Excellent Outcome with Juvederm for Marionette Lines -Ocean Springs, MS

After about 3 months, all of the Juverderm in my face had disappeared. No lasting bruising or other unwanted side effects--just a total loss of product. Needless to say, I won't be doing this again.

I got my Juvederm injections on Sept. 18. It's now about 2 months later, and I can see the Juvederm disappearing from week to week. The folds (marionette lines) that I got filled in are returning already, and it doesn't appear that I will get 9 months out of the Juvederm, as I had thought.

On 9/18/13, I finally took the plunge. I got Juvederm injectected into my marionette lines, as well as a tiny fold above my right lip (there was no fold above my left lip), and a faint line around my mouth on the left side (there was none on the right side). My marionette lines were not equal--the one on the left was fainter but longer than the one on the right, which was a very deep fold. I had had these lines since my early thirties at least. My passport photo from 1993 (I was 48) shows the lines very distinctly.

My doctor was Forrest Wells, a plastic surgeon in Ocean Springs, MS, where I live. He explained exactly what he was doing. He first injected all of the areas to be filled with Lidocaine, which stung going in, but certainly was bearable. My face got numb immediately. I didn't feel any of the needle sticks to inject the Juvederm. He used two syringes ($600 each). He didn't think he could completely erase the lines in question, but he thought he could fill them in considerably and restore symmetry to my face. The problem that bothered me the most about my lines was asymmetry, which develops as we age. My face had been very symmetrical before, aside from a dimple near my mouth on the right side which had no counterpart on the left side.

I have very fair skin, which shows bruising immediately. I also have very oily skin--I have to use acne scrub at age 68--and I have no real wrinkles on my face, only the folds which were developing asymmetrically, probably because of weight gain.

My face began to bruise and swell up immediately. By the next morning, I had a red mark on one side and deep bruise marks (they looked black) on the other side (the right side, where much more filler was injected). The bruising and swelling increased by the second day, and I called Dr. Wells to report it. He asked me to come in and he said that my reaction was entirely normal and that the swelling would take about a week to dissipate. He said that I had outstanding results from the Juvederm, and that my facial contours would return to normal within 7-10 days. Right now, about 42 hours after the injections, I am very swollen and bruised looking and can't cover the areas with makeup--it won't help, can't even hide the deep bruising. I expected the bruising, and I was not alarmed by it. The swelling was another story. That alarmed me enough to have him check it out. I will continue to update this blog about my progress over the next couple of months.