How can filler have permanently changed my lips?

[FreezerXbunny]

About 4 years ago during a period of poor mental health I made the decision to have lip filler.

I went to a medical professional who was/is supposed to be reputable. As my natural lips were small and I wanted bigger they said they would use a 'technique' whereby they add some injections to the underside of the top lip to give it some lift. I thought that was the standard procedure and said sure.

Some time later I realised what a prat I looked and contacted the practitioner to say I didn't like the side projection and wanted that to be fixed. He said he couldn't change that as the 'shape' is set at the first appointment and I got what I asked for apparently! (FYI I said I wanted bigger lips, not duck lips)

He said they'll go down on their own or I could pay £££ to have them dissolved. I opted to wait and let them go down by themselves as his attitude was poor and I didn't feel comfortable going back to him. He assured me that it was temporary and would most certainly go back to normal in time.

Only they didn't.

The volume decreased over a couple of years but the shape you see in the picture stayed exactly the same.

I accepted they weren't going to resolve on their own so I went to see a different (very professional and experienced) practitioner to have them dissolved and be done with it.

Once the process had finished and all of the filler had completely gone I was surprised to see that I still had the same shape to my top lip. How on earth is that possible? I asked the practitioner and she was baffled, suggesting it must be my natural lip shape as there was no filler left in my lips at all. She had done a very thorough job.

The dissolving agent dissolved some of my own hyaluronic acid and left my lips wrinkled which is to be expected to a degree if you've had filler in them for a long time, but i'm only 30 and it aged me.

I had to to have a very small amount of filler put back in (0.5ml) to smooth out some of the wrinkles.

So after all of that.. I still have the shape the first injector created the first time I had filler.

How could this have happened? Is scar tissue a possibility? What the hell did he do? 🙁

I’m sorry you’ve gone through this.

I wonder whether, despite what practitioners say, it’s never guaranteed that filler can be 100% dissolved. Nor can you guarantee where that 0.5ml you added was going to go - maybe it filled up channels created by the first lot of filler?

I'm sorry I can't offer constructive info on why the dissolving didn't work , but your lips are exactly the shape that a lot of women aim for these days .
I know you're not happy with the shape but they don't look out of place nowadays if that's of any consolation at all

Thank you, I think your suggestion is quite possible. I would like to think I'd have thought twice before getting them done in the first place if I knew there was a chance they would be permanently changed.

For some time I've toyed with the idea of making a formal complaint about the practitioner but I don't suppose it would go anywhere. He completely believes he gave me what I asked for 😵‍💫

It does make me feel a little bit less self conscious, thank you.

I don't really like the filled lip look but yours aren't bad, I think you should learn to love them

Thank you, I'll try!

They are a million times better than they were before I had them fixed. I'm not sure I could bring myself to post a photo of them then but they were truly awful.

The lady who dissolved and refilled them for me has done an amazing job considering the mess injector #1 made of them, I'm just a bit disappointed that the top lip will never flatten out again iykwim? I naively thought it was completely reversible.

I don't have much advice unfortunately, but I had almost the exact same situation and just wanted to empathise about how horrible it feels.

I had my filler dissolved but some had spread outside of the lip border and remained there. I saw a different practitioner who is known for natural results and had a waitlist of over a year! I was desperate for someone to just fix things back to how my lips used to be.

He actually refused to dissolve the remaining filler, saying it would look a lot worse if I did. Probably similar to how you had 0.5ml refilled.

It might be possible that you've had filler spread that hasn't then been dissolved and it is creating the 'shelf' around the lips.

His said in his experience, around 80% will see the filler dissolve naturally but this can take years. He also mentioned that lots of practitioners try to add height to thin lips which is something filler can never achieve (I wish I had known this before ever getting them done).

If it's any reassurance, my lips look very similar to yours and I've spoken to a couple of people about how insecure I feel. All of them have said that it's really not noticeable at all in daily life, it's just that it feels like such a big deal to me. As others have mentioned, so many people get lip filler now that it's not out of place and I don't think yours are truly that bad (although I completely understand how awful it feels)!

Op, you look lovely. Please post your pre filler lips. I know you say they were truly awful but I wonder if you’re too down on yourself. I get it, I was really hard on myself when younger. Now I’m old, I’m starting not to care at ALL. It’s liberating :-)

Yours look absolutely fine to me op!

I know someone who went for a more obvious look with hers and then couldn't afford to have them done all the time. She has got quite a noticeable and not what she wanted shape to her lips. They protrude a lot. She says she hasn't had fillers for many years so I do think they can maybe stretch a bit and then don't necessarily ping back? But this person I know irl is a lot older than you look and went for a more dramatic look, so think that makes a difference maybe.

