avoiding mirrors up until now as I hated the way the puff made me look tired, weird and pretty unattractive. Although my tear troughs are definitely more hollow now, I am way happier with that than I was with the weird puffiness.
I’m going back next week to get my tear troughs and cheeks refilled - not with Volbella, I hasten to add - but I just wanted to make this post to let you all know that hyalase is not as bad as some people make it out to be. It has totally changed my life after 9 months of misery. I think you just need an experienced injector and to use the tiniest amount. I can post pics if anyone wants to see, too.
Provider Review
Bianca McEwan
Bianca is the best practitioner ever. She is calm, patient, extremely accurate and in the case of substances like hyalase, which have to be used with the utmost care, she is fantastic. She has also done amazing work on my cheeks and lower face. Compared with other practitioners I have been to, I look much more natural and I could really not be happier.