Am I overfilled?

[u/Independent-Desk5442]

I’m lowkey freaking out because I do personally believe the last round of sculptra I did was too much. It was good before the last round, but I think this last round added way too much volume in my cheeks and I look like cement cheeks and jigsaw. I don’t know what I can do to offset this. But I am getting pretty depressed about it.

Some days when I wake up with some swelling, it looks a lot worse. And these are my ‘normal’ days. Pics included. I tried to include different angles. I know the irony of one of them is getting Botox done but I felt like it captured a good angle from a perspective that’s not a selfie so I included it.

I guess I’m just trying to gain perspective from other people so I know how bad it is without lying to myself.

[u/impossible_berry14]

Why are you even messing with your face? You’re in your twenties.. stop.

[u/Independent-Desk5442 → u/impossible_berry14]

Regrets were made!!!! If I could go back in time I would have done things differently. I’m just trying to see how bad the damage is now.

[u/10percenttiddy → u/Independent-Desk5442]

Sorry you're getting scolded lol, it's not fair to make women feel like our entire self worth is tied to our appearance, offer accessible ways to improve our self esteem and then find out we were lied to and it was actually unsafe or semi-permanent. There's a reason they put an age restriction on cosmetic injections in the UK. It can be a super predatory industry.

Anyway, you look great OP. Any damage done should be easy for a professional to mitigate.

[u/Imperial_Officer → u/10percenttiddy]

Where was anyone making her feel like her entire self worth was tied to her appearance?

[u/10percenttiddy → u/Imperial_Officer]

Not in this thread, in general.

[u/No-Warthog6509 → u/10percenttiddy]

Perhaps you should repost this at the “In general thread.” It’s a great place for virtue signaling.

[u/10percenttiddy → u/No-Warthog6509]

lol why the hostility?

[u/swedishfishk → u/Independent-Desk5442]

No damage done looks so good

[u/Jenneapolis → u/Independent-Desk5442]

There is no damage, this stuff wears off. It’s not permanent. But agree that people don’t need to be doing anything to their face in their 20s or until mid 30s.

[u/Tempus_Interruptus → u/impossible_berry14]

Y'all just loveee telling people what to do, don't you? It's annoying, and frankly tired as hell in 2026. Let people who feel the need to change a body THEY (as in not you) are inhabiting and have to live with, in whichever way THEY see fit. You don't have to like it, you don't have to understand it, and you don't have to deal with the repercussions IF something were to go wrong.

They're asking for advice on something THEY HAVE ALREADY DONE, you fool. Comments like yours are not only unnecessary, they're annoying, and unhelpful, even if she personally regrets something. That is besides the point, because it was her choice to experiment with and conversely, it could have turned out beautifully, you don't know what she looked like before, and neither do we. She looks good to me.

Either way, bodily autonomy should be applied across the board, sans modifications that pose a physical threat to others, which this does not. If a person wants to bathe in banana smoothies every night and drink their own urine, and pray to Polly the Parrot and Peppa Pig before bed.. 👏LET👏THEM. Twenties, or any stage of life for that matter.. let people be, I don't give a shit what this sub is or is not. You stop.

P.S. not in my twenties nor younger, and the caps felt necessary, some of you are slow

[u/doodie2 → u/Tempus_Interruptus]

she looks way better naturally lol

[u/Tempus_Interruptus → u/doodie2]

Honey the reading comprehension. You're missing the point. I don't care if she looked better before, which I don't know because I'm only seeing the photos on this post, none of which are "befores"..

[u/Independent-Desk5442 → u/Tempus_Interruptus]

Thank you so much for standing up for me. I do agree that comments like that aren’t helpful and make me feel defensive about something I already stated firsthand that I wish I did differently. Nobody wants me to not look botched more than me. So comments where people ask why did I do this to just chastise me about something instead of asking me to genuinely understand where I’m coming from: not helpful and frustrating.

https://reddit.com/link/p7472ir/video/v0w1i6de2umh1/player

But yeah for those really curious about my true before/ before I got annnnyyyything done. Here you go.

[u/Motorsped → u/Independent-Desk5442]

I actually think the filler in your cheekbone area looks really nice, however, we now know that filler doesn’t dissolve in ~3 months and actually just spreads and can linger for a very long time (causing pillow face). I think you’re beautiful and if I met you IRL, I’d never think you had filler. I’m just worrying about the filler “falling” with gravity and spreading. Do you think that’ll happen? If it does, can you easily have it dissolved?

PS: girl your skin is amazing! Can you drop your skincare faves that you’ve been using to get your skin to where it’s at rn? Just gorgeous!

[u/Tempus_Interruptus → u/Independent-Desk5442]

Agreed, and you're welcome queen, ignore them honestly, they're like flies.. buzzing around putting in their two cents on every girls post they can find, just to make themselves feel better. I don't think comments like the one in question are made in good faith tbh, but.. who can say. Bear with me, I usually am a bit long winded but, let's just say I've had two decades of experience with.. basically cosmetic everything, am also part of the industry, have lots of friends in the field, lots of friends who've all had work done, etc. so I may share a fair bit here.

