I had a particular type of filler injected into my lower cheeks (substitute for collagen) by a beautician. It had a gel-like-look and the beautician promised that it would last longer than collagen injections, but the results are appalling. The filler is irremovable and my lower cheeks are flaccid and lumpy, and have been distorted for the last three years. Can this problem be fixed and how?
A.H.

Dear A.H.,
The use of fillers for replacement of tissue loss or to soften rhytides (wrinkles) is not a new procedure and can be dangerous in the hands of untrained personnel. Fillers have become a lucrative trade and many companies have been providing doctors with new materials that supposedly last longer or are better, etc. Alongside this are the counterfeits and the famous silicone injections.
The majority of fillers are irremovable and if there is a reaction to the injectable material (silicone, for example) such as swelling, then little can be done to rectify the situation. One obvious solution is to remove the material surgically. However, the foreign material will become embedded into normal tissue, therefore, to identify and remove the material alone is impossible. The removal will include taking out some filler together with normal tissue in the hope of reshaping the affected area evenly afterward.

Other than that, a temporary (but effective) solution in some cases is to inject the swollen area with steroid injections to reduce the inflammation.