If you’ve made an appointment for lip fillers, Hope Cosmetics wants you to be as excited as we are! Lip fillers are a safe, fast way to make lips more shapely, fuller and plumper. You can do a lot to prepare for your first appointment – here are three ways to feel better going into and in the days after your injections!

Watch What You Eat

In the weeks ahead of your appointment, you should make some dietary changes to help make the procedure more comfortable before and after. Here are the foods and supplements you should avoid:

Natural supplements that have the same effect on the blood, including fish oil and omega-3 supplements, Vitamin E, St. John’s Wart, Ginko Biloba, garlic and ginseng.
Alcohol, which also acts as a blood thinner, should be avoided at least a week before an injection appointment.
Avoid caffeine for at least a full day before your appointment.
Reduce your salt intake for a couple of days before your appointment. Fillers have hyaluronic acid, a natural substance in your body that binds to water. Lowering your salt intake reduces how much swelling occurs after your procedure.

Here’s what you can have before an appointment, including what we encourage you to eat to make it a successful, comfortable experience:

Try to eat leafy greens and celery before the appointment. A diet full of these foods increases the amount of vitamin K in your body, which is a known way to reduce and prevent bruising.
Drink a lot of water before getting the filler injections. Hydration helps the skin be plump before your treatment, assisting in the healing process.
It’s good to eat a meal and bring a snack to eat right before the injection!

Of course, you should have foods for after, too – for the first few days, choose foods that are easy to chew and aren’t messy – you don’t want to be wiping your lips and constantly disturbing the injection site.

Know The Medications To Take And Avoid

While we administer the lip fillers in a warm, welcoming environment, there can be a little discomfort during and after the appointment. It’s important to know what you can take before and what you can’t take.

Avoid all nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as Advil, Motrin, Aleve or Ibuprofen, at least two weeks before the procedure. These medications thin the blood and reduce clotting, which makes bruising more likely after your appointment.

It is okay to use Tylenol for pain treatment. Some research suggests that arnica pills can reduce discomfort and bruising after the appointment. You can start taking these pills the day before or the day of treatment and continue taking them until the bruising has disappeared.

Know What You Can Expect During & After Your Lip Filler Appointment

Before your appointment, we perform a consultation in which the practitioner does a thorough examination and discuss your treatment options and desired results. After talking over your treatment goals, ask your beauty practitioner for specific details of what happens during the appointment. What happens during a lip filler procedure, while straightforward, only occurs with your approval.

It’s good to know the process before making an appointment. For lip fillers, your practitioner will apply an anesthetic, then inject the dermal filler will be injected into the lips, using either a traditional injection needle or a device called a microcannula. We then massage the lips to make sure the filler distributes everywhere you want it, after which we apply cold packs.