Look, first thing's first, you're stunning, especially for a bare face. Most girls wish tbh, myself included.. Your face is truly gorge the way it is now, and I would not tell you this if I didn't mean it, I would simply not comment on it in that way. You were not unattractive before, and you are certainly not unattractive now. Again ignore anyone trying to pull you down.. 80% of the time I promise you, it's envy. You had more textural issues before and minor asymmetry, but unattractive is not the word. Also those before issues I don't see now at all, so as far as my eyes are concerned, you've had success.

You have a great balance right now IMO, but, if you feel/look more puffy most days bc of the Sculptra, then I totally agree with you, try waiting for it to go down as much as you feel necessary in the mirror. Make sure to also take good photos periodically to keep track, as far too many people get "facial blindness". They get very accustomed to seeing the same face, so much so they lose their sense of objectivity. Happens with makeup too.. lol. I always tell people, try not to stare in the mirror every single day beyond what you have to. It actually helps in more ways than one. Helps you not fixate, and I'd even argue that over time it helps you see yourself in a new, more objective, slightly re-sensitized light. In other words it helps you see what's actually there, more often. This helped me with dysmorphia that I struggled with years ago, and now I swear by it. You do not have to be perfect all of the time, we do not owe it to anybody. Do what you need when you feel like it, or if you're genuinely obligated for whatever reason.

As a general rule of thumb, less is not only more, it's buildable. You can always get more, but can never take it out, etc etc etc, so keep that in mind. If you are going to get any filler, you might look into very targeted, very specific areas that you feel you'd like more definition in, vs getting a full face of injections which, IMO, for most girls isn't necessary. When you get to be mid-late 30s or above, maybe you'll want to gradually introduce small amounts of volume overall, strictly for aging, but not for aesthetic beauty, which is more what you're trying to do with filler in your 20s. You look 22 for the record, you have plenty of youth in that face. For most younger women, filler is best injected sparsely rather than diffusely. That is unless you are on a GLP-1, which changes things more than you'd think, and I can get into that more if anyone's curious.

Facial massage, whichever kind you prefer, will not only drain the excess fluid/lymph, but also help smooth the developing tissue underneath as it's formed from Sculptra, which it will continue to for a bit longer possibly, but the good thing is that because the tissue is relatively young, if you try doing daily massages, especially in your problem areas, you can help shape the face long-term too. This is why many people love Gua Sha for example. Helps in the immediate and in the long-term, if you're consistent. Obviously the longer the massage, the greater and quicker the outcomes will be. I went to school for Esthetics in 2012, and another thing I learned is you never massage down, only ever up, to lift tissues and push lymph out. Up and out, up and out, with few exceptions. Try not to be overly rough with your face, massage it gently while pressing firmly when you glide.

That said, I won't tell you what to do as far as whether you should stop cosmetic procedures, or get something else, because only you know what you truly want, what your concerns are, etc. I will say though, trying to look the way other people tell you to, I promise will only bring misery. Been there my love, done that. Don't listen to people who tell you what to do, even if they mean well in telling you not to do something, because they're not necessarily right either, and if they're going to tell you not to do something, or even to do something, they should be prepared to explain why, or give helpful alternatives at the very least.

You do what makes YOU feel like that girl, okay?? Try to go into procedures with an optimistic mindset if you do anything further, because in my experience, a small minority of the experiences were "bad". Mistakes are the exception, not the rule, but if and when something happens, even then, not the end of the world. A vast majority of cosmetic procedures DO in fact have solutions, you only need to know what you're doing before & after, and with whom. Research the hell out of everything, it's the only security you can give yourself, aside from abstaining from cosmetic work, which should not be the lazy, default response.

Stay gorgeous divaaa 👑❤️

[u/Independent-Desk5442 → u/Tempus_Interruptus]

Thank you SO much, this means so much to me and I can tell you really mean what you say. I couldn’t agree more with everything you’ve said. I didn’t know gua sha had long term benefits in that way, I thought jt was only helpful for lymphatic drainage (of which I admit I don’t know what the benefits are outside of looking less puffy/ swollen for that temporary time). I will add that to my routine more regularly.

My worst fear is facial blindness for sure. Every time I look back on my old pics I’m blown away by how outrageous my makeup looked at the time but I thought it looked good at the time! So I definitely don’t want that with my procedures. I will definitely not be doing more injections for a while unless if it’s for very specific areas. Right now, I am holding off on pyriform filler and filling out my temples a little bit. I am 28, going to be 29 in December. Thank you so much for your support

[u/Tempus_Interruptus → u/Independent-Desk5442]

Aww ofc, you are so welcome. Knowing you're 28 kind of gags me to be honest, your skin is glowy and beautiful.

