Nitroglycerin, or Not, When Treating Impending Filler Necrosis

Dermal necrosis is a rare yet serious risk associated with cosmetic filler injections, and although current consensus recommends the use of hyaluronidase injections in cases of hyaluronic acid filler, the efficacy of topical nitroglycerin as a treatment has not yet been fully investigated.

To review the literature on tissue necrosis resulting from soft tissue augmentation and to highlight the use of topical nitroglycerin as a first-line treatment.

A review of the literature was performed with no time limitations resulting in 35 articles and 66 patients who experienced tissue necrosis secondary to injectable fillers. Articles were reviewed for pertinent information and presented.

Only 7 of the 66 reported cases (10%) used topical nitroglycerin as a treatment. Six of 7 (85%) were successful in halting the impending necrosis. Fifty-nine patients received alternative treatments, with hyaluronidase injection being the most common. Few reports of novel treatments for necrosis included the use of topical growth factors and injection of adipose-derived stem cells.

Topical nitroglycerin is a potentially effective and underused treatment for tissue necrosis from soft tissue augmentation, but because data are very limited, topical nitroglycerin should be used in conjunction with hyaluronidase injections in cases of hyaluronic acid filler dermal necrosis.