Before your Appointment

1. Please stop using topical Retinols, Glycolic Acid, Lactic Acids, Salicylic Acid and Tretinoin 5 days before your treatment. This will minimise pain and bruising. However, if you have been using these for a long time and your skin is likely to flare up without them, you do not need to stop them. If you are on Roaccutane, please get in touch before your appointment so we can discuss it and give individual advice.

2. Please stop using any Vitamin E supplements and Ibuprofen/Neurofen 5 days before your treatment. Please do not stop using any Aspirin (or any other medication) prescribed by your GP.

3. Laser treatments for the face, microneedling and chemical peels have to be avoided 1 week before and after the treatment.

4. Please do not drink alcohol 24 hours before and after the procedure.

5. Make sure you eat something before your appointment and are well hydrated. This prevents feeling lightheaded during the procedure.

6. It is advisable to take 1 g of Paracetamol (2 tablets) 30 mins - 1 hour before your appointment as it will significantly reduce any discomfort during the procedure.

7. Please attend the appointment alone. There is limited space in the clinic and anybody with you will be asked to wait outside the building.

8. Please come to the appointment with makeup removed and minimal jewellery.

9. Please note, we are not able to carry out any Dermal Filler treatments if you are due to fly in the next 3 days. This is because of the small risk of vascular occlusion in the first 48 hours. Wrinkle relaxing injections, Profhilo and Aqualyx are fine.

What to do after treatment

Get some Arnica tablets from any pharmacy, this helps with bruising and swelling. Please do not wear make-up for 4 hours after treatment. In the evening of the treatment, you may gently wash your face and use your regular wash and lotions. Please skip any retinols or acids for the first night. Do not sleep with pressure on the face and try to sleep on your back for 1 week.

If you are uncomfortable with the swelling, please take Loratadine/Cetirizine (normally used for hayfever) to help decrease this. If there is excessive swelling you may contact the clinic to obtain a prescription for steroids to help resolve your inflammation more quickly; prescriptions drugs are not appropriate if the degree is swelling is within normal parameters. Aside from this, there is, unfortunately, no quicker way to resolve swelling as it is a normal bodily reaction to trauma. Wash your face very carefully, applying no pressure to areas treated for 4 weeks.

What NOT to do after treatment

- No strenuous exercise or gardening for at least 1 week.

- Do not massage the area treated for the first 4 weeks following treatment.

- No facials or waxing for the first 2 weeks.

- Do not take aspirin, ibuprofen or other anti-inflammatory medication for 24 hours after treatment as this may increase bruising. You may take paracetamol or codeine if you are uncomfortable.

- Do not consume alcohol for 24 hours after receiving treatment. This increases the risk of bruising.

- Do not have a sauna, hot tub or go in a tanning booth for 2 weeks after treatment.

- Do not have radiofrequency, IPL, laser or any other heat treatments near the treated area for 2 weeks.

The chin is really important for providing structure and support to the lower face. When the chin is weaker, the face can lack definition, which can be unnecessarily ageing or make the lower face look heavier than it actually is.

This can also leave people with the appearance of a double chin despite them not having much excess fat or skin in the area. By bringing the chin forward, we are able to balance it with the rest of the face and make the area look more youthful and defined. If you feel that your chin and jawline lack structure, we will often do a combination of chin and jawline filler to help bring support and structure back into the lower face.

One of the things that often surprises patients about chin filler is how it can balance out a square or round face by providing length and structure to the lower face. It can also help balance out a prominent nose from your side profile.

Having a weaker chin can make the nose appear more prominent as the nose becomes the most protruding part of the face. If you are looking to transform and balance your side profile then chin and nose filler are often used together to return balance to the face.

We always look at the face as a whole as sometimes treating a different area to the one you thought may be the best treatment for you. It is also important because improving one area can sometimes make other issues more prominent.

