My face is ruined - I am left with bulging cheeks

I have all this volume under my eyes and uneven balls in my cheeks. Do you see my before picks?

Hi Debs! I’m really sorry to hear that. I was in the same state a couple of months ago, so I truly understand what you’re going through. I even tried surgery, but it was all for nothing — a careless doctor left me with facelift scars (thankfully they’re barely visible now) and a €10k loan, just to remove maybe 5% of this stuff. I’ve done a lot of research and created my own “action plan,” which includes infrared sauna, serrapeptase, allopurinol, trace minerals, vitamin B12, pycnogenol, lymphatic drainage, and loads of water to flush this damp thing out of my system — and I’m honestly starting to see progress. Today, I visited my physiotherapist, who performs drainage for me and works on my scars. She felt something hard under the surface of my skin around my cheeks. After gently squeezing the area, a tiny yellowish, hard particle came out. I think my body is now getting rid of it in different ways, and that gives me hope — because believe me, I have it everywhere. In my case, it’s mainly along my cheeks, nasolabial folds, around my ears, and chin. These are hard granulomas located deep under the skin, surrounded by edema. Because of this, my face looks much bigger than it normally would — but now I can feel that the granulomas are smaller and the swelling is gradually decreasing, which gives me even more hope. I wonder if what you’re experiencing and referring to as "fat" might actually be edema. Have you had a skin ultrasound to check if you might have granulomas causing the swelling, which you might be mistaking for fat? The swelling is an immunological response to Sculptra, and it can be triggered by different factors: improper injection technique, too much product, insufficiently diluted product, or simply your body’s natural reaction. As long as the product stays in your system, the symptoms may persist — but the good news is, it can go away. I recommend checking your skin for granulomas if you haven’t already. Allopurinol is actually a great off-label solution for them — try googling it along with “foreign body granulomas” and you’ll find some academic case studies. I’m sharing this just to give you — or anyone else reading — a bit of hope. There are ways to deal with it, but it takes patience and strength. Heads up, and I’m sending you lots of good energy!

I suffer the exact same way. My face is ruined. It's been a year and a half and I see no change. Even if the collagen fades away, I fear my skin is so stretched out by now it will continue to sag and droop. I don't want to live anymore.

Hi Debbie,
I’m so sorry you’re going through this I know how overwhelming it can be. The remediation process often feels just as challenging as the initial shock of an unwanted Sculptra result.
I traveled to Korea for a procedure during the Christmas holiday that helped break up the hardened product in my face. I’m now about four and a half months into the healing process, and I’ve noticed my skin retaining moisture again. My face is much smaller than it was before, which has been such a relief. I do have some loose skin that’s a reasonable tradeoff after what I’ve been through but I’m grateful not to wake up feeling like I’m wearing a tight, dense mask of Sculptra every morning across my mid-face

Have you considered saline injections? They provided me with some short-term relief, even though the effect didn’t last. Sometimes breaking up the sculptra can make difference. I felt like when I stopped the saline injections the sculptra consistency would start becoming denser and larger in size.

Please stay strong, you’re not alone in this. I actually have an appointment next week with a highly reputable doctor who believes he can help with the remaining areas troubling me. I will share with you my journey. Seeing all these sad people on here is making me want to stay strong and get to the bottom of a resolution. I understand the feeling of not wanting to go on anymore because you feel like you look scary or whatever but you’re not alone and staying strong is gonna help a lot of other females out. I have noticed that the Asian countries have been spending a lot more time on ways to remediate the unintended effects of sculptura. do not shy away from looking outside of the United States most doctors don’t want to deal with this disaster and I don’t blame them. I was very impressed with my time in Korea, yes, there are negative stories, but their stories in the us as well. . We cannot say that one country is better than another. The horror stories don’t end from United States across the world. We will get through this, and I will continue to share my journey pictures are coming soon.

How are you now? Any relief?

Has yours gone down or gotten better at all?

it will go down some, give it a year unfortunately .. but it will go down, my has but my issues now is the skin around my eye that it left behind. so hopefully yours was done evenly. They need to get these treatment out of unqualified hands! it is horrendous that is it allowed. I was at a medical office, i assumed everyone was trained probably as they claim...