A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee has noted people with cosmetic facial fillers could experience side effects from Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine.
Several trial participants with facial fillers suffered swelling and inflammation after receiving the vaccine. A Los Angeles-area dermatologist said the reactions were caused by a dysfunction of the immune system.
Facial fillers help smooth out wrinkles and enhance cheeks and lips.
"Your immune system which causes inflammation is revved up when you get a vaccine, that's how it's supposed to work," Dr. Shirley Chi told ABC7 in a Thursday report. "So it makes sense that you would see an immune response in certain areas where they see some substance that is not a naturally occurring substance in your body."
Chi said the side effects were treated easily by medical personnel and should not stop people from getting the vaccine.
"In these cases the patients all had swelling and inflammation in the area that was given the filler," Chi said. "A couple of the patients had cheek filler six months prior to their vaccine and one patient had lip filler done two days after the vaccine. All were treated with steroids and antihistamines and all of their reactions resolved."
On Dec. 18, Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine was the second drug to get emergency use authorization from the FDA. Pfizer and BioNTech combined to produce a vaccine that was approved Dec. 11.
Moderna's vaccine doesn’t need to be kept at ultra-frozen temperatures, so it's easier to store than the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
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