Can leftover filler be used on the face?

The recommended guideline is for fillers to be used in a single session in view of the risk of skin contamination.

There have been previous studies which reported no contamination of partially used hyaluronic acid fillers.

However, this particular study stands out. M Al-Haddab et al studied the potential of infectious contamination of hyaluronic acid fillers kept in storage (32.87–71.57 months after initial treatment). The study was published in April 2017 and reported that although no fungal or mycobacterial agents were cultured, 5 of 36 syringes were contaminated with bacteria commonly found on normal skin. He concluded that the usage of stored, partially used fillers carries a small but real risk of contamination.

Personally, I review patients 2 weeks after filler injections and would prefer to use any remaining filler at this point to minimise the risk of contamination.

I hope this helps!

Dr Edwin Lim

Hello CS

Thank you for your question again. Most manufacturers will recommend not to use leftover fillers as there is always a risk of contamination. However it is still a common practice in Singapore as some doctors will leave a bit of filler after the initial injection for touch up during the review session.

Personally I feel that it is acceptable to use leftover fillers as long as the clinic stores it properly to lower the risk of contamination. I will also try to finish using the product within 6 weeks. Hope this helps!

Regards,

Dr Jiwei Wu

This is a common question that many patients have asked me.

Personally, I review my patients within 2 weeks and use the remaining filler within this time period for the same reason that Dr Edwin mentioned.

I usually try to complete the filler injection in a single session, especially for Non-hyaluronic acid fillers like Radiesse. I am more cautious when storing and using this type of fillers because Non-hyaluronic acid fillers cannot be readily dissolved using hyaluronidase in the event of suspected infection.

Hope that this helps!

Regards,

Dr Justin Boey

Thank you for your question.

For all intents and purposes,

It is best to use the filler within 2 weeks.

The risk is infection, which is not a pretty thing. I hope this helps!

Thank you for the question. I agree with most of the doctors here. In my practice, I will use any remaining filler to topup for my patients within 2 weeks. After which, the filler will be discarded and will not be used for any other patients.

Hope this helps!

Best Wishes,

Vincent