For facial fillers, avoid the bridge of the nose, the area between the eyebrows, and the forehead, and do not go to an irregular injector just to save money

Of the people who went blind after a filler injection, more than half were injected in the nose, and next came the area between the eyebrows, the forehead, and the folds beside the mouth. More than 8 in 10 were given hyaluronic acid. Of the people who went blind, only 2 in 10 got their sight fully back, a bit more than 1 in 10 got part of it back, and nearly 2 in 10 also had damage to the brain. No rescue method works reliably right now, so avoid these sites beforehand.

Cost

No money. You only inject a different site, or you do not have it done.

Benefit

Cases reported in journals around the world, added up. From January (1) 2015 to September (9) 2018 there were 48 new cases of partial or complete loss of vision after a filler injection. The site with the most events was the nose, at 56.3%. Next were the area between the eyebrows at 27.1%, the forehead at 18.8%, and the nasolabial fold (the groove people call laugh lines) at 14.6%. In 81.3% of the cases the filler was hyaluronic acid. 43.8% had skin changes. 18.8% had a complication in the central nervous system (something went wrong in the brain). 10 cases (20.8%) got their vision fully back, 8 cases (16.7%) got part of it back, and the rest did not recover. The authors' conclusion was that the ways different places handled it differed widely, and no treatment has been shown to keep working.

Notes

These figures were counted case by case from cases reported in journals. They include only the people who had the event, not the total number of people injected. So you cannot calculate how likely 1 injection is to cause blindness. You can only see which sites have more events, and that afterward it basically cannot be reversed. The evidence is graded B for this reason too. What a regular institution does to lower the risk is already routine. First map how the blood vessels run under the place to be injected. Use a blunt needle rather than a sharp one. Push a small amount while withdrawing the needle. Have hyaluronidase (the enzyme that breaks down hyaluronic acid) ready beforehand. Each of these requires that the person doing it is a trained doctor. That is also the reason not to use an irregular channel. Before you do it, check it against item 2 of this section (check the facility license and the attending physician).

Sources · 1

1. Beleznay K et al. (2019). Update on Avoiding and Treating Blindness From Fillers: A Recent Review of the World Literature. Aesthet Surg J. doi.org/10.1093/asj/sjz053