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Warning ‘pillow face’ becoming more common in Australia due to accumulation of filler

Cosmetic injectors and plastic surgeons say they are regularly seeing patients who want filler dissolved or who have developed an issue that’s becoming known as “pillow face”.

An increasing number of Aussies are getting lip filler dissolved because they no longer want to look “overdone”, as injectors also warn they are seeing a rising number of requests to fix an issue that’s become known as “pillow face”.

Melbourne plastic surgeon Frank Lin cautioned that it could be challenging to fix as people with the issue – where the face looks overfilled and stretched – had sometimes been to multiple injectors over the years and hadn’t kept a history of what types of filler had been put into their cheeks, under-eyes or lips.

“So sometimes it can be really tricky to start to think through that history of what they had done,” he said.

“What you’re talking about (when you ask about pillow face) is essentially it’s puffiness of the face or part of the face which might be out of keeping with the rest of a person’s features.

“There are many reasons for that but the most common is essentially the accumulation of filler material over months, or commonly, years that the patient’s had.”

He said that he traditionally saw the “pillow face” issue in people who were middle aged but because treatments were being started younger he also saw it in patients aged in their 30s or even late 20s.

Dr Rakib Uddin is seeing more people wanting filler dissolved.
Dr Rakib Uddin is seeing more people wanting filler dissolved.

“Sometimes patients have an awareness that there is a problem. Other times, patients perhaps don’t have as much insight, and they are coming to see you because they are changing a practitioner,” he said.

Currently in Australia, patients have to trust their chosen injector knows what they are doing due to the Therapeutic Goods Administration imposing strict rules that limit what information can be published on types of filler.

Melbourne cosmetic physician Rakib Uddin said he was seeing a rise in people wanting filler dissolved across their entire face.

He said his main clientele were aged in their 40s to 60s.

“In the last six months, or even the last year, because I do ultrasound which helps me to guide some of the fillers correctly, there are more people who want that treatment (of dissolving of fillers in the face),” he said.

Guided by ultrasound, Dr Rakib Uddin assesses a new patient who wishes to dissolve migrated and unwanted filler that was performed elsewhere in the past.
Guided by ultrasound, Dr Rakib Uddin assesses a new patient who wishes to dissolve migrated and unwanted filler that was performed elsewhere in the past.

“People are worried about having bigger cheeks, puffy cheeks and unnatural looks.

“If you look at some of the celebrities that are coming from North America, people tend to follow the trends and they see the criticism on social media of some of their looks.”

He said that overfilled lips done with a poor technique led to migration.

“Lips is one of the common areas that is getting dissolved, essentially because I think we are trending away from that overdone look,” he said.

“But people are also coming in wanting issues fixed … the problems happen when people go back to practitioners and say they need more filler in their lip and if the injector isn’t experienced enough they just follow what the patient says.

“What happens over time is because of the pressure, the filler tends to migrate in the lip so you see it from the pink part of the lip towards the white part and the border of the lip looks a bit heavy.

“The other problem is not just the filler, it’s the technique.”

Dr Lin said he would use an MRI or ultrasound to see where the filler was located and then use medicine to dissolve it, however not all kinds of filler had that option – so it was important to ask about it before you get it.

He said in some circumstances “surgical intervention” could be needed to remove the filler.

Originally published as Warning ‘pillow face’ becoming more common in Australia due to accumulation of filler

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Original URL: https://www.themercury.com.au/health/wellbeing/cosmetic-health/warning-pillow-face-becoming-more-common-in-australia-due-to-accumulation-of-filler/news-story/2d8ef1a1492a00c8d2b361c827d66b3d