Cosmetic Question: Why can’t I get silicone lip and buttock injections here in the USA? It’s easy, it’s permament, and it’s done all over South America.
Cosmetic Answer:
Injectable silicone for medical use is not approved in the USA because of the problems silicone will cause you a year or so later. The lip injections look lovely at first, but in time, you will end up with hard, ugly lumps in your lips as your tissues react to the silicone. What about buttock injections? Read on…..
One of the common lip operations I do is removal of unsightly silicone-hardened lip tissue for women who have had these injections in Columbia and other South American countries. Unfortunately, once the silicone is injected, it is not possible to get all of it out. It goes into the muscle as well. It always takes two procedures to get a good result, because of distortions caused by the remaining silicone.
It is much, much smarter to either have fillers like Juvederm in your lip, fat injections or even V-Y lip advancements instead of silicone injections.
As for buttock injections, they are a total disaster – and unfortunately, commonly done illegally by in the USA. It is possible to buy “medical grade” liquid silicone on-line for ten dollars a kilo (quart) – and all sorts of people are willing to illegally inject it into you for money. The consequences you will live with are unfortunate – a hard, painful, swollen buttock. It is almost impossible to fix this. The silicone-injected tissue can be partially removed with surgery, but it will leave your buttocks shrunken and distorted. If there is a single liquid lump, it may be possible to remove some of it with liposuction. In the worst cases, the silicone is injected into nerves, causing permanent disability or into blood vessels – killing you. Liposuction/fat transfers to the buttocks or permanent soft-solid silicone implants are the only reasonable approach we have today to improve buttock size and shape – except, of course, tons of daily squat exercises.
Silicone cosmetic injections are not FDA approved for reason. Please avoid them.