In November of '22, Dr. Gregory Nikolaidis injected Vitrace (a hyaluronidase) into my healthy, non-filled lips which I later read is contraindicated. Dr. Nikolaidis unnecessarily put me at risk for side effects ranging from difficulty swallowing, swelling of face and tongue, tightness in chest to more common effects such as pain, ulceration, infection, scarring and asymmetry. I had simply gone to his clinic to have a hump dissolved in my nasolabial fold (not my lips) which his staff in training had made the previous year, September '21, when she used too much filler. She had been left unsupervised when Dr. N told her to finish the filler and left the room. The later November '22 visit did not go well from the start. Dr. N denied leaving someone unsupervised to his present assistant and said the hump was my body's reaction to the filler though I told him it had been present immediately after the injection in September '21. The '22 deep Vitrase injections were very painful as not topical anesthesia was used. Scarring and asymmetry both occurred.The chart only lists the NLF as a site of injection and makes no mention of the lips.
In the November '22 visit, unlike most of the other visits, there is no notation of written consent obtained nor a list of side effects in the copy of the chart I was given recently. The September '21 visit reads "Fillers. Filler: *-STAFF IN TRAINING". In other charts the filler is specified and there is never "*", but rather the name of the staff.
After Dr. Nikolaidis injected Vitrace into the hump, he then asked if I wanted my lips done too. I trusted him, answering "Sure, if you have time". He then injected Vitrace into my natural upper and lower lips.
I am writing because the asymmetry of the lips and the notch in the lip line are more pronounced now as I lose weight on a weight loss shot. Rapid weight loss can lead to thinning and wrinkles I read. I believe my present imperfections are a combination of Vitrase injection (when impurfections first appeared) and weight loss which aggravated them further.
I have informed the clinic of my username so that they know I'm an actual patient. read more