Having a plumper pout is more popular than ever and the clienté¨le is getting younger and younger thanks to a certain Jenner. So, I decided to find out everything there is to know about lip injections before you decide to go under the needle. I went as far as getting them done myself for the purpose of journalism (of course!). Luckily I went to the very best in Toronto, Dr. Torgerson, Canada’s top head, neck and face specialists who performs surgical and non-surgical procedures out of his beautiful clinic in the heart of Yorkville. He helped to answer some of the questions, like “does it hurt?”, that had me literally trembling before it all went down. It was not what I expected (to confess, I knew very little) so from experience, these are ten things you never knew about lip injections:
1. Does it hurt?
It is a needle, so you’ll feel a prick. “There’s lots of things that we can do to make it more comfortable,” says Torgerson. “The product has been infused with a local anaesthetic called Lidocaine. So you’ll feel the needle go in, but as the product goes in it numbs and so as a result your actual lips when you’re done feel even more huge because they’re numb.”
(It didn’t hurt that bad at all and I have a very low tolerance for pain.)
2. Is there an anaesthetic?
“To make that needle poke a little more comfortable is we’ll put a topical anesthetic on your lips.”
(I accidentally licked my lips and it made my tongue numb too! It was pretty funny.)
3. How big is the needle?
“We use new technology called a Teosyal Injectable Pen and the pen basically seamlessly goes in completely linearly and with the same pressure so when it comes out it comes out very slowly and evenly. Because you don’t have the pressure differences it cuts the pain down as well.”
(It doesn’t look that scary and he’s right, it went in and out pretty easily.)
4. What is the product made of?
“Ninety per cent of the market right now of injectable fillers are injectable,” says Torgerson. “Injectables can mean anything that you inject, like Botox for example. In most cases, injectable fillers are made out of Hyaluronic Acid. Hyaluronic acid is a natural type of sugar and its already in your body. It’s in your skin, it’s in your joints, it’s in your eyeballs. It’s kind of a space filler. So it’s natural.”
(Most of my creams have Hyaluronic Acid in them.)
5. How long do the injections last?
“For some people it does last a year. But for the average person I would say it’s about 6 months. But it depends on the lips. If you have a little more bulk to begin with, it will last longer. If you have a smaller lip to begin with and it will go probably last about 5 to 6 months.”
(I’m one month in and they look awesome.)
6. Are there risks or side effects if you don’t plan on maintaining them?
“Everybody has the same question. No. It’s kind of like having a baby. Your skin is going to go back to how it was, it’s living tissue. People think that it’s like, you drink the youth potion and you must keep drinking it or else you’re going to crack up and die.”
7. Is there such a thing as bad fillers?
“Oh my gosh, there’s lots of bad fillers. Look for quality fillers. There’s lots of companies out there that are cheap, and ripping things off, maybe they’re made in China. We call it “rich face” for a reason because it’s not inexpensive.”
8. How do you avoid bad fillers?
“Don’t have them done by a nurse or a spa at half the cost. You want to go to somebody that is using the cutting edge latest technology because there are products that are getting continually approved, and improved. There are three major companies in Canada with the best fillers to distribute are the brands Juvederm (Allergan), Restylane (Galderma) and Teosyal (Clarion- Teoxane). So when you’re making this decision, make sure you’re going to someone who’s reputable, who has a good reputation online, and they’re using good quality product.”
9. Will your lips swell up after the procedure?
“Hyaluronic Acid is in love with water. After you get this done it will suck up water from your tissue and it’s going to hold on to it for the biggest part, for a few days. It is going to swell, and feel hard. For 90 per cent of people it’s not that big of a deal. But there are a good part of the population of people that super swell. It will feel hard and puffy for a couple of days. So people with that sensitivity, if you have something going on the next day we’ll probably give you a magic pill like a steroid to take. And that helps take down the swelling very quickly.”
(Mine were swollen for two weeks. I seem to be part of that 10 percent. But by the third week they looked great.)
10. Can you kiss after getting lip injections?
A: Yes, you absolutely can. The first couple of days it is a little bit more sensitive, and so what I recommend is that when you go home you put ice on it. Then about 7 to 8 hours later you may notice ‘something’s going on’ and that’s when it starts to draw in water. And then it will get hard and swell. That’s normal.
(I did. And it kinda felt cool!)
