A dimple or pucker that is not softening. Most settle in one to three weeks. One that is deep, sharply defined or unchanged after two weeks can usually be released at a short visit.
Mention it before the follow-up if it bothers you.
A ridge or thread you can feel that is tender. Palpable threads often settle as swelling goes down. A tender one, or one that seems to be getting more prominent, is worth an earlier look.
Persistent numbness or tingling. Some altered sensation along thread paths is common and fades. Numbness that is not improving after a couple of weeks should be mentioned.
Asymmetry that seems to be worsening rather than settling. Early asymmetry is swelling. Asymmetry that grows over the second week is a reason to ask for an earlier check.
Anything that is worrying you enough to search the internet at two in the morning. Genuinely. Ring in the morning.
Wait for the follow-up
Even swelling that is slowly improving. Bruising that is changing colour and fading. Tightness and a pulling sensation that are steady or easing.
Mild soreness along the thread paths. An odd sensation when smiling or talking. Small, soft dimples that are already softening.
Entry points that are dry and closing.
All of these are the ordinary course, and the follow-up, usually at two weeks, is the right place to review them.
How to make the call useful
Practitioners triage on the phone, so give them what they need. Say when the procedure was done and who did it. Describe the sign specifically: where, since when, getting better or worse, what it looks like, what it feels like.
Say whether you have a fever and, if so, what your temperature is. Say what you have taken for it. Offer to send a photograph, in good light, with a comparison photograph of the other side if the concern is one-sided.
Write down what you are told, including any instruction to come in, and the name of the person you spoke to. If the advice is to wait and watch, ask what specifically would change that advice.
"Call back if it is worse tomorrow" is not specific. "Call back if the redness has spread beyond this line or you develop a fever" is.
If you cannot reach them
Every clinic should give you an after-hours number. If yours did not, or it goes unanswered, and the sign is on the "call today" list, do not simply wait. Urgent care can assess an infection or a haematoma.
An emergency department is the right place for breathing difficulty, facial weakness that comes on suddenly, or a rapidly growing painful swelling. Tell whoever sees you exactly what was done, with what material, and when. Take your aftercare sheet.
Then, when the immediate issue is handled, take note of the fact that your practitioner was unreachable. That matters for any future decision about the same clinic.
Special cases
Some people should have a lower threshold for calling, and should have said so at the consultation.
Anyone on blood-thinning medication, including daily aspirin, bruises more and is at higher risk of a blood collection. A hard, growing swelling in the first day warrants a same-day call rather than a wait.
Anyone with diabetes, an immune condition, or on medication that suppresses immunity heals more slowly and is more vulnerable to infection. Redness that would be watched in someone else should be reported earlier.
Smokers heal more slowly and have higher rates of wound problems generally. The same applies.
Anyone with a history of keloid or hypertrophic scarring should mention it beforehand and watch entry points more closely in the weeks afterward.
Anyone with a history of cold sores may have a flare triggered by facial procedures. Tingling around the mouth in the days after is worth a call, since early antiviral treatment helps.
If any of this applies to you and was not discussed at the consultation, that is a gap worth raising at the follow-up, and worth remembering when choosing a practitioner next time.
What the practitioner may do
It helps to know what a call can lead to, so that being asked to come in does not feel alarming.
For suspected infection: an examination, possibly a swab, and usually an antibiotic. Occasionally removal of a thread if the infection is tracking along it.
For a blood collection: assessment, sometimes drainage, sometimes observation with compression.
For an extruded thread end: trimming the end below the skin surface, which takes a moment, and advice on keeping the site clean.
For a persistent dimple: manipulation of the tissue at the site, sometimes with gentle heat, to release the tether. Occasionally a small adjustment of the thread.
For a visible or troublesome thread: release, adjustment, or removal, depending on how it sits.
For nerve symptoms: assessment, reassurance where appropriate, and monitoring, since most resolve over weeks. Persistent or severe symptoms may warrant referral.
None of these is dramatic. All of them are routine for a practitioner who places threads regularly. The clinic that handles them calmly is the clinic that has seen them before, which is a good sign rather than a bad one.
What a good practice does
A well-run clinic tells you all of this before the procedure, in writing. It gives you a working after-hours number. It answers the phone, or calls back within hours.
It treats a call about a dimple as reasonable. It books you in quickly when a sign warrants it and does not charge for looking. It follows up.
From the reader side, the working test is whether the clinic's behaviour after payment matches its behaviour before. Some practices are attentive right up to the card machine.
The recovery period is when you find out which kind you chose, and it is a fair thing to ask about explicitly during the consultation.
Where the general guidance comes from
The categories above follow standard post-procedure guidance on wound infection, haematoma and nerve symptoms rather than anything specific to one clinic.
For plain-language explanations of what an infected wound looks like or what a fever means in an adult, try the patient education material published by nursing programmes at local colleges, Los Angeles Mission College and Los Angeles City College among them.
It is more readable than most clinical references and is not trying to sell you anything. It is general. Your practitioner's advice is specific.
Margin note
Spreading redness, discharge, fever, worsening pain, a hard growing lump, a visible thread, facial weakness or an allergic reaction: call today. A stubborn dimple, a tender ridge, numbness that is not improving, or worsening asymmetry: call this week.
Everything that is slowly getting better can wait for the follow-up. When in doubt, ring, describe it precisely, and write down the answer.
