Post-Injection Care and Complication Management

Injection laryngoplasty is generally considered a safe procedure. However, it should be used with full understanding of the potential serious adverse reactions such as systemic hypersensitivity reaction, airway compromise, granuloma formation, and necrosis of the vocal fold. A wide range of side effects has been reported, which include early onset erythema, bruising, edema, and irritation at the injection site. Delayed effects include persistent erythema, edema, nodule formation, and implant migration. During the learning curve, suboptimal voice outcome secondary to superficial injection or over-injection is not an infrequent complication. Even for experienced surgeons, failure of office-based injection may happen, which is secondary to difficult anatomy or poor patient tolerance. There are no gold-standard guidelines regarding the post-injection care including duration of close observation, medications, and voice rest after injection laryngoplasty. In general, checking perioperative vital signs and monitoring respiratory distress symptoms are recommended for more than an hour.