Image Source: Jonathan Borba
Lip fillers are a convenient, non-surgical way to achieve desired, fuller, plumper lips. If you’re looking for answers regarding your queries of how long until you can work out after lip fillers, you’ve most probably already made up your mind of having the fillers. But if you’re new to it, then you need to know the basics of fillers first that are discussed in this article.
I have been getting fillers since last 3 years. And as I’m not a gym freak so I got surprised after finding out that it’s necessary to hold off on working out after lip fillers. You must consider it if you’re a workaholic or prone to swelling or bruising, and should abstain from exercise after fillers for as long as 24 to 48 hours to get optimal results.
How Do Lip Fillers Work?
Fillers are injected for filling the wrinkles or lines in the face where the volume has been lost. It can be with the age or in the areas where the volume wasn’t there originally – as in the cheeks. Besides, they are also injected into the lips to make them fuller.
Lip fillers fall under a type of lip augmentation. It is a non-surgical and temporary cosmetic procedure for getting desired lips. On the contrary, lip implants, lip lifts and fat grafting are permanent augmentation techniques that are performed by incisions in the lips.
Lip fillers mostly contain hyaluronic acid and collagen due to their potential benefits. Collagen rejuvenates the skin from inside while hyaluronic acid makes the skin fuller by reducing wrinkles. These chemicals shape and plump up the lip tissues. Besides them, numbing agent lidocaine is also present in some dermal fillers.
Image Source: skinlyaesthetics
Why You May Need Fillers?
It utterly depends on your personal choices. In some cases, lip volume might be lost over time, primarily due to excessive sun exposure, unhealthy habits like drinking or smoking or occasionally due to genetics too. This volume can be restored by getting the fillers done.
List Of Do’s And Don’ts After Getting Lip Fillers
Things To Do
Cosmetic surgeons instruct patients to follow some steps, right after getting filler injections:
- Do icing on lips either with ice cubes or with cold compresses. It would help alleviate swelling after lip fillers or any itching around the treated area.
- Drink more water and eat meals that need less chewing, to enhance lip filler healing process.
- Try to lie down upright and not put pressure on injected sites.
- Take any pain reliever by your physician’s prescription— if the pain doesn’t subside in a few hours— when the effect of anesthesia or numbing cream diminishes.
- Consult your doctor immediately if you face any severe side effects or allergies, despite taking all precautions and doing lip filler aftercare.
Things To Avoid
Side effects of dermal fillers might last for some time, even for a week too. So there is a list of things that should be avoided after getting filler treatment, for fast recovery:
- Don’t take any blood thinning medications like aspirin, ibuprofen or vitamin E or any herbal drugs having similar effects — else they can result in bruises in filler areas.
- Avoid touching your lips unnecessarily.
- Skin products containing some particular compounds like retinoids can cause displacement of fillers, as retinoids escalate collagen production, in turn stimulating skin regeneration. So their usage must be stopped for a while too, after filler treatment.
- Don’t drink alcohol or smoke.
- Excessive UV rays and sun exposure can also cause quick dissolving of fillers.
- Avoid taking hot water baths or saunas for a few days after the filler injections.
- Don’t put face mask to reduce the possibility of enhancing pressure on injected areas.
- It’s better to avoid flying for a few days as high air pressure in planes can slow down the lip filler healing process and worsen the swelling.
- Don’t apply lipsticks, right after having the fillers, to avoid the dislocation of filters.
- Most importantly, any strenuous activity or exercise after fillers and Botox should be strictly prevented.
Reasons Why You Should Prevent Exercising After Fillers
You may be wondering, ‘’ how long after fillers can I exercise?’’ Most fillers are said to last for over 6 months but you have to redo them if you’re a person fond of extreme workouts.
This is because immediate heavy exercises followed by fillers, increase the metabolism and blood flow. This is due to which hyaluronic acid will be less incorporated inside the skin. So fillers won’t retain for longer periods. Below are some more factors that I found after investigating on how long until you can work out after lip fillers:
Results Of Fillers May Subside Faster:
If you head to exercise right after having dermal fillers, its effects might lose effectiveness as the product hasn’t yet been completely settled inside the lips.
Vascular Occlusion Causes Bruising:
Exercises can cause gels in fillers to diffuse rapidly, causing blockage in blood vessels. This would increase the bruising on lips.
Exercise Might Cause Fillers To Move Around:
Heavy workouts involving high movement of facial muscles cause facial strain. As a result of which the constituents of lip fillers could migrate from their targeted areas. They might get diffused in different sites, in turn affecting the end results.
Infection May Occur:
Sweating caused by strenuous exercises can cause bacteria to move to injected lip areas, eventually causing any serious infection.
Pressure Might Displace The Fillers:
Fillers might also get displaced if any pressure is placed on the injected site. It could be done by roughly touching your lips or by sleeping on your face. So it should be avoided for thorough integration of fillers in lip tissues.
