Dr. Lorrie Klein’s Blog

One of the side effects of treatments that involve injections is potential bruising.  This is often seen after filler injections, such as Juvederm, Radiesse and Artefill.  My advice to patients to minimize bruising as much as possible after these and other procedures that involve potential bruising is three-fold:

1. Avoid aspirin and all ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin, etc.) and naproxen (Alleve, etc.) containing pain medications, if they are not medically necessary, for at last 1 week before.  Acetominophen (Tylenol, etc.) are okay to take as it does not effect clotting as the other medications do.
2. Plan some time to apply ice to the treated areas frequently for at least a few hours after your treatment.
3. Take Arnica Montana, an herbal medication, that day and the day after.  The oral versions work better than the creams.  This herbal medication really does work and even comes in stronger, physician-strength capsules which are often available through your physician.  We carry it specifically for our filler patients to use.

Patients undergoing surgical procedures involving the skin, such as skin cancer surgery and plastic surgery also can benefit from this medication.   Always check with your dermatologist or surgeon before taking this and other medications before surgery.

See this week’s page to learn about how to reduce bruising after cosmetic procedures, such as Juvederm, Radiesse, Restylane and BOTOX.