Cosmetic Surgery Blog

I feel like I am talking about my first VCR. I am not old enough to have personally owned an 8-track player, but this is pretty comparable. I might as well say, “When I was younger we had to bring our own cow to the surgeon’s office before collegen injections!  And we were thankful to have cows!!!” That being said, let’s reminisce…

Once upon a time, I had virgin lips. And trust me, I hated it. I wanted Pamela Anderson lips and paid a little visit to my plastic surgeon’s office. We discussed temporary options before moving on to semi-permanent ones. Semi-permanent meaning they were permanent until you took them out. This was before the existence of the longer-lasting products today. I told you, we were in the days when VCRs still walked the earth.

My plastic surgeon told me about collagen injections, namely Zyderm 1 and 2, and Zyplast—all three of which were made from bovine (cow) collagen. God, how do I even remember this information?? He explained to me that collagen was extracted from the hides of a very select, and highly-quarantined (or more friendly-worded, ‘closed herd’) group of calves. After being processed, it was suspended in a phoshphate-bufferesd saline, a pain reliever was added and viola! we have injectable fish, errr cow lips at will! Zyplast, he told me, had the added feature of being crosslinked with glutaraldehyde, thereby slightly increasing its longevity. “Whatever”, I said, just give it to me. And after an excruciatingly long 3 week collagen-test period, he did…

Well, his nurse did and I looked like a Grouper. The saline it is suspended in, takes a while to dissipate and you are left to look like you have had an allergic reaction to shellfish for about 2 to 3 hours. Nevermind, all in the name of beauty!  Now, remember the beesting looks goes away in a few hours and you arew left with a more normal, but slightly fuller look.  Here are my before-after collegen injections pictures:

It only lasted about 2 to 3 months, honestly 2, but I went back several times before looking into more permanent options. But, those were the days. I feel the probability of your getting bovine collagen injection is slim—unless you have no time to suffer through the obvious bruising of hyaluronic acid and other products. Let’s hope you don’t bruise though…

M