SKINVIVE Skin Booster Aftercare: The First Week, Day by Day

Expect small raised bumps and redness at the injection points on the day, settling within about 24 to 48 hours as the product disperses. Tenderness and mild swelling are common for a day or two. A bruise, if you get one, usually clears within a few days. The improvement in skin quality does not appear this week — it builds gradually over the following weeks.

That gap between recovery and result is the thing most people are not prepared for. The injection points are gone long before there is anything to look at, and a week seven of asking the mirror whether it has worked is a normal and slightly frustrating part of this treatment.

Below is the week laid out day by day, followed by the section that matters most: what should make you contact the clinic rather than sit it out.

Your doctor's instructions come first. This page describes the ordinary course of things. If what you were told at your appointment differs from anything here, follow what you were told.

Day 0 — the afternoon and evening

Your cheeks will look freshly injected, because they are.

SKINVIVE is placed as a series of small, evenly spaced micro-injections across the cheek. Small raised bumps and redness where each needle entered are expected. There may be mild swelling and the area may feel tender. None of that is a sign anything has gone wrong; it is what a grid of fine injection points looks like a few hours old.

For the rest of the day:

• Leave your face alone. No touching, rubbing, pressing or massaging the treated area. If a bump feels odd, that is not an invitation to work at it.
• Ask before you cover it. Whether you can wear makeup on your cheeks, and when, is a question for the doctor treating you rather than a rule to assume from a page. This clinic's standing pattern across its hyaluronic acid injectables is to keep makeup, moisturiser and washing off the treated area for at least the first 24 hours — confirm your own list at your appointment.
• Skip alcohol this evening.
• No steam, sauna, hot yoga or a very hot shower on your face.
• Sleep on your back if you can. A pillow pressed against a freshly injected cheek for eight hours is avoidable pressure.

Days 1 to 2 — the bumps go down

This is when the injection points stop announcing themselves.

The small raised bumps and redness usually settle within 24 to 48 hours as the product disperses. Tenderness and mild swelling are common in the first day or two and settle on their own. Most people are comfortable in company by the second day, though a close-up photograph may still show the points.

Still off the list: strenuous exercise. Across this clinic's hyaluronic acid injectable treatments the standing advice is to keep vigorous exercise away for around 72 hours, and to avoid touching or massaging the treated area for 24 to 48 hours. Drink water normally — plenty of it — and go about your day otherwise.

Do not press or massage a bump to make it go faster. If a raised point is not behaving the way you were told to expect, that is a reason to ring the clinic, not a reason to intervene yourself.

Days 3 to 4 — the bruise, if there is one

Bruising is possible at any injection point, and more likely if you take blood-thinning medication. It typically clears within a few days, so this is usually the stretch where it is most visible and then starts to fade.

A bruise on the cheekbone is the part of this treatment people find socially inconvenient, which is why the appointment is worth booking with a few days of slack after it. On deeper skin tones a bruise often reads as a flatter, darker patch rather than moving through obvious colours, and the tail of it can look like a shadow for longer. Judge it by whether it is fading, not by what colour it has reached.

Cover it with makeup only once you have been told the skin is ready for it.

Days 5 to 7 — normal skin, no result yet

By the end of the first week the injection points should look like ordinary skin, any bruise should be well on its way out, and the tenderness should be gone.

What will not have happened is the result. The improvement in skin quality builds gradually over the weeks after treatment rather than appearing at once. There is no immediate volume change to notice, because this treatment adds none — it changes nothing about your face shape or contour. If your cheeks look exactly as they did before, that is the expected position at day seven and not a sign of failure.

Keep facials and steam away from the treated area for now. Across this clinic's hyaluronic acid injectables the pattern is around a fortnight before facial treatments and steam go back on the list. If you have a facial already booked, move it or ring and ask.

What about weeks two, three and four?

This is when there is finally something to judge, and when your review appointment matters.

The doctor reviews the result at a follow-up visit and confirms whether a repeat session is worth having. Many patients are offered a single session with a review afterwards; whether a follow-up is recommended depends on how your skin responds, and your exact plan is confirmed at your consultation.

Do not decide for yourself that it has not worked and book something else. Take the review appointment, say what you can and cannot see, and let the assessment be made on your face. Results vary between people and cannot be promised in advance.

When should I contact the clinic rather than wait?

Contact the clinic promptly — do not wait for your scheduled review — if you notice any of the following:

• Increasing pain rather than pain that is settling
• Heat in the treated area
• Spreading redness, particularly redness moving beyond where you were injected
• Any reaction you were not told to expect, at any point
• Swelling that is getting worse after the first couple of days rather than better
• Any discharge, crusting or open point at an injection site
• A raised area that is not settling the way you were told to expect
• Fever or feeling generally unwell in the days after treatment

The first four of those are the signs the SKINVIVE treatment page itself names, and it asks that they be reported promptly rather than held until your next visit. The rest are on the list for the same reason: an injectable breaks the skin, and allergic reactions and infection, while uncommon, are possible with any injectable.

Do not try to work out what a symptom means. That is not a judgement to make on your own, and the assessment is quick when a doctor makes it. Ringing and being told it is ordinary costs you a phone call. The other way round costs more.

What if the clinic is closed?

Have a plan for this before you need one, because injections are not always followed by convenient timing.

If something on the list above appears in the evening, or on a Wednesday when both branches are closed, do not wait for the clinic to reopen. Same-day medical assessment is what is called for. Go to any hospital with an emergency department, or see a doctor who can be seen that day, and tell them what was injected, where, and when — the product name, the treated area and the date of your appointment. Take a photograph of the area on your phone before you leave, since these things sometimes look different by the time you are seen.

Call emergency services immediately, rather than the clinic, if you have difficulty breathing or swallowing, swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, a widespread rash, or you feel faint. Those are signs of a severe allergic reaction and they need emergency care, not a callback.

Then tell the clinic what happened as soon as it is open, so your record and your plan reflect it.

Is the aftercare the same as for other boosters?

Broadly similar in shape, and different in the detail — which is why you should follow your own list rather than one written for a different treatment. Other skin boosters are injected at multiple points across a treatment area, and Profhilo spreads through the skin from just a few injection points and covers more ground. Different products, different areas, different instructions.

If you have had a booster before and remember the routine, still ask. The one that applies is the one you were given at this appointment.

Where to start, if you have not had it yet

The treatment is ₹12,999 per treatment, and the consultation is ₹500, waived against treatment if you go ahead. SKINVIVE is offered here for the cheeks, the area it is studied and labelled for; if your concern sits elsewhere, the consultation is where you will be told so.

Nothing on this page is a diagnosis or a substitute for being seen.

Book a consultation, and ask for your aftercare instructions in writing before you leave.