Dermal fillers

We use hyaluronic acid fillers. Hyaluronic acid is a sugar your skin already makes, which matters for two reasons: your body eventually breaks it down, and if something goes wrong it can be dissolved.

The honest bit about how long it lasts

You will see “lasts up to two years” advertised. Here is the more accurate version.

Manufacturers' durations come from trials measuring how long the visible improvement is maintained. Independent imaging tells a different story about the product itself — MRI research has found filler still present eight to fifteen years after treatment, and there are documented cases of filler being successfully dissolved more than five years later.

How long it looks good for is not the same as how long it is in there for.

That is why we treat conservatively, why we would rather add at a review than overfill on the day, and why we will talk you out of stacking treatment on treatment year after year.

The risk that matters most

Every facial filler carries a risk of vascular occlusion — filler entering a blood vessel and blocking it. At worst this causes skin death, or permanent blindness.

We are going to give you the real numbers, because most clinics do not. Per treatment it is rare, often quoted at around 1 in 100,000, and every published figure is agreed to be an underestimate. But in a survey of 52 experienced injectors worldwide, 62% had seen at least one.

Both facts are true at once: unlikely to happen to you, close to inevitable across a career of injecting. Which is why what matters is not the odds — it is whether the person injecting you is prepared.

At this clinic, Dr Badri is a prescriber, so the reversal agent is on site rather than something that has to be obtained. We work to the Aesthetic Complications Expert Group protocol. You are given a number that a person answers out of hours. And if you report symptoms you are seen face to face the same day — not assessed over text.

The Aesthetic Complications Expert Group puts it plainly: “there are no safe areas of the face and all areas should be treated with the same respect and anatomical knowledge.”

What you must contact us about, urgently

Severe pain is not a normal part of filler treatment. A problem can appear hours or days later, not only in the room. Bruises fade when pressed; skin without a blood supply does not.

Other risks

• Swelling and bruising. Expected, and area-dependent — each treatment page sets out what is normal.
• Lumps and unevenness. Usually settle, or are correctable.
• Delayed nodules. Firm swellings appearing weeks or months later, most often triggered by something unrelated — dental work is the commonest trigger, followed by illness or vaccination. Uncommon, treatable, and worth knowing about so you do not panic.
• Infection. Rare, treatable.
• Dissolving has its own costs. The enzyme also breaks down your own hyaluronic acid, can cause volume loss and laxity, gives unpredictable results, and can itself cause a severe allergic reaction.

Not suitable if

You are under 18 — a criminal offence in England. You are pregnant or breastfeeding. You have a bleeding disorder, an active infection or inflammation at the site, a history of anaphylaxis or multiple severe allergies, or an autoimmune condition in active flare.

One thing you should know about UK regulation

Dermal fillers are not currently regulated as medical devices in the UK. Anyone can legally buy and inject them; there is no product licence in the way there is for a medicine. Government has agreed a licensing scheme for non-surgical cosmetic procedures in England and has prioritised the highest-risk procedures first, but as of August 2026 the wider scheme is not yet in force.

We mention it because it means the qualification of the person injecting you is the only safeguard you actually have. Ask us about ours. Ask anyone else about theirs.