Profhilo aftercare: the 48 hours that decide your result

Profhilo produces the most alarming immediate appearance of any treatment we offer, and the least cause for concern. If you have just had it done and you are reading this at nine in the evening feeling worried — the bumps are the treatment working correctly.

The blebs

Profhilo is injected at just five points on each side of the face — the BAP technique. Because the product is designed to spread through tissue rather than stay put, it is deposited in relatively large volumes at each point.

Those deposits are visible and palpable immediately. Small raised areas at each injection point, sometimes noticeably so.

The first 24 hours

Do not:

• Massage or press the area. This is the important one. Profhilo needs to spread on its own; pushing it moves it somewhere you did not plan.
• Apply makeup for the rest of the day. The injection points are entry sites and should close first.
• Exercise strenuously — raised blood flow increases swelling and bruising.
• Use a sauna, steam room or hot yoga.
• Drink alcohol — it worsens bruising.
• Sleep face down.

Do:

• Stay upright for four hours.
• Use a cool compress lightly if you are uncomfortable — resting it against the skin, not pressing.
• Drink water. The product binds water and needs some available.
• Sleep on your back on a slightly raised pillow for the first night.

Days 2 to 7

Normal life resumes. Makeup from day two, exercise from day two, everything else as usual.

Two things to keep avoiding for a fortnight:

• Facials and facial massage. Any treatment involving pressure or manipulation should wait two weeks.
• Other injectables in the same area, unless already planned together by your practitioner.

Bruising, if any, follows the usual course — worse on day two, then fading over five to ten days. Arnica may help; the evidence is modest but it does no harm.

When results appear

This is where expectations most often go wrong. Profhilo is not a filler and there is no day-one result to admire once the blebs settle.

• Week 1: Nothing. Skin may feel slightly better hydrated.
• Week 2–3: Subtle improvement in quality and light reflection.
• Week 4: Second session. This is the point of the protocol — one session is half a treatment.
• Week 6–8: The result becomes clear. Firmness, tone and texture.
• Week 8–12: Peak effect.

Judging Profhilo after one session, or before six weeks, is judging an unfinished treatment. Both sessions matter and the four-week interval is not arbitrary.

When to contact the clinic

Most of what happens after Profhilo is entirely expected. These are not:

• Blebs still clearly visible after 48 hours.
• Increasing rather than decreasing swelling after the first day.
• Skin that is hot, spreading red, or increasingly painful — this could indicate infection.
• Any blanching or mottling of the skin.
• Any change in vision.
• Fever or feeling generally unwell.

Getting the most from it

1. Book both sessions at the outset. The four-week interval is part of the protocol, and diaries fill.
2. Photograph before the first session. Daylight, no makeup, front and both profiles. You will not remember accurately at week eight.
3. Keep hydrated and wear SPF. You have invested in the skin's water-holding capacity; sun damage is what degrades it.
4. Plan maintenance at six months. Most people hold the result for around six months, after which one or two sessions restore it.

If you are still deciding between this and the alternatives, the comparison guide sets them side by side.