Cosmetic Plastic Surgery Articles

A dangerous trend only seems to be gaining momentum: DIY injectables. Even though it’s illegal to sell hyaluronic acid fillers online, a growing number of consumers are ignoring the legal and physical risks, with many going so far as to inject themselves.

People buying facial fillers online and self-injecting is nothing new, but the growing availability of counterfeit fillers for purchase online coupled with social media tutorials that make it look easy to inject them yourself appears to be fueling interest.

Not all is what it seems

Almost as prevalent online are horror stories of the countless ways self-injection could go wrong when you lack the medical knowledge. A woman injects her lips with what she was told was Juvéderm—it arrived in a Juvéderm box, at least—only to later learn it was a counterfeit filler adulterated with silicone that she needed to have surgically removed.

A man consulted with a dermatologist after a filler he bought online and injected into his under-eye area looked lumpy and uneven. Even more, he also started having some sort of allergic reaction to it.

Another woman developed bumps on her lips from filler injected by a friend who offers such treatments out of her basement. An antidote was injected, but it wasn’t able to dissolve it, most likely because it was silicone.

If you think you need to scavenge through the recesses of the internet to find these products, you’re going to be surprised to hear that it’s so much easier than that. In fact, they’re becoming more prevalent on Amazon, even though Amazon maintains strict counterfeit policies. Amazon also prohibits the sale of dermal fillers. One search, however, yields plenty of hits.

A lot of these counterfeit injectables feature familiar brand names , like Juvéderm and Restylane. There are also no-name generic fillers, often listed simply as “hyaluronic acid filler,” which can be bought for under $100 on Amazon.

Some are legal products that have been stolen from unsuspecting licensed specialists’ offices, but the vast majority are believed to have been illegally re-imported from Asia and Eastern Europe.

Extraordinary dangers

One of the biggest risks of buying DIY Injectables online, counterfeit or legitimate but illegally available, is that you can never truly know what you’re getting. The packaging may look authentic but without the FDA’s stamp of approval, anything could be inside, including, but not limited to, adulterated ingredients, like silicone, and unsterile ingredients that can cause an allergic reaction or severe infection, which can lead to loss of tissue and scarring.

Even if the product is legitimate, injecting it on your own or having someone who’s unqualified do it for you carries incredible risk, including blindness and permanent disfigurement. As easy as those YouTube tutorials make it seem, injecting filler and Botox is very complex and requires intensive knowledge of the anatomy and physiology. Certified specialists train for years to learn how to inject effectively and safely.

While it may seem like a less-expensive way to get the change you’re after, the result of injecting yourself with a filler you’ve bought online can be life-changing and irreversible.

As many as 10 to 20 percent of women have inverted nipples—those that retract inward rather than protrude outward—according to one widely-accepted estimate, though there’s no way of knowing for sure.

It’s a congenital condition that usually occurs when breast tissue adheres tightly to the base of the nipple, enough to prevent it from sticking out. If you’ve had them from birth, inverted nipples are usually harmless, though they can complicate breastfeeding. If they developed later in life, it’s worth having them checked out. They can be a sign of a medical condition, like breast cancer.

Either way, if your inverted nipples are a constant source of insecurity for you, know that they can be de-inverted with plastic surgery. In fact, nipple procedures have risen sharply in popularity over the last few years, mostly as a result of a growing awareness that such a procedure exists. While more of them are being done than ever before, the increase isn’t necessarily disproportionate to a rise in plastic surgery in general.

As various before-and-after photos flood social media, it seems to be fostering a growing awareness of our bodies, which, in turn, is stirring a desire to improve our appearance, nipples included.

What to expect

As far as what the procedure entails, basically, the abnormally tight connections to the nipple are divided and the nipple is sewn onto itself. It’s a fairly straightforward surgery, though those with fairly large nipples may also need to undergo nipple procedures at a later time. Generally, it’s not recommended that the two procedures be done at the same time.

You should also be aware that your nipples may be more visible under your clothing—which is probably something you’re not used to dealing with.

A less invasive option

Sometimes a small fat graft or a filler, like Juvéderm Voluma or Radiesse, is injected under the nipple to help support the release and prevent the tissue from reattaching and contracting again. The injection procedure costs a fraction of the surgery, though the results are temporary, while the surgery’s are permanent.

Keep in mind, this injection procedure is different from the budding trend where hyaluronic acid fillers are being injected into nipples to increase their volume.

Use of injectable fillers is increasing year over year. And it’s not just the number of fillers that’s growing, but the number of places that patients are starting to request them, too: lips, ear lobes, hands, under eyes, pores, cellulite dimples, and, now, nipples.

For the most part, the industry has come out against nipple fillers. It’s not an FDA-approved use of hyaluronic acid fillers. Even more, it could increase the risk of nipple or breast infections and interfere with breastfeeding. All for a procedure that may be very painful and, best-case scenario, yield results that last only three to six months.