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Does Juverderm Always Work?


Doctor Answers (4)



Juvederm is a smooth consistency gel made of hyaluronic acid—a naturally occurring substance in your skin that helps to add volume and hydration. We inject this gel under the skin to instantly restore your skin's volume and smooth away facial wrinkles and folds, like your “smile lines” or “parentheses” (nasolabial folds—the creases that run from the bottom of your nose to the corners of your mouth). Juvederm results last approximately 8-12 months.

Houston Plastic Surgeon
4.5 out of 5 stars 128 reviews

Juvederm lip injections


I agree completely with the statements already posted.  Please go back to your injector and ask to see the before pictures.  You may very well see an improvement.  If not, that means you need more product and perhaps the product was injected too deeply.  Once you are happy with the volume, your correction will likely last nearly a year, so enjoy!

Jacqueline Calkin, MD
Sacramento Dermatologic Surgeon
5.0 out of 5 stars 4 reviews

An injectable filler fills, that's how it "works"


Juvederm and other similar fillers work by providing an added volume into the tissues.  If someone injects 1 cc of a product into the lips, the lips now have 1 cc more volume, so by definition, it "worked".  It will ultimately go away through a normal physiologic process, but this takes months.  It is more likely that you needed more, and that one syringe spread between upper and lower lips simply wasn't very noticeable, especially if some of the product was injected into the corners of the mouth or anywhere else.  Injecting it deeper may also make it less noticeable.  Age plays a factor, and if you have a significant volume loss from age, you may need more filler, and not just in the lips.  If the injector took photos beforehand, that will be helpful for all involved to compare with another set of photos now.

Douglas J. Mackenzie, MD
Santa Barbara Plastic Surgeon
4.5 out of 5 stars 20 reviews

Juvederm not working?


Hi K.  It's very rare that the product "wouldn't work".  There are two key issues at play that are worth considering.  First, was there enough product injected.  We always make a recommendation about the amount of product we feel is required to get the desired result.  In some cases a patient will not want to heed the recommendation either because they are being cautious, because they are worried about swelling or because they do not have the budget.  Any or all of these could lead the patient to choose a different amount of product than we recommend. Is this what happened in your case?

Second, it is very common for a patient to respond in the way you have after the swelling subsides, especially for the lips.  The lips look very, very full from swelling immediately after treatment and then after the swelling subsides much of the effect is lost.  This goes back to issue number 1 above.  

You should address any concerns you have with your injector, but it's unlikely that the product did not work.  It's much more likely to be one of the two issues above - at least in our experience.  Good luck.

Harold J. Kaplan, MD
Los Angeles Facial Plastic Surgeon
5.0 out of 5 stars 6 reviews
