Forehead wrinkle filler injection at spa, man almost went blind

After getting filler injections at a spa to remove wrinkles on his forehead, the 45-year-old man in Hanoi experienced severe pain in his forehead and quickly lost all vision in his left eye.

On May 29, Viet Duc Friendship Hospital reported a rare and serious complication of filler injections that could lead to permanent, irreversible blindness due to a change in the filler's composition combined with a new type of filler. A 45-year-old male patient in Hanoi was brought to the hospital with vision loss after forehead wrinkle removal injections at a spa.

According to the patient, he was introduced to a spa by an acquaintance to have his forehead wrinkles removed. The staff who did the wrinkle removal only said that "subcutaneous injection is very simple", so he trusted them because an acquaintance had done it before and introduced him to this spa.

Male patient nearly went blind after filler injection.

But after only 2-3 injections, he experienced severe pain in his forehead, his left eye quickly blurred, and then lost his vision. He immediately asked to stop the injection and went to the hospital for emergency care.

At Viet Duc Friendship Hospital, doctors determined that the patient had central retinal artery occlusion in the left eye, a serious complication caused by incorrect filler injection technique.

Despite being treated with the most modern measures, the male patient's ability to recover his vision is still very difficult.

Due to relatively timely treatment, doctors were able to preserve normal eye movement and levator muscle function, skin tissue, and eyeball organs recovered almost normally, without much impact on aesthetics or the patient's ability to integrate into society.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Hong Ha, Head of the Department of Maxillofacial Surgery, Plastic and Aesthetic Surgery, Viet Duc Friendship Hospital said: The type of filler used in this case is a mixture of slow-dissolving fillers, a combination of two types of fillers, one type that can be injected with a dissolving agent and one type that does not have an antidote for injection. Therefore, when an accident or complication occurs, the usual antidote injection can only dissolve the dissolving filler, while the filler without an antidote remains and causes complications that cannot be cured.

Associate Professor Ha emphasized that non-professionals often mistakenly believe that these are safe products that do not cause vascular occlusion, so they can be injected in all areas of the body. However, the forehead, bridge of the nose, and around the eyes are areas where the blood vessels are directly connected to the eye artery. When filler is injected incorrectly, infections, pus tumors, and tissue necrosis can occur.

Therefore, filler injection procedures must be performed by specialists who are well-trained in cosmetic surgery, facial anatomy, and injection techniques. At Viet Duc Friendship Hospital, cosmetic surgeons must undergo at least 3 years of specialized training to fully understand the risks and how to handle complications when they occur.

Source: https://cand.com.vn/y-te/tiem-filler-xoa-nhan-tran-tai-spa-nguoi-dan-ong-suyt-mu-mat-i769944/