Dr. Sam Lam Plastic Surgery Forum

I was told after 1 round of silicone that (four weeks later) that I am having a reaction. The inside of my upper lip has developed a swollen ridge and the bottom lip has a few smaller bumps. My Dr injected Kenalog but also said that I could still get round 2 in a month but that she would use a smaller amount next time. Does this sound right to you? Have you seen this type of response before? According to her she has, and she said Kenalog fixed the problem.

Also, I wanted to mention that even with the "swelling" my lips are still not full enough. I came home and read some bad things about Kenalog so, of course, now I am terrified. When should I see the effects of the Kenalog?

hmmm, i have never seen a reaction to silicone. as you probably know, injecting one round when someone is my patient typically creates almost a nothing result because you are supposed to give very little product each time so that you do not see bumps or lumpiness. i tell my patients that it takes 2 to 4 rounds to get a result. also, i personally hate kenalog since i don't think it fixes anything but causes more problems with atrophy since you should not be having a "reaction" to silicone since it is bioinert. if you have lumpiness that does not go away the excess product needs to be cut out. those are my thoughts.
best,
sml

That is what I was thinking. I think the bumps on my lower lip are from bad technique. It was done by tunneling. The ridges are on the inside of my upper lip and can't be seen so I canlive with them. My question is, if the bumps on the bottom are from too much then not enough, could more silicone be added in between the bumps to level it out? I guess what I am really asking is if since my lips aren't too large, could they be fixed with more silicone in the depressed places or would that make it worse? Also, when should I see what effect the kenalog is going to have (bad or none at all), a few days? A few weeks?

typically, if there are bumps and they are big then the answer is no. however, if they are very tiny then they could be covered by more silicone. if the first doctor created those bumps you might want to try someone else as that might be adding more bumps to the situation making the situation harder to manage. kenalog as i said really should do nothing for the bumps except risk lip atrophy and bigger problems. for scar tissue (which it is highly unlikely to be the case), it would take a few days to manifest. obviously, i do not know your situation. i am talking in generalities but it truly does not sound like scar tissue to me.

So how long would I need to wait after the kenalog to have more silicone? And no I was not considering using the same dr again.

i would probably wait a month but since i do not use kenalog that is a guessestimate. i think anything after a month should be fine.
best,
sml