Many patients seek fuller and more sensual lips. Most plastic surgeons and dermatologists use FDA-approved fillers, such as Resylane, Juvederm, and other well-known and safe fillers for silicone lip injection removal. These fillers are not permanent and tend to require retreatment at least several times yearly. Some patients become frustrated with the short-term solution to lip injections and are looking for a permanent lip filler. Silicone liquid is permanent and is enticing to patients looking for a quick fix. However, silicone lip injections often cause major problems in the lips and face. Patients should be aware of the dangers of lip treatments with silicone and the correction options for lip injection deformities.
Medical grade silicone liquid is approved in the US for the treatment of retinal detachment in eye surgical procedures. It is not approved for lip injections. However, there are some less than honorable physicians who will use liquid silicone for lip enhancement by utilizing it as “off-label” use. This means that the safety and effectiveness of liquid silicone injections have not been proven in long-term scientific studies, but the doctors use it anyway. Silicone injections to the lips are commonly performed outside the US.
There are various forms of silicone liquid. Medical grade silicone is used by ophthalmologists for retinal detachment surgery and is sterile and pure. Industrial grade silicone liquid, utilized by non-physicians and extensively used outside the US, is not sterile, often contaminated, and may cause serious infections and reactions.
First, silicone injections look great at first. Patients love the softness and fullness which silicone provides. However, for a percentage of patients, the silicone migrates into clumps. It often causes inflammation and swelling. Nodules or lumps can form which are deforming and painful. Patients with silicone lip injections often have lips that seem to get larger over time as more swelling and inflammation develop to the silicone.
The problem with lip silicone is that it absorbs into the lip muscle, skin, and glands. There is no way to directly remove the silicone. Treatment involves reducing the bumps, nodules, and excess lip size. Biopolymer removal in texashas treated many patients with these problems with excellent results. The lips are often reduced in size if they have become too large with swelling associated with silicone injections.
Unfortunately, in lip augmentation injections and lip augmentation surgery, not all surgical results go as planned or meet the patient’s expectations. This can happen for a variety of reasons. The most common reason for revision of lip augmentation is asymmetry of the lips caused by scar tissue formation, infection after surgery or the patient had an implant that is extruding, shifting, or causing granuloma formation (the body's reaction against the material injected).