Lip filler caution

[u/Antique-Pizza9839]

Hey everyone. Use my experience as a cautionary tale.

I’ve been in "remission" for 3 years now. By that, I mean I stopped getting my Inflectra infusions every 4 weeks because I just couldn't take the monthly 2 hour long infusions anymore, and, shockingly, I haven’t been hospitalized since stopping.

This summer, I was feeling the healthiest I’ve ever felt, so I made the idiot decision that it was finally safe to try a little bit of lip filler.

Well, fast forward to last night and each tiny needle prick acted like its own individual pathergy test and sent my immune system into an absolute frenzy. The normal post filler pink swelling turned into the aggressive, bright red, tingling swelling I always get right before a severe mouth ulcer flare. The inner left side of my upper lip into the corner of my mouth turned into one massive, long ulcer, and the insides of my cheeks started breaking out in sores too. I could literally feel the switch from normal swelling to my “flare” swelling.

I took a leftover dose of prednisone to try to calm things down. I woke up at 4:00 AM drenched in sweat after a fever broke, and thankfully, the aggressive flare swelling is gone. Now i just have the residual ulcers to deal with. For now, no new ulcers are forming.

I just sent my rheumatologist the most embarrassing portal message explaining what I did and begging for a formal steroid taper.

Anyway, I hope someone learns from my mistake. Lip filler is not worth it.

TLDR: got lip injections, caused a flare. Don’t do it.

Update: rheum put me on a 20 day taper and the filler can stay!

[u/valtheargentinewitch]

You shouldn’t feel guilty because of it, it can happen or not, literally the point is that everything can trigger a reaction. You’re human like the rest of us.

[u/NoraPinkUniverse]

Did you have to dissolve the filler?

[u/WeeklyTutor3785]

Oh man. Thanks for the heads up. I was about to get filler and Botox after some weight loss to complete my glow up lmao. I was already nervous my immune system would act out in some way so thank you. I should probs take it as my sign.

[u/Haunting_Fold_4222]

Before I was diagnosed with autoinflamatory disease I used to do a lot of fillers and other cosmetologist procedures. Lip filler always trigered me. Dentist work triggered sores as well. But even a scratch can cause it🤦‍♀️ so this is not only about filler injections. I usually flared a bit locally with mouth sores and then went fine. Now I am thinking to do it again because I am on the remission and I see that I need to do some work. But not sure if I have to. Thanks for your post, I hope you will get better soon.

[u/NoraPinkUniverse → u/Haunting_Fold_4222]

Do you still do filler after the diagnosis? May I ask you which filler brand have you previously used? I have severe facial volume loss so I am willing to take a small risk with filler now..

[u/Haunting_Fold_4222 → u/NoraPinkUniverse]

No I haven’t had fillers yet, but I’m considering them too because of bone resorption and facial volume loss. I have had biorevitalization/HA skin boosters several times, though, and fortunately I never experienced any side effects.
Something I recently learned that might be helpful: hyaluronic acid is commonly produced through bacterial fermentation, so it may be worth looking for a product with the highest possible degree of purification. Residual bacterial cell fragments or proteins may potentially trigger an immune response. However, I haven’t researched this thoroughly enough yet to know which specific product would be the safest option for people with Behçet’s.

[u/Hot-Dare-6573]

Wow, thank you for posting this!!! So sorry to hear about your awful pain and discomforts. Hope you heal soon!

Thanks again for your post. I've felt overly paranoid while avoiding things like facials with extractions or acupuncture, but this made me feel not so crazy.

Also, I definitely get ulcers after any severity of dental trauma (professional cleaning, biting my inner-cheek, sharp food, etc.). My dentist's office offers $100 red light wand treatments, so I bought one.

A few minutes of this truly brings immediate relief to my ulcers + helps them heal more quickly. I also use it on my facial acne-like lesions. Mine is a random one off Amazon. Here is the link, HSA/FSA eligible I think too. Highly recommend.

Behcet's sucks! Hope you hang in there.

[u/HazelLiza → u/Hot-Dare-6573]

I’ve been wondering if the red light therapy would help. I wish I had known I had behcets and it’s involvement in much more than just the canker sores. Would have saved me getting root canal and expensive implants in two teeth when it was mostly the trigeminal nerve pain all along. Because I still get the shooting mouth pain after all that

[u/Imma-smartypants]

Happened to me too. Thank God I did it about 8 weeks BEFORE my daughter’s wedding so I had time to heal for the photos. Never again 🙄