Clinical experience with complications of hand rejuvenation

Abstract

Purpose: Prominent signs of ageing of the hands have recently been treated with permanent or longer-lasting injectable dermal fillers. However, few previous studies have described the long-term complications of such hand rejuvenation. The purpose of our report was to share our experience of 15 cases with long-term complications following hand rejuvenation using various medical fillers.

Patients and methods: We performed a retrospective review of the management of 15 patients who presented with complications from the injection of synthetic fillers for hand rejuvenation at a tertiary medical centre over a period of 10 years from March 2002 to January 2011.

Results: Injected materials included polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) microsphere filler, calcium hydroxyapatite filler, hyaluronic acid filler, poly-l-lactic acid (PLLA) filler and other medical fillers. Of the total study sample of 15 patients, nine underwent surgical excision, six patients with a history of PMMA or PLLA filler injection received intralesional steroid therapy and three patients with a history of hyaluronic acid filler injection received injection therapy using hyaluronidase.

Conclusions: Hand rejuvenation complications can be successfully treated according to our proposed algorithm.