7 Signs You’re About to Get a Bad Injection
Julie Ricevuto , Digital Beauty Editor |
When done correctly, fillers and Botox can take years off your face, but on the flip side, a bad injection can make you appear older, or worse—downright scary. Luckily, it’s pretty easy to spot the red flags that indicate a bad injection is heading your way. Here, New York plastic surgeon, Stephen Greenberg, MD, reveals the signs that usually accompany a bad injection appointment.
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Red Flag
#1: The room is dirty.
This may
seem like a no-brainer, but your dermatologist or plastic surgeon’s office
should be very clean. “The biggest red flag you should look out for when
heading into your injection appointment is a dirty injection room and injection
surface,” explains Dr. Greenberg. “Sterility of the needle, injection room
cleanliness and a clean injection surface is so important to ensure the safety
and general health of the patient.”
Red Flag
#2: The injector isn’t licensed.
“Injectables
shouldn’t be offered or performed by non-licensed practitioners or
practitioners of specialties other than plastic surgery or dermatology,” says
Dr. Greenberg. This is vital information to double check before your
appointment, mainly because a non-licensed practitioner might not be
experienced enough to give you the outcome you’re looking for.
Red Flag
#3: The office has limited product options.
Similar
to personalizing the placement of your fillers or Botox, the product brand offerings
should be personalized as well (some people react better to certain injectables
over others). According to Dr. Greenberg, “there are a great variety of
injectable products on the market FDA-approved to treat a variety of facial concerns,” so you should be able to choose the product brand that you prefer.
Red Flag
#4: The injector doesn’t specialize in facial injections.
Similar
to a non-licensed injector, doctors who don’t specialize in facial injections
might not have the experience to inject according to your unique features,
risking an unnatural-looking finish.
Red Flag
#5: Your injections are steeply discounted.
If a deal
sounds to good to be true, it probably is. “Many practitioners, often non-board
certified or of non-cosmetic specialties, will offer steep discounts to attract
patients looking for a great deal,” says Dr. Greenberg. “But in practice, I
have seen countless patients who price shopped their injectables and have encountered
issues that ultimately ended up costing them a lot more than their injectable treatment
would have been if they came to see me in the first place.”
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Red Flag
#6: The doctor isn't looking at more than just injections.
“A good
injector will spend his or her time with you discussing your concerns and
cosmetic goals, but a great injector will take it one step further by really
planning out not only today’s injection, but a treatment plan moving forward,”
says Dr. Greenberg. A treatment plan that includes future or sequential injections,
spa services or topical skin care product recommendations can treat your face
and skin in totality, making your outcome much better.
Red Flag
#7: Your doctor appears nervous.
When you’re
sitting in the doctor’s office being prepped for your treatment, your doctor
shouldn’t be more nervous than you are. If your injector doesn’t seem confident,
appears shaky, or inexperienced, ask for another doctor.
Other than unlicensed injectors "pretend" estheticians, beware of licensed plastic surgeons, yes, medical doctors, (MD's) who attempt to sell you syringes with labels on them that say, "not for resale purposes/sample only". In other words this is a sample that they received for nothing. I visited an MD who tried to sell me something she received for nothing when I busted her on it at a follow-up appointment she told me that today was my lucky day and I was getting this treatment free of charge. Can you guess why? In other words, carefully look at the products before they are put in your body to make sure you're getting what you're supposed to be getting and that it isn't something different or something that they didn't even have to pay for!!