Anti-Wrinkles
Botulinum Toxin Type A (BTXA) It is a purified protein extracted from bacteria. It causes temporary relaxation of the muscle with longevity being between 2 and 4 months depending on dosage and personal basal metabolism. Regular treatments (every three months) can increase the longevity of the product as the muscle becomes weaker hence it will take longer to recover.
Common side effects include:
- Redness and swelling at the injection site usually subside in the next 20 minutes;
- Bruising may be present, people on aspirin, Vitamin E and anti-inflammatory drugs may be particularly susceptible
- Itchiness
- headache
- Burning sensation
- Swelling of the eyelids
- Double vision
- Dry eyes
- Very rarely nausea and/ or flu-like symptoms and blurry vision.
Complications include:
- Local muscle weakness including temporary droopy eyebrows and or droopy eyelids. This usually happens when the product leaks and affects adjacent muscles.
BTXA is not recommended in pregnant or breastfeeding women. There are some medications that can interfere with BTXA in the way the anti-wrinkle agents work.Therefore, it is important to tell your treating practitioner about all the medications you are taking, including any that you buy over the counter from your pharmacy, supermarket or health food shop. BTXA must not be given to patients who have had previous allergic reactions to BTXA or are allergic to any ingredients in BTXA; any patient with a medical condition of a neuro-musclar type such as myasthenia gravis and certain neurological disorders; or if there is any sign of infection at the proposed injection site.
Further treatments are required to maintain the effects, as the treatment results are temporary.
Results are not guaranteed as individual results may vary and sometimes re-treatment is required (further charges may apply).
Dermal Fillers
Dermal fillers, Skin Boosters and bio-stimulators products are made of sterile hyaluronic acid, a sugary chain that is naturally found in human skin and it binds to water creating volume in the areas that have been injected.
Common side effects include:
- Swelling lasts up to 4 weeks. For the lip area the swelling will be quite noticeable especially in the first 24/48 hours.
- Bruising
- Itchiness
- Redness
- small lumps
- Very rarely keloid scarring
- Cold sores reactivation when treating the peri-oral region, preventative treatment is strongly advised.
Rare complications include:
- Vascular occlusion, sign and symptoms include discolouration of the skin at injecting site or near it, pain that does not subside with painkillers, numbness, papules. In this case the health professional must be promptly notified, and reversal of the filler should initiate immediately by administration of medication Hyaluronidase.
- Permanent vision alterations
- Nodules
- Infection/abscess
- Granulomas
- Hypersensitivity reaction
- Herpes infection (cold sores) in patient with previous history
- Telangiectasia (visible blood vessels)
Some products contain lidocaine and must not be used on individuals with known hypersensitivity to lidocaine or amide-type local anaesthetic agents. Numbness cause by the lidocaine can last for approximately two hours post treatment.
Lifting Threads
Potential complications and side effects can be temporary or permanent and may include but are not limited to:
- Local Anesthesia risks
- Difficulty opening your mouth (usually temporary)
- Extrusion of a thread
- Infection
- Pain, which could persist
- Sensitivity to sun or other bright light
- Swelling and bruising
- Unfavourable result
- Headache
- Nausea
- Nerve damage
- Granuloma formation
- Facial asymmetries
- Puckering