Restylane to lips with topical numbing cream in Fairfax Virginia

We have a brave volunteer and a beautiful woman, Jessica, with us. The reason she's here is to get a little bit of Restylane into her upper lip. She has a slight bit of asymmetry where her lower lip is more full than the upper lip. Now, the important thing is to consider the different proportions of the lips. Classically, you want the lower lip to be slightly fuller than the upper lip. But more women today like to have both lips the same size or even go for a more seductive, sensual look where the upper lip is even a little bit fuller. But you want to make sure that the upper lip does not overhang the lower lip because then it gives a real fake and plastic appearance. Most of the time when we do lip injections, patients choose to either have dental block, where I use numbing medicine to numb up the entire bottom of the face. Basically, the entire lip area goes numb for about an hour and a half or so, and it makes the procedure very comfort. However, some patients don't like that feeling of numbness that lingers for about an hour and a half or so, and they choose to have this on the local. In these situations, I use a little bit of topical numbing, which is a numbing gel, to help with varying the pain. So I use a little bit of numbing gel, which tastes like bubble gum, but it does definitely work. And I apply this not only on top of the lips, but I also apply it on the buccal mucosa. Helps a little bit, and it does take the edge off a little bit. Now, pain is so subjective. Everybody's got a different pain tolerance and pain level. Some people tolerate the lip injections without even flinching, and some people definitely choose to go with the dental block if they ever try this on the local. The beauty of it is, no matter what, it's a quick procedure and it does not last that long. The downside is that the lip is a very vascular area and bruising is a definite reality. So in addition to a little bit of swelling and a little bit of bruising, I always recommend to my patients that if they have a major party social gathering event coming up, not to do this the week before and to give themselves some time. However, most patients seem to be okay and ready to go and present back to work or school or their daily activities within about two days after this procedure. For this reason, Fridays seems to be a very common time for these injections as people get a chance to recuperate over the weekend. Now, as we talked in the previous series, we have lots of choices for injections, the two most common injections are Restylane and Juvederm. They're very similar, different companies. They last about six months or so, each similar in cost, similar in nature, slightly different in molecular bonding structure. They're both hyaluronic acids, and they're both very safe. They're already found in lips and in skin. There's almost no risk of allergy. I say almost because anybody can be allergic to really anything. But when there is a case of allergy, it's a reportable case and it's not very common at all. The other class of safe lip injections or fillers are the collagens, which have been classically around for quite some time. The problem with collagen is that they only last about two or three months, and most patients choose to go with something that lasts a little bit longer. Finally, there's other choices, such as Artifil Radiesse, things that last longer. However, I don't recommend these, although some people do inject these in lips because there is a 3% or higher chance of getting nodules and inflammatory problems. And I think that's just too high for elective cosmetic procedures. Lastly, there are lip implants, fat injection, aloderm placement and other choices, as well as lip surgery in forms of lip advancement, lip lift as well as resurfacing that enhance the lips. But in the most patients, especially in a young, beautiful patient that just wants a little bit of enhancement, injection of Juvederm or Restylane really becomes the most common procedure. So I take a little bit of alcohol wipe and I take off this numbing medicine that I placed on her. And again, we talked about with Jessica, she has great lower lips. We're just going to basically inject her upper lip. Jessica, go ahead and put your head back for me so it's not wobbling. Perfect. Now, Restylane comes in a sterile contain. You open it. It comes in two different sizes, a 1cc syringe and a 0.4cc syringe. This is a 0.4cc syringe. It comes with a very small needle, the same size as an insulin needle, and it's a clear gel. So the way I like to start injecting.