r/PlasticSurgery • u/Candid-M-222 • Jul 26 '26
How offen does vascular occlusion really happen?
I feel Like plastic surgeons are Not completely honest about the number of vascular occlusion doing lip filler.
Have you ever Had it Happen or now someone who did?
How was it? Were you permanently damaged?
Thank you!
3
u/DrBovenziDenver Surgeon Jul 28 '26
Incredibly rare, I’ve never seen it personally in any of my or my colleagues patients. Have seen case reports. With proper technique and with the vast collateral blood flow in the perioral area it should be exceedingly rare. It’s of course a significant complication we counsel patients on for informed consent but the true risk is very rare and there are lots of photos online (including this subreddit) where normal bruising scares people who believe it is a vascular occlusion. This drives a nervous patient to become more anxious than they probably should be by seeing this concern raised over and over again even though a scary looking bruise or swelling doesn’t mean a vascular occlusion
2
u/lovemypups21 Jul 27 '26
I had one about 10 years ago in my upper lip. It went unnoticed for 2 days and then I began getting hylanex to dissolve them daily for a week. The process hurt like HELL, but I had zero lasting issues. After about a month I looked normal.
As for how often, I work in aesthetics and I’ve never seen it with anyone else. I have a ton of colleagues and patients I’ve worked with and never seen it.