Working out After Lip Fillers: Things To Consider
If you’re a gym fanatic and are in search of some convincing answers to your questions like, then we’re here with some tips and precautions:
- Start with mild workouts, like pilates, jogging or yoga, that don’t cause breath shortness or sweating. When you feel your body getting used to the moderate exercises, then slightly increase their intensity.
- Increase water intake before and after workouts. This way the increased hydration would balance out the sweating caused by doing exercise after filler to some extent.
- Remember to wear high SPF sunscreen so that harmful UV rays of the sun don’t come in contact with your lips.
- Apply any light, chemical-free lip balm by gently tapping on the lips, before exercising. As a result, sweat wouldn’t penetrate inside the fillers due to the lubricant layer.
Cosmetic physicians advise not to perform exercises or any other strenuous physical activities for at least 4 hours after getting lip fillers, and to be on the safe side for 24 to 48 hours. But if you follow these tips, you can save yourself from the side effects that might arise from doing exercise after fillers.
However, do stop if you feel any allergic reaction or complication and immediately consult the physician to seek advice for how long until you can work out after lip fillers!
Image Source: Dane Wetton
What Are The Possible Side Effects If You Exercise After Fillers Too Soon?
A lot of risks are associated with exercising after lip fillers and other cosmetic procedures. Lip fillers alone, even if not followed by strenuous physical activities, have side effects that go away after a few days like swelling, tenderness, bruising or in some cases itching and rashes also.
Now the question arises, does exercise affect fillers? The answer is yes. Following are the possible complications that could possibly arise:
- Sweating during workouts can make lips dehydrated, causing lips to peel. Due to this, fillers would last for comparatively shorter spans in the long run. Sweat can also cause bacteria to enter the injected portion of the lips, increasing the possibility of allergies and infections there.
- High-impact workouts followed by increased body temperature and blood flow can add to the swelling. Besides, heavy exercises can result in breaking of some small blood vessels beneath the skin too. It would in turn worsen the bruising or redness in the lip area.
- People already suffering from high blood pressure should particularly avoid working out after lip filler as exercise can increase the chances of bruising and at times, bleeding in the injected sites.
Make sure to consider all the above-mentioned complications if you’re searching for – how soon after fillers can I exercise. We advise restraining from any physical activities until the initial swelling diminishes.
Tips For Enhancing The Filler Effects
Anybody getting cosmetic procedures wish to experience long-lasting results. Here are a few tips that you can follow for extending the effects of your dermal procedures, particularly lip fillers:
- Eat healthy: Add fruits, vegetables, cereals, pulses and lentils to your diet. Try not to eat processed, canned and junk foods to reduce the inflammation caused by the fillers.
- Avoid excessive sun exposure: Not only can UV rays speed up aging, but they can also dissolve the fillers — particularly the hyaluronic acid in them. Thus fillers can last a bit longer with consistent use of sunscreen.
- Stay happy: Stress isn’t good for health as cortisol hormones released during stress can slow down lip filler healing process. Meditation and taking a break from your busy schedule for a day or two can keep you stress-free.
- Do mild facial movements: Slight movements after fillers like smiling or frowning can cause the contraction and relaxation of facial muscles. It in turn would result in better penetration of fillers in the injected site and would extend the filler results.
- Follow your aesthetician instructions: Strictly follow lip filler aftercare recommended by the physician to experience the best results.
Final Thoughts
Till now, you might have figured out the answers to your most anticipated query if you’re considering fillers or Botox, i.e., how long until you can work out after lip fillers. Try to deter any physical activity or exercise after fillers to reduce the risk of post-treatment complications.
FAQs
It’s best not to use any lip balm or lipstick for over a day or two after getting filler procedures. But if you feel extreme dryness, you can use any light lubricant like vaseline. Apply it by patting on the lips gently instead of pressing roughly. Avoid any hard lip exfoliant or scrub also.
A few other things that you can apply topically to soothe the bruising and swelling after lip fillers are aloe vera gel, ice packs, arnica or vitamin K ointments. These ointments can reduce lip filler swelling stages by treating inflammation, bruises and muscle aches resulting from the dermal fillers.
Both Botox and filler injections have their pros and cons. You can choose which one suits you more by considering your preferred results, budget or whether or not you’re allergic to any of the ingredients found in both injections. Then go for the treatment after final consultation with your doctor.
The time span for which the lip fillers might last largely differs, depending upon their composition. Most lip fillers are known to retain as long as 6 to 12 months, while newer, improved versions don’t dissolve even after 2 to 3 years.
After this particular time frame, you’ll have to redo the fillers if you want your desired fuller lips or you can also go for other lip augmentation procedures, apart from lip fillers, like lip lifts, implants or fat grafting for permanent results. Physicians have reported that these cosmetic procedures last for shorter time spans in individuals who tend to do heavy exercises right after getting these treatments.
Of course, no. Filler treatments can delay the wrinkles and fine lines formation and help regain lost volume in desired face areas but can’t halt the aging process entirely.