Delayed skin necrosis following hyaluronic acid filler injection: A case report

Vascular compromise is a rare but serious complication of dermal filler injection. Vessel occlusion tends to have a more immediate onset of symptoms. We report a case of skin necrosis that started with pain, erythema and edema two days after hyaluronic acid filler on the forehead of a 57-year-old woman. The patient was treated with less than 24 hours the onset of symptoms, leaving discreet scar. The current theories that explain skin necrosis caused by HA fillers include angiospasm and embolization. The frontal region has many anastomoses, the embolized proximal vessel initially did not lead to symptoms. However, the HA inside the artery may have traveled over time and reached a terminal distal branch, which generated localized skin damage and pain. The urgent treatment of arterial occlusion and thromboembolism caused by HA injection is intralesional high-dose hyaluronidase.