Risks or side effects from lip fillers, in general, are very rare. You may be swollen, tender and red for a few days, due to the injections themselves. But this will subside, and you’ll see your newly shaped lips soon after. You should also not drink alcohol or take blood-thinning medications for at least a week before and after the procedure. This can cause bruising. The most important factor in keeping you safe during this procedure is going with a highly qualified practitioner who knows what they are doing. Injecting the wrong type of hyaluronic acid product, for instance, can be problematic. Injecting too little or too much gel can also cause misshaping. Hitting a nerve, or going too deep can be unnecessarily painful. At our Vancouver-area skin clinic, only licensed doctors and nurses do any kind of injecting. They are also specially trained for lip augmentation (it’s not like you can just poke an area where you want more volume - the facial anatomy under your skin has to be considered). Before your lip filler procedure, we will ask you a series of questions in a consultation. It will be very important to let us know about your entire health history, including allergies or medications you take, even if you think they are not related to the procedure. We will let you know if you are not eligible for lip fillers (though, this would be rare). We will also let you know a full list of potential side effects. You should not receive certain dermal fillers if you are allergic to lidocaine (the anaesthetic commonly used in these products). However, if you know you are allergic to lidocaine, please let us know before your consultation, in case we have other solutions on hand. You must be of legal age to receive lip fillers. As a last note on this topic, we will say it is possible that a gel filler under your lips can move in the first days after injection (such as from sleeping on it too heavily, or rubbing it, etc.). For that reason, please do not touch, rub or itch the area, and do sleep on your back. If this happens, whatever you do - please don’t try to shape it yourself! Let us work on that. We will be here to help, and we can address the issue, if need be. Please see more on our website.