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Dr. Anil Shah:
So I am joined here today by Danielle Graham, who is one of the best injectors for lips. Danielle, do you ever go by DJ?
Danielle Graham:
No, you do not. Oh, I do not.
Dr. Anil Shah:
Okay. I had that as a side note DJ, but we will not call you DJ. Okay. Anyways we’re talking about lips today and and different types of lips and stuff. So let’s first talk about it. One of the biggest things that patients worry about with lips is discomfort. What do you do to make lips comfortable for patient?
Danielle Graham:
There’s a couple things that we do do. So sometimes we could do ice to kind of numb the area. We do do a local, you know, topical anesthetic and it’s flavored too. So that’s kind of nice.
Dr. Anil Shah:
What flavors do we have right now?
Danielle Graham:
Pina Colada, cherry and raspberry. So I think that helps a little bit. So it, on there for a little bit we do have a distraction device. It’s like a little vibration device that you can kind of put by your lips just to help distract from a needle a little bit. So those are a couple things we could do. You could do like a nerve block. That’s another option as well, too.
Dr. Anil Shah:
So, and is it uncomfortable for patients or is it gonna be something they’re gonna feel a little bit, or it’s not that big of a deal? What would you do?
Danielle Graham:
I don’t really think it’s too uncomfortable. The more you do it, I feel like the less intense it is. I mean the first time it might be a little spicy, but the needles that I usually do are small and sometimes I’ll do the Botox needle. So it is a smaller needle. So I think that helps a lot more with it.
Dr. Anil Shah:
And, and you mentioned using a, a Botox needle, so let’s let the audience know about that.
Dr. Anil Shah:
Yeah. So filler comes in a pre-packaged syringe.
Danielle Graham:
Yes.
Dr. Anil Shah:
And then, so what, what are you doing with this Botox needle? Let’s explain that for the audience.
Danielle Graham:
So what you can do my preference as far as filler is Restylane Kysse. It’s my favorite. You can, can actually take the filler and transfer it into a Botox needle. I like using that, cuz I feel like you get a little bit more of a precise look, it’s a little bit more detailed. And it is a smaller needle too, so it’s a little bit more of a detailed area, you know, defining the border and all that stuff.
Dr. Anil Shah:
So would you say that’s only for Russian kiss or you can just do that kind of with all of your or techniques that you’re doing?
Danielle Graham:
You could do it with all of it. Yeah. All techniques.
Dr. Anil Shah:
What do you think is the you know, a patient coming in what’s the patient, if you could let them know one thing about lip filler before they come in, what would you say? The one thing patient should know?
Danielle Graham:
I think the common misconception with lip filler is that you’re gonna immediately look fake or blown up. And that’s not the case at all. Like a little bit can look very subtle and natural. It’s not gonna be, you know, blown out of proportion. It’s really natural and conservative. It’s good for more hydration and just to look a little bit more youthful never overdone, I think.
Dr. Anil Shah:
Do you what’s the youngest patient you’ve injected and what’s the youngest you will inject for lip filler?
Danielle Graham:
I wanna say the youngest that I’ve injected is 18.
Dr. Anil Shah:
So you haven’t injected any like five year olds with lips
Danielle Graham:
No five year old and I would not do that. No, I would not do a five year old. Yeah, I think 18,
Dr. Anil Shah:
18. And eighteen’s your youngest and youngest to go. I think that’s pretty much
Danielle Graham:
Unless have like parental consent and the parent is like there with you,
Dr. Anil Shah:
But I think 18 is pretty much cut off in the office too.
Danielle Graham:
Yeah.
Dr. Anil Shah:
Um and did that patient want dramatic changes? Or is it subtle?
Danielle Graham:
It depends. I have so many like varieties of patients. Some people want that, you know, Kylie Jenner look, some people are very natural and conservative. So it all depends.
Dr. Anil Shah:
Now if you were talking to let’s say uh a patient who’s you know, I say, and I say classic mom in a sense that, you know I know from Sameea she’s my wife. She’s super busy Which is every mom usually running in five different areas and they’re getting lip filler. What’s the one thing that they’re gonna notice the most getting lip filler? Like, you know, someone says, well, I didn’t realize was gonna change this for me.
Danielle Graham:
I don’t know. I mean, I think the way I do is pretty good. I mean, I want it to be my motto as far as like how I am as an injector is you look different, but I can’t really tell what, like, I never wanted to be one of those things the way you can tell the difference, you know, I still want you to be you but a little bit more, more, you know, confidence with that.
Dr. Anil Shah:
Yeah. And, and, and I noticed I was trying to go for there, so I didn’t explain that really well, but a lot of a lot of moms I find have, they’re so busy in the morning that there’s not time to put on makeup. And that lip filler is that kind of makeup without putting on makeup?
Danielle Graham:
Well, yeah, so lip, it definitely adds a little bit more of like a blushing to your lips. It’ll be a little bit more pink because obviously we’re kind of like pulling that blood flow more to the surface. So if you’ll get more of like a pinkish look I mean, it really helps with, you know, doing the like lip pencil, like outlining your borders. I feel like that even putting on lipstick is like a whole different vibe. When you have lip filler on, it just looks so much more, it’s so much better with it.
Dr. Anil Shah:
So we talked about the youngest patient you’ve injected. What’s the oldest patient you’ve injected. How old was, was he or she
Danielle Graham:
Oldest? I wanna say she was in her sixties. That’s usually around, I think that was, yeah, probably like 64, maybe?
