Route · Injection

Liquid silicone injection: this page has no efficacy badge — what we opened was all complication reports

This injection cannot be undone. There is no antidote of the kind hyaluronidase provides, and no way to take out what went in. And what this site opened for this entry was not randomised controlled trials but reports of complications — a 1982 paper titled 'Complications after silicone injection therapy in aesthetic plastic surgery' and a 2002 report of seven cases of silicone granuloma of the facial tissues. So no efficacy badge is attached here.

Last checked Sep 28, 2026

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What it is: Liquid silicone injected under the skin to create volume.
What it is used for: It has been used on hollows of the face, the lips and the nose.
How it is said to work: Volume is said to persist as the body forms fibrous tissue around the silicone droplets.

There are no numbers and no citations in this box. What has been established, and how far, is below.

At a glance

Session length: 20–40 min
Pain: Moderate
Downtime: 1–3 days
Sessions: 1–3 sessions
How long it lasts: Not applicable
Relative cost: Middle
How well established: Not established

“Reported in a trial” means a number a study on this page actually reported. “Typical range” is not a measured value but roughly how it is usually done, and it varies by clinic and by person.

Cost is not an amount but a band: where this procedure falls when the ones on this site are lined up per session, or per area treated. Real prices differ several-fold by clinic and by how much is treated, so they are not given here. Surgery is measured on a different scale and cannot be compared with this band.

This is not how large the effect is but how well confirmed it is. It shows the highest grade among the findings on this page.

Korean classification Being checkedThe regulatory class has not yet been confirmed against a primary document. It will be filled in once it is.

Liquid silicone injection puts liquid silicone under the skin to create volume. It is commonly called a 'permanent filler'.

This page has an odd shape for this site. There is no efficacy badge at all.

This site attaches badges only to trials we have opened ourselves. For this entry, what we opened was this.

1982 — titled 'Complications after silicone injection therapy in aesthetic plastic surgery'
2002 — a report of seven cases of silicone granuloma of the facial tissues

Both are on the complications side. Neither is a randomised controlled trial.

This does not mean 'it does not work'. Volume appears. What this site records is that we could not open a trial that measures the size of an effect, and what did open was complications.

And what this page really wants to say is something else — it cannot be undone.

If you have read the filler pages here, you know that hyaluronic acid filler has an antidote in hyaluronidase. When it goes in wrong, it can be dissolved.

Liquid silicone has no such thing. If something goes wrong, there is no route but cutting it out, and even that does not remove it completely, because a liquid spreads between tissues.

And there are problems that appear long afterwards. We set them out below.

This site does not deal in prices, clinics or reviews.

What is established

Not established

Instead of randomised trials, complication reports have accumulated

First, why this entry has no badge.

Grades on this site point at trials we have opened and read ourselves. We attach one when the numbers, the duration, the control and who did the scoring can be checked. For this entry we could not find such a trial.

What we opened instead is this.

1982, Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. Titled, in full, 'Complications after silicone injection therapy in aesthetic plastic surgery'. What it reported is in its title.

2002, Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol Endod. A report of seven cases of silicone granuloma of the facial tissues.

'Granuloma' is the most important word on this page. It is the mass the body forms while walling off a foreign material. It forms around each droplet of silicone, and it can be firm to the touch, red, and painful.

And the nature of this problem differs from other procedures.

First, it can appear a long time afterwards. First appearance years, sometimes more than a decade, after the injection has been reported. Nothing happening just after the procedure does not mean safety.

Second, it cannot be undone. Hyaluronic acid filler has hyaluronidase. There is even data that starting within six hours did significantly better. Liquid silicone has no equivalent.

Third, it is hard to cut out. A liquid does not sit as one mass. It spreads between tissues and can travel downwards with gravity. Attempting surgical removal costs you the surrounding tissue with it.

Fourth, this is particularly so in the face. There is a reason the 2002 report is about facial tissues. The face has nothing to spare.

Now, what this site is not doing on this page.

This site does not tell you not to have this. That is to be settled with clinicians at a consultation. What this site does is show where the material has accumulated, as it is.

And for this entry the answer is plain — not trials that measured an effect, but papers that reported complications.

Finally, why this page exists. The filler page on this site records 'it can be undone' as an important property. For that phrase to carry weight, the side that cannot be undone needs a page too. With nothing to compare it against, the phrase is just advertising copy.

Known risks

Granuloma is the characteristic problem. A firm lump you can feel, redness, and pain are possible. The 2002 report above collected seven cases in facial tissues.
It can appear for the first time years later. This is what most sets it apart from other procedures. A quiet period just after does not mean it has passed.
It migrates. A liquid does not stay where it was put. It can travel down with gravity or spread between tissues.
It cannot be undone. There is no antidote of the kind hyaluronidase provides. There is no route but cutting it out, and that does not remove it completely.
Removal surgery leaves scars. The silicone cannot be picked out on its own, so surrounding tissue goes with it.
If it enters a vessel, the risks are those of any filler. With the difference that there is no way back.
Infection and inflammation can arrive late.
Make sure you know what is being injected. Get the material and the product name. The word 'filler' alone does not say what is going in. This site has separate pages for hyaluronic acid, calcium hydroxylapatite, poly-L-lactic acid and polycaprolactone. They are all different materials.
If you think something has gone wrong, do not put it off. The range of what can be done narrows with time.

What is not established

We could not find a randomised controlled trial measuring efficacy. That is why this page has no efficacy badge.
How common granuloma is, in numbers, is not on this page. What we opened were case reports.
The distribution of how long afterwards it appears is unverified. There are reports of years later, no more than that.
Whether purity and viscosity change the outcome is unverified. It is a distinction often raised about this injection, but we did not open a trial that separated it.
Regulation differs between countries. We have not yet opened the primary Korean regulatory classification, so it stays 'being verified'.
The best way to manage a problem once it appears — we found no comparative trial.

Whether to have it done is a decision to make with a doctor.

What this article relies on

PubMed — 미국 국립의학도서관 문헌 데이터베이스National Library of Medicine · Checked on 2026-09-16