I got my lips filled a couple of months ago and took you all along with me for the entire process (swollen, bruised lips and all). I debated getting lip filler for about 6 years and knew when/if I did I would want to be totally transparent about it and also share my experience because, in all honesty, I felt there was a lot that people don’t share. Keep reading for my experience, tips and general things to take into consideration before you decide to get lip filler.
Note: I want to add that while I’m being open about my experience and discussing all things “lip filler” that doesn’t mean I’m telling you all to get it. Whether you want to get lip filler or not is of course your choice and you are beautiful either way, I’m just sharing my experience and things I feel people should know before deciding if they want lip filler.
What kind of filler I got and why:
I decided on Juverderm Ultra Plus because:
- Juverderm products can be dissolved so if I hated it I could reverse it easily
- Ultra Plus is the longest lasting of the Juvederm products (6-12 months) and is generally the same price as the shorter lasting Juvederm fillers
What to do to make sure you get the result you want:
- Research the med spa and the specific injector you want to do your lip filler like its your JOB. You want to read reviews on both the medspa and injector and make sure their style of injecting is what you want
- Have photos of exactly what you want but also keep in mind that you’re going to have to work with your natural lip shape
- have photos of what you DON’T want. I think this is equally as important of having photos of what you do want
- Pick your filler wisely. If you just want something very temporary you may want to go for regular Juvederm but if you want something long lasting, something like Juvederm Ultra Plus may be the filler you want. There are also quite a few other lip filler options that all have their benefits so make sure you do your research and talk to your lip specialist about what you want
- You have to work with your natural lip shape. I naturally had uneven lips so I knew we would need more filler on one side. Make sure to keep your natural shape in mind when asking for what you want.
Things No One Tells You:
- Your lips might swell up like SAUSAGES and bruise really bad like mine did. People had mentioned swelling but no one said anything about this level of swelling and bruising! I couldn’t leave the house for 4 days and the only reason I could at that point was because I had discovered that arnica gel took down the swelling.
- 1 syringe of filler is less than you think. A lot of people get scared their lips will look too big so they get half or even less of a syringe thinking that a full syringe will make their lips huge but the truth is less than a syringe doesn’t make much of a difference. For reference I got a full syringe and had to add in another 1/4 syringe for touch ups after the initial two weeks of swelling went down.
- Just because a med spa charges more doesn’t necessarily mean its better. I’ve seen people get $800 filler and not love the results and others get the same filler for $350 and love the results.
What I asked for specifically to achieve the result I got:
- I wanted more of a pouty look so I asked for the majority of filler to go in the center area of my lips. I also feel like filled lips start to look unnatural when there’s too much filler on the outer parts of the lips so I wanted to avoid that.
- I emphasized that I didn’t want a “double lobed” lower lip but when we started filling, my lips just naturally started looking more double lobed. To combat this, we added more filler in the very center of my bottom lip.
- My top right upper lip was a lot smaller and differently shaped than the other side so we injected more on that side and actually had to use a different injecting method to make that side even with the other.
Tips for Afterwards:
- The ONLY thing that took down my swollen sausage lips was arnica gel. The tablets did nothing but for some reason the gel took down my swelling in minutes. When I got my touch up I applied the arnica gel immediately after and had zero swelling so I suggest applying it the second they’re done injecting
- Listen to what your injector instructs you to do or not do, for example, you don’t want to take any sort of blood thinner like ibuprofen as it can make bruising worse
Here is my before and after. This was achieved with 1 and 1/4 syringe of Juvederm Ultra Plus at Revive Salon and Spa in San Diego