Bruising and swelling can be significant for the chin. Some people can get extensive bruising down their neck but this is rare. The bruising and swelling is minimal on the first day, the following few days are the worst in terms of swelling. It is normal for your lower face to feel tight and restricted. Please give it 2-3 weeks to settle. We advise you not to wear makeup for the first 4 hours and avoid intense exercise for the first 5 days. Please see the aftercare section for more details.

Like all medical treatments, there are side effects and risks. Swelling and bruising are to be expected, as is some discomfort. It is also normal to have subtle bumps and irregularities when you first get fillers done, most of this is swelling and will resolve.

It is important to follow the aftercare to minimise migration risk and ensure the results last as long as possible. If you have a history of cold sores, any needles to the face can trigger a breakout of it.

So please inform us in advance if you have had any cold sores in the past year. There is a very small risk of filler entering a blood vessel and blocking off the blood supply to the skin. This is called a vascular occlusion.

As a medical clinic, we have all the equipment and enzymes available to reverse this and dissolve the filler. It is a condition that either happens during the appointment or in the first 48 hours after.

We give extensive aftercare advice and are available to get in touch within this period to dissolve it. We have also reviewed every single treatment we carry out in clinic to modify the techniques to minimise the risk.

Chin filler is particularly impactful for the appearance of the face from a side angle if you feel your face ‘slopes off’ below the nose; this is known as retrognathia and has varying levels of severity. If you feel your chin sits quite far back, the first step to treating this is seeing an orthodontist.

However, the filler can still bring the chin forward, and if there isn’t an orthodontic treatment or option available, this can still be a brilliant option for you.

Chin filler is also brilliant for anyone who would like to add more structure and definition to their chin and jawline as chin filler is often used in conjunction with jawline filler to help bring greater definition to the lower face.

Please remember, if you are carrying excess weight in your lower face the fillers may not be the right option for you.

They will not get rid of excess fat in the double cin area if it is mostly fat and not skin laxity. If you have a chin dimple, please bear in mind any chin filler will soften this. So if you are hoping to preserve the dimple, it will be very difficult to do.

Contrastingly, if you are looking to eliminate a chin dimple, in some cases it is difficult to get rid of it entirely as there is some tethering of the skin in the midline.

We always like to see our patients for a consultation before they have filler anywhere in the face because sometimes the best treatment plan may be different to what you envisaged. For example, some patients will come to us thinking they need filler in the nose when the treatment that would give them the results they’re after is a combination of chin and jawline filler.

If you have a history of anaphylaxis or allergy to wasp stings, fillers may not be suitable for you. This is because you are likely to be allergic to the filler dissolving enzyme. We always have to ensure we are able to dissolve the filler in an emergency (see below for risks and side effects).

You will see the results of filler immediately but there may be mild swelling that will subside after a couple of weeks to reveal your final results.

We initially undertake a thorough assessment of your whole face and chin to see if it is suitable for you and explain the extent of the result that is possible.

We then disinfect the area and mark out the areas for injection. We use a firm filler that lasts 12-18 months and use either a needle or cannula to inject the filler. When injected with the needle it has to sit on the bone.

A cannula is a blunt tip instrument that looks like a needle but causes less bruising and swelling. It is inserted through a hole created by a needle. Sometimes we use a combination of both.

At LR MediClinic we believe in building up results slowly as the difference of a few millimetres can change the final look. So there may be numerous needle entry points but the discomfort is very manageable as the filler has local anaesthetic within it which numbs the area

On average facial fillers will last for 12-18 months. However, this is an average time and for some people, the filler may dissolve more quickly because of their metabolism and for some people it may last longer. We find that with subsequent treatments, the results often last longer. After the first 2 sessions you may find you do not need to come back for a few years.

There is very minimal pain for chin filler and numbing cream isn’t usually needed. If you are apprehensive about pain or have a low threshold to pain, please ensure you take 1g of Paracetamol 1 hour before the procedure and inform the clinician so we can use numbing cream.