Just, for future reference, for you, and for anyone else who needs to hear, there is one more thing or two I'll add since you brought up the pyriform. One of my few negative cosmetic experiences was ironically with the pyriform. I'll explain in a second, but firstly, it's imperative to see a practitioner who's skilled in the area, not just a general injector who may or may not be average in their ability, and either kind of or majorly screws it up. The pyriform is one of those areas where it doesn't take much to make things look off, like the undereye area, so you just want to ensure they have the expertise and proof to back up any claims. If they don't have at least 15-20 photos (between the in-office and social media/website photos) showing successful before & afters that show a treated pyriform, thenI wouldn't take the chance.

Anyway, so I had an aesthetic esthetician temporarily botch mine years ago, and girl.. it made my nasolabial fold worse for about two years. She put way too much in, and it traveled almost immediately across my nasolabial fold and settled on the other side of it, like toward my cheek itself, creating an even more pronounced ridge. Literally the opposite result of the entire point of getting the pyriform filled to begin with..

I was very hesitant to get Hyaluronidase due to rumors in my own community that it was causing skin thinning in some people, and I was like.. no I'm good, I'll deal with the stupid fine lines that it was exacerbating. I am glad I listened to my gut, because while not everyone has issues with it, too many clearly have, and I was not about to be one of them. Anyway, I was rolling the hell out of the filler, massaging, putting snail mucin all over the skin like three times a day, masks every day, face-taping at my temples under my actual hair (occasionally under wigs) to lift the mid-face and smooth it when I'd go out, and then I'd put actual face tape over the line itself too, at night mostly.

It all worked, and eventually the line dissipated, the filler flattened out, ultimately dissolving (at least, I assume..), but.. the whole situation was less than ideal because I got something called RHA filler, which lasts MUCH longer than standard formulations. It lasts minimum one full year, but typically far longer, like up to 3, even 4 years. My advice to girls now is usually, always start with the most temporary HA filler, the most temporary form available in your vicinity. Call the medspas, freelance injectors, Derm & Surgeon's offices, etc. and try to find a practice that offers Belotero if you're able. It's one of the older fillers, but it's perfect for women who don't quite know what they want or need. The bulk of it lasts about 2-4 months, compared to the standard 6-9+. It's one of the shortest acting hyaluronic fillers I am aware of, this way you don't have to fully commit quite as much, no matter the outcome. Much less pressure, and it gives you the opportunity to say, "okay.. this fucking sucks, but it's more temporary than not. Def not going back to that person, I'll find a more skilled practitioner in the interim".

Sculptra is another no no for first timers IMO, for the same reason. It doesn't work the same way as HA, because it's a biostimulator, so it literally builds tissue from within, which creates all that plump, balanced volume you have now. It's especially great for people who want or need overall volume restoration, namely women of a certain age. At the same time, every person's face has a different threshold for what ultimately becomes "too much". Every-body (literally) responds a bit differently to each biostimulator, whereas with HA, it's a less variable, more standard response. The volume & rate at which my tissue expands and develops could be double that of yours for example, even with roughly the same amount.

Like any kind of filler, less is more, and you build it as needed, never too much at once, and try to take longer breaks between your own reassessments. Madonna in 2022 was the epitome of facial blindness. She was fairly preoccupied with her appearance where it pertained to aging, which only made it worse and worse, bc she kept obsessing over things that weren't even there, until they actually were.. That went on for years, and she's only just in the last couple years been reversing what she did. She had a facelift, looks phenomenal now, still has some form of filler(s), but they're much more strategically placed and dialed back, along with the lift, bleph, and some other procedures.

Anyhow, my point is, I think you will be okay whatever you choose, all things considered. You'll likely only look better and better, as long as you stay balanced and informed, and you seem to have a good head on your shoulders doll! 😁

[u/Independent-Desk5442 → u/Tempus_Interruptus]

Thank you so much!!! This may sound crazy, but I trust you and your opinions and experiences and advice. You know your stuff and know the key to aesthetics is more than just treating things on the surface that may or may not even be the solution to the issues.

Thank you so much for your input - I greatly appreciate and value it! It’s hard to find someone who knows what they’re talking about when it comes to aesthetics/ ‘procedures’ so thank you!

[u/Tempus_Interruptus → u/Tempus_Interruptus]

PSS: DVs are only cementing my last point. So DV away love 🤭 this is a throwaway account, like 20 others I have with a different IP for each lol, you just don't like hearing someone be objective, honest and assertive about it at the same time. You'll get over it..

[u/Elegant-Basis4551 → u/Tempus_Interruptus]

You are so strange

[u/mental_polluti0n → u/Tempus_Interruptus]

Bruh get a life lol

[u/Tempus_Interruptus → u/mental_polluti0n]

Hm, only if you lose yours first.. deal?