Yours do not look bad - I actually really like them

Have a look at https://harrisclinic.co.uk/ and his work on Instagram - he runs two accounts on there, one is ultrasounds which often shows up migrated filler etc. Someone like him might be worth speaking to, to see what the wider options are.

I think scar tissue could be an issue, also you can't know for sure if all the filler is gone without an MRI. As you are only 30 your lips should re-plump with your own hyaluronic acid after a while.

Massage might help breakdown the scar tissue, google about facial fascia, you might be able to speak to a specialist therapist who could advise you. Really sorry this happened to you, people offering these fillers should be more transparent about how unpredictable the effects can be.

It might be possible that you've had filler spread that hasn't then been dissolved and it is creating the 'shelf' around the lips.

Yes that’s what I was thinking.

Remember that people aren’t only going to be looking at you from this angle. I’m sure it’s much less noticeable when you’re facing someone and when you talk and move your face.

Also some people pay £££ to achieve this look and keep it this way. You have it without the expensive upkeep!

In all honesty, I don’t think it’s fair to blame the original specialist for what you admit is a bad decision led by poor mental health.

The outcome isn’t what you wanted, but they look fine in my opinion.

Your lips now look fine in my opinion too. They do not look as if they have been filled. They look pretty.

It's called filler migration.

There is a great video on YouTube by the Victorian Cosmetic Institute that explains it perfectly.

Your filler will have moved to different places in your face.

The link above is the video but you can also search through his videos.

Aw thank you, I'm really sorry you've gone through the same. It really does make you feel so self conscious doesn't it? My partner took a picture of me and DS earlier and it was from my side profile and I thought, bloody hell, is that what people see when they're looking at me 🦆

It does help to hear others say it's not as bad as you think though. I'm sure yours aren't as bad as you think they are either.

It's definitely possible that some of the initial filler had spread outside and created the shelf. My dissolving lady only injected the hyaluronidase into the lips themselves, I might have needed a bit outside of the border but for whatever reason she didn't inject there. Probably like with your doctor she knew it would make it worse.

She's really good at her job so I do trust her judgement. I just miss my little flat lips 😣

I think they are the best they're going to be so I need to make peace with them and thank my lucky stars they don't look like they used to.

Are you leaving yours how they are now? I'd rather not get anything else in mine so I'm hoping the wrinkles don't come back when the 0.5 fades.

Have a look at https://harrisclinic.co.uk/ and his work on Instagram

This is the practitioner I went to see and mentioned in my post above, who would not dissolve any of my filler.

I'm very grateful for his honesty and definitely see his point of view, but I was pretty disappointed that I waited months to see him, got all excited that I would get my old lips back, and then left exactly as I'd arrived.

He told me that he only dissolves in the more extreme cases. He was very adamant that he would not dissolve mine.

It's annoying because he does very natural work and I almost went to him to begin with, but his waitlist was so long I went elsewhere!

Just wanted to jump in incase OP went down the same route as me and also ended up disappointed again.

Massaging your upper lip on the regular might displace more of that filler out into the face. The only risk with that is that you can't guarantee where the other filler will move too.

Crossed posts, thank you all for the replies and advice.

I'm going to have a look at the links and video now.

I really appreciate the kind comments. They've given me a bit of a boost this evening after I was feeling a bit rubbish and kicking myself for getting anything done in the first place.

I'm glad you're feeling better OP! We all notice things about our own appearance that others wouldn't think twice about.

I think you have the lips many women would die for so keep your head up and go easy on yourself!!

Leslie Ash was widely ridiculed for years because of what the practitioner did to her lips.

I don't know if you had the same procedure as her but she says that steroid injections helped soften the look.

www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-9609395/amp/Leslie-Ash-61-sends-warning-considering-lip-fillers-botched-procedure.html

I don't blame him for me making the choice to get filler as that's all on me, I was just really unhappy with the service, his attitude and what a mess he made of them to start with.

I'm still a bit confused by it all really, as while I'm sure there was some migration over time my lips were botched as soon as I left his office rather than there just being migration over time if that makes sense. He did a particular technique to give me this duck look, on purpose, because I said I wanted full lips. Big lips or whatever.

(Which I did want.. but I was thinking Angelina Jolie.. and I got Daffy Duck)

I was then gaslighted and told I got what I wanted when I most definitely did not.

Picture attached of injector #1's work that kick started this whole saga.

So yes, big improvement since the days of this picture, but there's still the hint of the protruding top lip.

Yes they’re so much better now OP. I hope you don’t mind me asking, but were they painful in the second picture? I always think they look like they would be but I’ve never known someone well enough to ask.

I don't mind at all. They were painful for a few days after I had them done, probably because he put far too much in, but they were painless from around the 1 week point. It's a wonder they didn't burst open by the looks of that picture. It makes me shudder.

Having them dissolved and refilled with the 0.5ml was completely painless in comparison.

They really are much better now than your second pic. I bet you look lovely