One day, I decided to get lip augmentation with a filler. I saw it as a temporary experiment to improve my appearance, especially since all the advertisements and doctors said it would dissolve within a few months.
I went to a clinic where a good acquaintance of mine worked. That made me trust the place more, thinking they had good specialists. During the consultation, the cosmetologist said the product was safe. Naturally, she didn’t mention that it contained cross-linking agents, which are toxic.
She asked if I had any allergy to lidocaine. I replied that I have had lidocaine before at the dentist’s office and couldn’t say I had any bad reaction. That was my only experience. She said everything would go smoothly. Honestly, only now do I realize how superficial and careless she was in her approach — at least in my case.
The filler was injected and for the first three days, everything was fine.
The Nightmare Begins
A few days later, I began noticing numbness. Around the fifth day, I went for the scheduled follow-up consultation and mentioned that I couldn’t feel my upper lip. The cosmetologist said that was normal and that the nerve sensitivity would return over time. I left the clinic feeling calm.
The next day, during the workday — right at the beginning — I started to feel very nauseous. I spent the next ten minutes in the bathroom, not understanding what I had eaten to feel so sick. Then my lymph nodes swelled up, and I literally started to suffocate. Things kept getting worse. My fingers went numb, my legs were ice cold. It was winter, so I thought maybe I had the flu or a cold, but when I got home, the symptoms intensified.
I called a taxi and went to a private clinic. There, they had to stabilize me urgently. The therapist said I was in a pre-heart-attack state. When I asked if this could be a delayed reaction to the filler, she said that shouldn’t happen.
Removing the Filler and Post Hyaluronidase Syndrome
After all of this, I wanted the filler out of my body. I began searching for options. I went to a surgeon and asked to remove the filler, but he said that’s what cosmetologists do. What a shame.
The nightmare only continued.
I decided to get hyaluronidase injections to dissolve the filler. I had 4 sessions in total with a combined dose of 150 units. An MRI and ultrasound showed that the filler was in the tissue around the lips. This is common, see here.
After getting hyaluronidase injections, I started experiencing wild pain all over my face. My head hurt — and it wasn’t the kind of headache anyone might get. My neck turned to stone. It hurt to open my mouth just to eat or brush my teeth. I did everything through pain. I went to countless doctors, got tests done at no fewer than ten labs, and eventually ended up with an immunologist. Based on my immunogram results, I had increased immunoglobulins and apoptosis in the tissues around the injection sites. She said my immune system was working aggressively due to an allergic reaction. She prescribed Glutaredox, Mexidol, and an adaptogen. That gave me some relief — but it didn’t last long.
The Unending Hell Created By This Procedure
It has been two years now, but my stone-like neck and neurological issues are still with me. My lower lip curls outward when I try to smile. I have had major volume loss in my cheeks and temples. It is frightening and painful. This crap literally damaged my tissues and nerve fibers. My hair fell out like I was going through chemotherapy. My body shrank to half its size. People who hadn’t seen me for a year told me I looked strangely and drastically thinner. Aside from the physical changes, I experience pain in my face and muscles. I am only 32 years old, but I feel like a helpless old man. I have facial spasms that sometimes force me to lock myself in my bedroom and cry my way through it.
All of This for Fatter Lips
The doctors deny these reactions are possible and the research says that negative reactions to either the dermal filler hyaluronic acid or the dissolver enzyme hyaluronidase are limited to the area closest to the injection site. My reaction to the filler developed almost immediately and affected my entire face and body.
The hyaluronidase, which was supposed to be safe and quickly dissolve the filler, made things worse. I only had filler in my lips and hyaluronidase was injected only in the lip area to dissolve it. As you can see from my photo (and photos of other women), it affected my entire face. I now have depressions in areas of my face where there was never any filler. So, another popular medical theory—that such hollowing happens only due to overfilling—completely falls apart in my case. My cheeks were never overfilled. In fact, there was no filler in them at all. And yet, they have become, just thinned out.
This clearly shows a more systemic effect of the enzyme, possibly through blood flow, lymphatics, or neurovascular pathways. Many doctors underestimate that hyaluronidase is not just a “localized dissolver” but an enzyme that can spread beyond the injection site and affect surrounding tissues, including fat and even connective tissue.
Some people say it might be ASIA syndrome — when the immune system begins to attack the body’s own tissues. When I watched the video about Celine Dion and her stiff person syndrome, for some reason, I thought about myself. God, there’s so much pain in my body, so many symptoms, that in every syndrome I can see something that reflects my own experience.
Looking For Suggestions
I have seen dozens of doctors and they all ignore the symptoms. The gaslighting that I and the thousands of other women in anti-filler, anti-hyaluronidase, and anti-Botox community have faced from doctors is unreal. They don’t believe us and offer no help for recovery. I am exhausted and looking for help — this is my last hope. If you have a suggestion about how to regain my health, please leave a comment.
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Feature image: Photo by Sam Moghadam on Unsplash.
Reading this article was shocking! I’m very sorry about what has happened to you. What a nightmare! I can’t even imagine what you are going through. I am sickened that there aren’t more warnings regarding these common procedures (fillers and botox). They are not as safe as women are led to believe. I hope you can heal from this, so you can move forward with your life. Thank you for sharing your story and raising awareness of just how dangerous fillers can be. To have your face and smile ruined by lip filler is just heartbreaking. Sending hugs!
There’s a young woman in my MCAS group that’s been sick ever since lip injections.
She’s had OAT test and HTMA and she’s low on all the b vitamins and all the minerals. She frequently goes into a “frozen shock” she calls it, where her whole body cramps up painfully and has trouble swallowing. She goes to emergency every time and they tell her she’s a bit dehydrated but also it’s just her “nerves.” She only tolerates meat and a few vegetables. She’s microdosing b1 and magnesium and episodes are becoming less frequent.
Thank you for not remaining indifferent. Now every advice and recommendation is dear to me❤️