From the Desire to Change Appearance to Parathyroid Hormone-Independent Hypercalcemia: Complications of Cosmetic Injections

Abstract

Plastic surgery and cosmetic procedures, the number of which has been increasing exponentially in recent years, as well as related complications, have added to the list of parathyroid hormone-independent hypercalcemia causes. So, one of the delayed complications of silicone, paraffin oil, and polymethymethacrylate injections is hypercalcemia. Severe and sometimes life-threatening hypercalcemia can develop several years after cosmetic procedures. It is the result of granulomatous inflammation and most often extrarenal calcitriol synthesis by activated macrophages. Therefore, cosmetic post-injection granuloma should be considered as a cause of hypercalcemia, especially in middle-aged women who do not have parathyroid-mediated hypercalcemia or hypercalcemia in the outcome of paraneoplastic processes.