Injectables and Surgery

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“Can I do both?” 

“Do I need to continue injections after my surgery?” 

“Well I’ve heard that I can’t have a facelift down the road if I do certain injections”

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I can’t wait to give you these answers!

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In November, I was fortunate enough to attend a medical conference designed specifically for specialists in aesthetic medicine, with attendees ranging from functional medicine, to dermatology, to plastic surgeons, and those just like me- Aesthetic Injectors. What made this conference so unique, was that it did not have large Pharma sponsoring the conference. It wasn’t infiltrated with drug company bias. That led to the ability for us, as global professionals in this field, to discuss things without (or let’s face it, less) bias.

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The fact that facial and oculoplastic surgeons were in attendance in the first place, told me one thing- there’s a discussion to be had about surgery and injectables together (Insert sigh of relief for my job security lol). Out of the three days of lectures and discussion panels, multiple top surgeons from across the country (and abroad), including Dr. Jason Bloom, Dr. Louis Bucky, Dr. Arthur Swift, Dr. Ben Talei, spoke on the rumors circulating that you can’t have surgery after injectables like filler or biostimulants (like Sculptra). Here’s what I can report back:

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“I think biostimulators (sculptra) or HA fillers, and I've treated a lot of patients from elsewhere and the same thing holds, so I think for sure injectables don’t really make facelifts more difficult.. I think it's a fallacy.”

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“When you get on IG and you see a bunch of surgeons saying “OMG fillers are ruining this”, I don’t believe it’s true. We do a lot of facelifts and we have dissected a lot of patients, etc, and they can look very natural”

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“Sometimes there are just patients who are just sticky, who have had dissections that are difficult, and you want to blame it on something”

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“I don’t think that a patient having had fillers is an indication that you need to do something other than your standard lift”

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“When you’re talking to patients about facial rejuvenation surgery, I explain to them that it’s not one and done, they’re still going to need injectables. And, even getting a patient back once a year to get a biostimulatory process (like Sculptra), is going to keep the results of their surgery going. It’s not like they say “if I get a facelift, then am I not going to need botox or filler anymore?”… I say “absolutely you will!””

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The Takeaways:

• Reputable surgeons nationwide support the idea of injectables combined with surgery
• Sculptra and HA fillers do not necessarily make a surgery more difficult
• Injectables can be performed before and after surgery in order to enhance surgical results 

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