Dr. Anil Shah:
My oldest patient for lip filler. Believe it or not in her nineties.
Danielle Graham:
Oh.
Dr. Anil Shah:
And yeah, I mean, sometimes people are like, oh my God, why are you injecting someone in her nineties? Like, let them just live.
Danielle Graham:
Yeah.
Dr. Anil Shah:
And you know this patient’s not a great candidate for surgery, super healthy and you know, like many vibrant ninety year olds, super spunky. Yeah. She knows exactly what she wants where she wants it and all that kind of stuff. So, oh yeah. They know what they want and, and she wants lip filler. And she has great grandkids. I think she has, I don’t know, like 15, 20 grandkids. And she knows all of them super smart, actually sometimes embarrassingly, she remembers more about some things than me. I’m like, wow. How does she know that? What, what an amazing amazing woman. And she wants lip filler and bless her heart. You know, if the point I think of, of doing these things that make ourselves better is I think when we care and that’s why we see patients who are older, who are spicy, they care. And when we stop caring, I think there’s a problem. So pretty common to see that when patients who are older say, Hey, what can I do and make me look better? Because I I, I’ve got a lot of life left.
Danielle Graham:
Yeah. You, I mean, filler is great for any age.
Dr. Anil Shah:
Cool. so how long does lip filler last? Realistically, if someone comes in and says, you know, can, can I get two years out of this? Can I get three years out of this?
Danielle Graham:
Usually I say six months to a year. It could last longer you know, sometimes you have body could metabolize it a little bit quicker, so that’s also a factor in it as well, too.
Dr. Anil Shah:
Is there I asked this question before, but if you had a choice of going to someone who’s like an amazing injector, or you could use, let’s say your favorite product Restylane Kysse versus some other product, what do you think is the biggest factor, the product you use or the injector?
Danielle Graham:
Injector. A hundred percent.
Dr. Anil Shah:
Yeah. I, I think I agree too, because it’s where you place it, how you place it.
Dr. Anil Shah:
Yeah.
Dr. Anil Shah:
You see a lot of patients coming from outside you know, offices met spas, et cetera. What are some of the biggest issues you see when outside patients come in? Like, oh my gosh, my previous injector did this and here, here’s why I’m here to see you to correct this.
Danielle Graham:
I mean, every injector has their own technique as far as, you know, what they like to do. So I think it’s more of just finding who works best with like your vision of what you want. And I mean, a lot of it too, is education. Like making sure that you’re staying educated it on, you know, the newest techniques and like how to do it, the newest fillers that work best for it. So, yeah.
Dr. Anil Shah:
Yeah, yeah. But if someone comes in and they say, I, the person wasn’t educated and they inject me, where, what are you seeing on them? Like when you look at them, they say they didn’t do this. Or this is where I’m like, what are you correcting on them?
Danielle Graham:
Okay. So, I mean, sometimes I’ll see people that have, you know, they’ll have the bumpy lips from the filler and that can be from injecting too deep into the lips which can create that kind of bump, especially when you like pull your lips up, you can see it a lot more. Some people have that like mustache look where they have that filler that is migrated. And you know, that that could be due to like movement. But it could be due to, you know, the injector placing it above the border too, which I see a lot of also.
Dr. Anil Shah:
Yeah, So, migration. Bumps.
Danielle Graham:
And some people will also just like keep injecting, you know, they’ll do use syringe after syringe, after syringe and that filler, you know, your tissue can only handle so much filler. And if it doesn’t have, you know, a place for it, then it’s gonna move. So I think one thing is too that, you know, people do have to consider maybe dissolving that to start over to kind of decrease that migration as well.
Dr. Anil Shah:
And that’s a great point too. Like you could only put so much with filler in someone at one point.
Danielle Graham:
Yeah.
Dr. Anil Shah:
And you can’t necessarily go from A to B. It might take you a few sessions and if you try to force more filler in there, it’s gonna, it might go someplace. You don’t want it to go.
Danielle Graham:
Yeah.
Dr. Anil Shah:
Cool. So that’s lip filler. Do you get a lot of men and if you do get men, what are they looking for?
Danielle Graham:
I would, didn’t say I get a lot. I do get some, I think with men it’s more of just adding a little bit more volume and just a little bit more hydration. I think it’s like a common misconception. I mean, like I said before is, you know, people think lip filler and they think it’s just like blown out fake and it’s not, it does not have to be like that. It can be very natural, very conservative, almost looking like you had nothing done. But yeah, I mean, I think in men, especially, it’s nice because it just adds a little bit more something.
Dr. Anil Shah:
I think it’s a youthful look, if you look at younger men, you see four lips, you look at older men, they tend to have yeah. You know, less fullness in their lips. Yeah. cool, cool. So that is a quick little snapshot of lip filler. Any closing thoughts you want everyone to know about lip filler?
Danielle Graham:
I mean, if you have any questions, you can always message me. I’m always there to kind of answer of questions or if you’re scared about doing it, you know, I’ll always like really talk me through the process. Yeah. I mean, if you have any questions, just contact me.
Dr. Anil Shah:
There you go. Awesome. Well, thanks for joining us. You said DJ?
Danielle Graham:
No. Where did “J” come from? My last name has a “G.” DG.
Dr. Anil Shah:
Oh, it’s a “G.”
Dr. Anil Shah:
Correct that. No DJ…
Danielle Graham:
Call me whatever you want. I don’t care.
Dr. Anil Shah:
That’s Danielle. Okay. So thanks Danielle. Sorry.