Upon videos surfacing on social media of children self-injecting hyaluronic acid into their lips and skin via hyaluron pens, the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery Association (ASDSA) has issued a safety patient alert to outline its dangers.
“The American Society for Dermatologic Surgery Association (ASDSA) wants to alert the public about children buying and using ‘hyaluron pens’ to inject hyaluronic acid filler into the epidermal and upper dermal layers of the skin,” reads the release. “ASDSA members, who are all board certified dermatologists, have found questionable social media videos in which children use these pens to self-inject and promote their use to peers.”
Hyaluron pens were first developed for insulin delivery and harness air-pressure technology to deliver hyaluronic acid into the skin to temporarily “fill’ it with nano scale molecules of the acid, ASDSA literature explains. Further, because the administrator is not required to be a medical professional, hyaluron pens are prevalent in settings such as salons and medspas.
As Dermatology Times reports, marketing materials for these pens claim the devices are able to create volume and shape while lifting lips, nasolabial lines, marionette lines, 11 lines and forehead wrinkles.
“The illicit use of injector pens to inject non-sterile hyaluronic acid by teens has the potential to produce serious reactions including infection and tissue necrosis,” says Eugene, OR plastic surgeon Mark Jewell, MD. As with any type of cosmetic procedure, a consultation with a board certified physician will help avoid the risk of any adverse events. “Facial injections require an in-depth knowledge and expertise of anatomy and, when left to untrained consumers, pose the risk of serious injury,” adds ASDSA President Mathew Avram, MD.
Per the release, ASDSA is in touch with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with its safety concerns and hopes to work together on keeping medical devices in the hands of trained and properly educated medical professionals. Stay tuned to NewBeauty for updates.
