Updated 18 October 2026
There is no single answer to “how long do results typically last.” Duration — if a prescription medicine is used at all — depends on the person, the product, the area, the dose and whether the medicine was even appropriate. Anyone publishing a one-number promise on a public website is advertising certainty they do not have about you. Ask the prescribing practitioner, and read the Consumer Medicine Information for the specific product they name.
The more useful question on this hub is the one that comes first: what should happen before anyone considers treating you?
The pathway the TGA describes
The TGA cosmetic injections checklist is the backbone of this page. It tells readers to:
- attend a consultation
- understand that the products require a valid prescription from an authorised prescriber
- check that the prescriber and the person who administers the product are appropriately qualified
- ask about experience with that procedure
- understand the risks
- research the products, including via the ARTG
- avoid counterfeit or illegally imported goods
- obtain written aftercare
A consult may be face-to-face or by video. Either way, it is not a formality. It is the legal and clinical step that decides whether a medicine is offered at all.
What “authorised prescriber” means in practice
Not every person in a clinic can prescribe. Medical practitioners, and in some circumstances other registered professionals such as certain nurse practitioners or dentists, may prescribe within their professional rules. The Medical Board, Nursing and Midwifery Board and Dental Board have each published expectations about cosmetic work. Those documents live with AHPRA and the National Boards — not with this website.
You should know who will prescribe, who will inject, and whether those are the same person. Check both names on the register if they differ.
What a careful consult usually covers
Expect questions about your health, medicines, previous procedures, pregnancy or breastfeeding where relevant, and what you hope will change. Expect to be asked why now. Expect someone to look at the area you are talking about and, if needed, to talk about a mark that is not a wrinkle.
You should be able to ask:
- What problem are we actually treating?
- What are the alternatives, including doing nothing?
- What product would be used, and is it included on the ARTG?
- What are the common and the serious risks?
- Who do I call after hours if something is wrong?
- What does aftercare look like in writing?
A consult that dodges product names because “we are not allowed to say” still needs to tell you the name in the room. Advertising law restricts public promotion. It does not prevent a patient from knowing what may be put in their body.
Duration, onset and “how soon can I fly”
Those are clinical questions. This site will not invent hours-to-effect or months-of-wear. Product information exists for a reason. Healthdirect hosts Consumer Medicine Information for many registered medicines once you have a brand to look up. Your prescriber should tell you where to read it.
If you are travelling, say so early. Review, complications and “come back if” advice do not disappear because your itinerary is short. Do not ask this website to bless a same-day airport plan.
Consent is a pause, not a signature race
Informed consent is the point at which you understand the procedure well enough to accept or refuse it. If you feel hurried, flattered, or upsold from one area to several, you can stop. A cooling-off habit is a safety feature even when a particular guideline does not mandate a number of days for a given procedure. Money already taken does not make a medicine safer.
What this site will not preview
We will not describe a “typical appointment length”, a “typical number of units”, a “typical bruise”, or a “typical social-ready window”. Those phrases are how education slides into advertising. Your treating team can talk about your plan.
After you leave
If a procedure goes ahead, the people responsible for it are responsible for aftercare. The TGA is explicit: you should receive written instructions and advice on follow-up and unexpected side effects. Risks and aftercare explains why internet lists are a poor substitute.
If no procedure goes ahead, that can still be a complete visit. A refusal, a referral to a GP or dermatologist, or a request to come back after you have thought about it are all legitimate endings.
How this hub connects
Read what the phrase means if you are still mixing cosmetics and medicines. Read areas if you arrived with a zone in mind. Read questions for a consult to print a list. Read finding a registered practitioner before you book a name you only saw on a map pin.
Why we refuse a timeline graphic
Many clinic pages show a neat arrow: consult, treat, “settle”, review. Arrows imply that every reader will travel the same path at the same speed. Some people will be told that a medicine is not suitable. Some will be referred for a lesion. Some will want a second opinion. A graphic that skips those endings is a sales funnel.
If a practitioner draws a timeline for you, after naming a product and describing your risks, that is a different object. It is part of consent. It is not something this publisher can fill in from a distance.
Records you can keep
Ask for the names, the product, and the written aftercare. Keep them with the same care you would keep any other medicine information. If you later see another practitioner, those facts prevent guesswork. If you need urgent care, they prevent delay.
Do not post the paperwork in a public forum as if it were a review. Do not send it to our form.
Second opinions
You can seek another registered practitioner. You can take the same question list. You can compare how clearly each person explains risk and product identity. You cannot ask this site to pick a winner. A second opinion that exists only to find someone who will say yes is not a safety step.
If you decide not to proceed
You still have the sun-protection story, the option of a GP skin check, and the right to close the tab. A declined procedure is not a failed consult. It is one of the designed outcomes of a prescription-only pathway.
If you later change your mind, start the identity checks again. Staff rotate. Products change. Your health changes.
How duration questions should be asked
Ask: “For this product, in this area, for me, what should I understand about duration, and where is that written?” That question keeps the answer tied to a CMI and a prescriber. It is a better question than “how long does anti-wrinkle last?” asked of a search box that has never met you.