Artefill Granulomas 2 Years After Injections. Virginia, VA

Wow I am so sorry ! I had it done in December and am ok so far if you find something that works please post .

Check this out on Google:
"Medico Chirurgo Estetico,Plastico,Raffaele Siniscalco-SIMED-ROMA-Medicina Estetica."

He is a plastic surgeon in Italy removing granulomas with a laser!!!! He lists the phone number and address of his clinic in Rome. Have a great vacation and remove it!

Google search the Eufoton laser. It is used in Europe and not FDA approved yet. There are peer reviewed journals showing its efficacy. This laser melts PMMA, the permanent portion of Artefill. There are several videos of granuloma removal on Youtube with this laser. Just search "granuloma removal" on Youtube.

I was thinking of going to Italy to have mine removed but by chance I thought to purchase a home use machine. I have been treating my granuloma with a simple high frequency electrolysis home use machine I bought for $40.00. that I found on amazon. It sends a cold electric current into the subQ tissue. Well, I think it is melting the PMMA. My granuloma is 3/4 reduced. But, I have no proof. But for a meek $40.00 try it. It is supposed to kill bacteria and increase collagen formation. Buy an IPL lidocaine jell to reduce the pain from Amazon as well. It does zap and sting.
This is what I bought
"Project E Beauty D'arsonval High frequency direct for Home Use."
Do your own home work!! I am not promising anything. Buy whatever machine you like. I am not promoting this one. Probably many treatments will melt the PMMA. It is very small spheres of plastic. I have heard ultrasound does, which is a high frequency vibration that produces heat in the SubQ due to the friction. I suspect that any machine that causes collagen building related to heat will work.

I treat my granuloma once a week for at least 2 hours. The skin will get dry afterwards. I use a thick night cream on the area treated. I watch a movie while treating the area. It is up to you to determine how much and how often to treat your skin. And it is up to you to find alternative treatments.

Make sure you use a very very very heavy treatment your first time. Only treat one side of your face because you do not know what will happen. Be sure the bacteria is killed. The redness in your photo indicates infection. When you treat the area you can spread the infection by only treating the area lightly. I made that mistake on my granuloma and it swelled up and got hot.

Just plan that you are infected. If you read about this stuff, the bacteria is able to live on the product due to the lack of vasculature/immune system circulation. Your body cannot kill the bacteria hiding inside the product because there is no circulation within or into it. So, you will have reoccurring infection. You are lucky. Many people have deep granulomas. Yours looks superficial. This is a government study with suggested antibiotic treatment and it explains the granuloma formation and why. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3865975/#SD3-ccid-6-295

I may go to Italy.
Good luck!!!

I have numerous nodules from a product similar to Artefill (PMMA is the actual substance that your body is reacting to here). I had a product with PMMA injected, under different brand names (metacrill and linnea safe in my case). I have been through a year of hell, basically, trying to get these treated. Unfortunately, they have only gotten harder with time - and they have been unresponsive to most treatments.

I have had kenalog injected, like you, but it did nothing. Dr. Lemperle's suggestion is quite a lot of kenalog, and doctors refuse to inject that amount in the USA due to atrophy risk. (I had a few rounds of 3-4 mg each time...nothing like 40 mg.) I haven't been able to convince them to go above that amount.

Another treatment is 5fu. This is a chemotherapy drug, but it can be injected in small quantities (obviously a tiny fraction of what a chemo patient would get) - and through many injections, it may make the nodules reduce in size or stop the immune response. There is published, peer-reviewed, literature on 5fu for these kinds of nodules and granulomas. That being said, it did not work for me either.

The only thing that worked for me was surgical excision, though I lost a lot of skin and have a scar. A facial plastic surgeon may know how to take this out - but it's obviously going to require a top specialist since it is in an area full of nerves and muscles. You might be happy to know that the Season Premier episode of Botched on the E channel actually featured a woman who had (back market) filler granuloma nodules removed from her face. It was done through a facelift incision, though, which can be hidden. Her case was so severe that they needed to use a bone saw to cut the substance out, but they got it out. I don't know how they could take it out of your face without leaving a visible scar, though the face does tend to scar "well".

All of the antibiotics and anti-inflammatories have been a waste. I was on tons of things...doxycycline, a few medrol-dosepacks, cephalexin, zithromax, etc... I even tried accolate since that worked for scar tissue (supposedly) in breast implant patients.

Sorry this happened to you... I wish I never did what I did, either.

Hello! I feel your pain! I had Artefill in my NL folds by a board certified plastic surgeon 5 years ago. I absolutely loved the results! It was perfect! About 9 months ago I started getting lumps and redness in my folds- not as bad as the pic you show but very similar (mine are concentrated in one area on each side not all the way down). It makes me so angry with all the studies showing it is safe- it is not. There are long term effects. My plastic surgeon quit using it years ago and refuses to use Bellafill (just artefill re-branded so you can't sue). He can't believe the dr's pushing this crap- he is helping me for free. I had one lump removed (somewhat painful but only the smallest scar remains after a week) and he injected saline and broke up some of the smaller ones- not totally gone but much improved. He didn't want to inject steroids at risk of skin atrophy- which would be worse. We are going to re- do the saline in a couple weeks and then use a laser for the redness. I was very depressed also- I would like to send you a pic of my face but I'm not sure if I can do that in the comments. If you know how- I will send you one to show you that you're not alone. I'm a nurse and luckily right now I work 3rd shift in a home care setting so I'm not in bright lights. Please keep me updated as I will you. Best wishes- Carrie

Hi, i have nodules under my eyes from bellafill. Nobody in my area will treat me. How were your lumps treated? Im beyond frustrated!

Please report your complications to the FDA it is the only way to get this product off the market.

I’m so sorry to hear that.
That’s why I personally avoid artecoll or silicone injections in big amount in that area. I rather prefer juvederm ultra plus for that area. The only thing I can advise you based on my personal experience is the steroid injection and it takes patience and that area for some reason takes longer than other areas for the granulomas or bump to fade. Also be aware that steroids if is too much injected and if is injected without waiting the appropriate length of time it can create fat atrophy in the healthy surrounded skin tissue. I hear a dr I think he was from NY or New Jersey that he use electro surgery or a type of laser to treat fillers such a silicone or bellafill

I heard* Typo

Yes, mine too. It helps, but they keep coming back. We used some Radio frequency yesterday, seems to have helped as well.