First Experience with Fillers - Walnut Creek, CA

At age 43 I felt my face was starting to sag! I received Juvederm XC for tear troughs and lips, and Juvederm XC Ultra for marionnette and naso-labial folds. My dermatologist feels that Juvederm is a good choice for a first experience with fillers since the gel is 'softer' under the skin compared to Restylane/Perlane, so we went with that.

OMG the pain and the tenderness. I can hardly touch my face and it's so grotesquely swollen and hot. Spent all my time just icing and taking Arnica, and texting bf (I'm not letting him see it lol). Wasn't hungry, felt nauseated and queasy. Had a tough time speaking; with the pressure of the lidocaine I really felt like my lips were about to explode... Getting to sleep was really tough. I would never want anyone to see me like this, they would freak. I hope I get my face back!

I forgot to write a bit about the whole experience. I washed my face and they took pictures from several angles and with different facial expressions; I went over what outcome I was looking for with the nurse who took notes. Then the nurse applied a numbing cream and let that sit about 15 minutes on my face. It was wiped off and I was handed ice packs and told to apply them to my face until the Dr arrived. The Dr then came to talk about what I wanted in detail and she did a good job of setting expectations. She then started the procedure by injecting lidocaine to all the sites; then she started with the Juvederm. She took her time and kept studying my face as she injected. For me the tear troughs were the most painful; overall it wasn't that bad on the pain scale although I felt like it took forever. She used a small needle to inject and changed it out once my lips were done. After the procedure she felt that I could have used another syringe but since it was my first time she wanted it to settle first and see how I felt about the result; she said she would schedule me back in a week to look at the result and top up if wanted. The nurse then applied an antibiotic ointment all over my face and I spent another 15 minutes in the room icing. I was given Juvederm-branded mini ice packs to take home with me along with some skincare samples, and I have a follow up appointment.