Home > Questions > Can dermal filler move after being injected? Dermal filler doesn't 'normally', move after treatment. Immediately after treatment, in certain areas of the face, I do gently massage the area/s that were injected to help mold the product and prevent lumps.
Although extremely rare, dermal fillers are able to migrate within the skin if consistent and adequate pressure is applied to them. For this reason, we advise patients not to get a facial, massage (on the treated skin), or microdermabrasion for the first two weeks following their filler injections.
Many of these videos recommend massaging your treatment area immediately following your injection—but this can be harmful. In some cases, we recommend our patients massage their fillers following treatment to smooth them out below the skin; however, too much massage too soon may cause the filler to migrate slightly.
Brown strongly warns against manipulating or massaging the treated area for the entire healing time which can be upwards of four weeks. “[The filler] is a gel and it can move if you're pressing on it,” she says.
In reality, fillers take up to four weeks to “settle,” according to Healthline. Different types of fillers can settle more quickly, and your lifestyle and similar factors can also affect the amount of time it takes to settle.
Give it time
Generally, any lumps or bumps that appear after fillers will disappear on their own within one to two weeks. Give the treatment a couple of weeks to improve, applying ice regularly.
During this two week period, the hyaluronic acid in your filler will settle into your dermal tissues and begin to interact with the water in your skin. This process will hydrate your skin and give you a healthy, youthful appearance.
It will almost always be clear to see if your filler has migrated beyond the lips. A plump upper lip and a lack of a definite boundary between the lip edge and the upper or lower region of the lip border are both visual signs of lip filler migration.
Treatment to remove Juvéderm and other hyaluronic acid fillers. Hyaluronic acid fillers, such as Juvéderm products (including VOLUMA and VOLBELLA), Restylane products, and Belotero, can be partially or completely removed with an enzyme called hyaluronidase.
Dissolve the filler with hyaluronidase enzyme such as Vitrase or Hylenix. These enzymes, when injected, will cause hyaluronic acid based fillers to completely dissolve within about 5 minutes, with repeated massage.
Lumpiness is fairly normal after dermal fillers. Most often this is due to swelling immediately after a treatment. This should resolve within a week but rarely can take several weeks to fully resolve.
With most types of cheek filler, you'll usually see some results immediately after the procedure. But it often takes several days and sometimes several months to see full results. PLLA results can take up to two to three weeks.
Massaging the treated areas can disrupt the dermal filler and cause the hyaluronic acid solution to move out of place. This can lead to an uneven or lumpy appearance.
Try to sleep on your back for 24-48 hours after filler injections. After that, you can safely sleep on your side without worrying that the filler will move with gravity.
Migrating filler can happen when injectable products are placed into the wrong plane. As Dr. Hahn explains, a thin plane – known as the pars marginalis and pars peripherals – separates the lip muscle (orbicularis oris), and injecting it into the wrong plane can allow the filler to move.
Is It Common? Juvederm migration is exactly what it sounds like. In rare cases, facial fillers like Juvederm can migrate to another site of your face within a few days of your injections. This happens when the filler moves before it has fully bonded with your facial tissue.
Over time, the hyaluronic acid in this dermal filler will dissolve just as your body's naturally produced hyaluronic acid does. It will be absorbed, and your results will begin to fade. You can keep your results seamless by scheduling a touch-up injection as soon as you notice a difference (or even before!)
However, it must be stressed, however, that filler does not migrate from one area of the body to another. What being discussed on social media is simply so-called migration of a few millimeters within the same anatomical regions where it was injected.
Even though the results of filler will be visible right away, migration can happen almost immediately, with a few days or weeks, or even up to years later in rare circumstances, depending on what the root cause of the issue is.
If your lumps last longer than two weeks, they may have been caused by congealed hyaluronic acid. Although this cause is rare and uncommon, this can be corrected by injecting hyaluronidase into the lump. Hyaluronidase, like hyaluronic acid, occurs naturally in the body and is used to dissolve filler when needed.
Because these injections stimulate your body's production of collagen and elastin, the final results of treatment won't be seen for several weeks. Even as the hyaluronic acid is processed by your body, healthy collagen and elastin grow at a more significant rate.
This happens when the filler was injected too superficially. Patient may take notice to the uneven appearance several weeks post treatment or 3+ months post treatment when the body starts to slowly metabolize the filler. Additional areas that can be “botched” are cheekbones, chin, marionette lines, etc.
Swelling will reach its peak at around 24-72 hours after treatment, at which point, it will begin to gradually subside. Occasionally, swelling can last for 1-4 weeks, but this isn't as common. Most people do see an improvement within 3 days.
➢ When you first look in the mirror after your injections the tissue may look distorted or uneven. The distortion / unevenness are a result of the injections and swelling in the tissue. THIS IS NORMAL. It will subside and look natural over the next few days.