Not to worry though, lumps following a filler treatment are completely normal. The lumps you may experience are often caused by swelling and bruising of the treated area.
Lumpiness is very common to feel in your skin in the days after injection of dermal filler into the face, including the upper lip body and the cheeks and the chin area and along wrinkles and folds when injected to lift these. It will usually resolve within a couple of weeks.
Generally, any lumps or bumps that appear after fillers will disappear on their own within one to two weeks. Give the treatment a couple of weeks to improve, applying ice regularly.
The lumps will be assessed on their consistency (soft, hard, or rubbery) and whether they are tender to the touch. Soft lumps are the easiest to manage, as these are more likely just undissolved or clumped filler which your Provider can smooth with a firm massage.
If the lip filler lumps persist after two weeks, they can be evened out by injecting more filler around the lumps. Your injector can also use a small amount of hyaluronidase enzyme to dissolve lumps or to reverse the injections completely.
Thank you for your question, Massaging your face will not cause your fillers to disappear and massaging a lot may interfere with your final results. However, if you are unhappy with your filler/Botox results after two weeks, you can have the fillers dissolved with hyaluronidase.
Hard and tender lumps suggest that your body might have reacted to the filler. A mild allergic reaction can be sorted out quickly and easily by a prescription of steroids, which our aesthetic medical professional can provide you with. This prescription is available at most pharmacies.
While massage can sometimes improve mild symptoms such as moderate lumpiness or slight asymmetry, don't perform massage on your fillers unless instructed to do so by your plastic surgeon or injector.
The treated area will feel different after your injections. It will likely seem fuller than usual due to the presence of the filler and post-treatment swelling. Some tenderness is also to be expected, particularly when the cheeks and temples have been injected. These sensations usually subside within a few weeks.
Smoothing Out the Lumps
The good news is yes, those pesky filler lumps will in fact go away. It's actually quite uncommon for patients to experience any irritation or lumps following their procedure, but if you do, then you should expect them to dissipate after a few days.
If it is your first time getting an injectable treatment, you may have many questions about the aftercare and healing process. Lip filler may cause the treatment area to feel swollen, hard, or lumpy at first, but this is all part of the healing process, and the fillers will soften and settle over time.
If your lumps last longer than two weeks, they may have been caused by congealed hyaluronic acid. Although this cause is rare and uncommon, this can be corrected by injecting hyaluronidase into the lump. Hyaluronidase, like hyaluronic acid, occurs naturally in the body and is used to dissolve filler when needed.
When injected, the filler can feel firm or harden. This can be alarming for patients since most want their fillers to feel soft. Cheek fillers are one that can be somewhat firm, but not hard.
When you have had too much filler, then you may appear to have a bulging forehead, an overly pointy and sharp chin, and overly protruding cheekbones. Furthermore, the filler can stretch and weigh down your skin over time, which is known as filler fatigue.
Bruising may occur if an artery or blood vessel has become blocked due to filler injection. Bruising may range from a blue discoloration to a dusky purple-grey appearance. Swelling is likely to occur in and around the injection site if vascular obstruction is present, and may range from mild to severe.
DON'T: massage your lips.
Massaging freshly injected lips risks moving the filler around causing the possibility of desportation and undesirable results.
Fillers remain moldable for 1-2 weeks, and pressure can deform your filler.
The filler can take several weeks to soften and settle into your skin. This means that patients won't see the ultimate results of their treatment immediately. Although individual results will vary, many people achieve the full effect within two weeks after receiving their injections.
Whether you're choosing injectables to soften fine lines and wrinkles, plump up lost facial volume, or tighten up sagging skin, you can expect to see results almost immediately. * While everyone is different and individual results vary, most patients see their results within 24 to 48 hours after their injections.
After the 3rd day and before the 7th day post-injection, I recommend massaging any area with a visible bump, excess fullness, or asymmetry, several times a day, until it smooths out. This massage can be performed with a fingertip or the tip of a Q-tip.
Capsular contracture around tissue fillers is rare, but can occur. This is when a large bolus of filler has been injected and a capsule develops around the surface exposed to the host tissue. This capsule subsequently contracts creating a nodule or a lump that can be painful.
If it's a hyaluronic acid filler such as Juvederm or Restylane, it can be dissolved with hyaluronidase and it will go away within a couple of hours - and that's what should be done. If it is from Sculptra or Radiesse, it can be injected to break it up.
Even as the hyaluronic acid is processed by your body, healthy collagen and elastin grow at a more significant rate. This means you will see initial improvement nearly immediately. They will improve over six to eight weeks.