People love lip filler – understanding the emotional rollercoaster of healing

Hello Beautiful Friends!

We hope that everyone is staying warm during these frigid days. We’ve been absolutely BUSTLING at the clinic these days and we are very grateful for all of our patients. Today’s blog post is about Lip Filler and the associated emotions that people generally go through after they get it. We sometimes remark that the emotional process that occurs after your lip filler appointment is very similar from patient to patient. I thought it would be fun to name these stages so I’m going to give it a go here!

Stage 1: The day before: Nerves and Excitement

You’ve done your research on all of the sites. You know what you want and you know what you really don’t want. Maybe you’ve saved some photos on your phone to show to your injector. You know that you shouldn’t be drinking alcohol or taking aspirin or anti-inflammatories in the days leading up to your appointment and you’re following all the rules.

Stage 2: In the Chair: Surrender

You’re here. You’ve made it to your appointment, you’ve had your discussion on expectations and post-treatment care. Your injector has clearly laid out her plan and now you can’t speak anymore because your lips are covered in numbing cream and you don’t want it to get into your mouth (numb tongue = no fun). You’ve decided there is nothing left to do other than surrender.

Stage 3: After the first few pokes: Surprise

Your injector has started and you’ve been poked a few times already. What stands out the most? It doesn’t really hurt. It must be the topical numbing cream and the lidocaine that is inside of the filler. Hooray for lidocaine. At this juncture, you consider yourself an experienced and legendary lip filler receiver.

Stage 4: Immediately post procedure: Stunned

You are handed the mirror and you look at your new lips. You think “I look so good but I’m also slightly panicking because this is a little bigger than I was prepared for and now everyone is going to know and I feel like I’m going to have so much bruising and swelling and I’m nervous to tell you all this because I don’t want to seem crazy because I’m not crazy I just don’t want to look overdone”. You calm down slightly because right away your injector tells you that what you are feeling is very normal and that your lips will go down by about 20% over the coming weeks.

Stage 5: The next morning: Panic

You think “what have I DONE?!”. You’re swollen, you think you see some bruising coming up. You were told to expect some swelling but this..this is not what you expected. It doesn’t hurt, but you start googling ‘how easy is it to dissolve lip filler’. You may or may not message your injector.

Stage 6: 2 days post injection: Alarm & Trepidation

Ok, so the swelling is slightly less. But you start to wonder what the heck are these lumps that you feel? You think, surely my body is rejecting this filler by turning it into hard balls in your lips. You worry you’ll never be able to kiss someone again with these lumpy lips! You start to regret all of your life decisions.

Stage 7: 4-5 days post injection: Relief & mild apprehension (simultaneously).

The swelling has really gone down. You notice there might be small dark bruises at some of the puncture sites. You still feel lumps (deep and superficial ones) when you run your tongue along your lips. You keep looking at yourself in the mirror, but you’re also relieved that you still have to wear a mask.

Stage 8: 10-14 days later: Adoration & Self Love.

It’s the end of the day and you’re about to wash your face with your favorite SkinCeuticals face wash and you catch a glimpse of yourself. You think: dammmmmmmmn self, I look GOOD. You lick your lips and give yourself a kissy face. The lumps are almost undetectable. You can’t WAIT for your follow up tomorrow. Your injector is probably going to say that this was her best work.

Stage 9: 1 month later: Planning.

The pandemic is over and we’ve all gone back to all the good things about our former lives (…if you can’t manifest it in a blog post, where the heck can you!?). You think back to your lip filler journey and chuckle at yourself for the rollercoaster of feelings that you had. Now that you’re a seasoned filler patient you start to think about the cheek and chin filler that was recommended in your global assessment. You glance up at your lips and think “…maybe I’ll ask for another 1/2 syringe while I’m there”…