In Alexandria you will find "a syringe of filler" at a third of what a serious clinic charges. The question is not why the expensive one is expensive but how the cheap one is cheap.
Original filler has a near-fixed price
Juvéderm, Restylane, Teosyal, Sfera: all imported through one distributor at a known cost, each box with a batch number and expiry. A clinic adds the doctor's fee and the follow-up. The difference between two clinics can be twenty or thirty percent, not seventy.
Cheap comes from one of these
An unregistered product (a brand name on the box, unknown source), an original syringe split between two patients (a used needle, and infection), filler diluted with saline so it looks like more, or a non-doctor in a salon or a flat. Each is worse than the last.
What happens after
Unregistered filler causes lumps and delayed swelling months later, and sometimes cannot be dissolved because it was never hyaluronic acid. A shared needle can transmit hepatitis. A non-doctor has no hyaluronidase and does not recognise a blocked vessel. A real part of Dr. Sara's work is now correcting these results.
What to ask for
See the sealed box opened in front of you, photograph the batch number, ask the injector's speciality and syndicate number, and ask "what do you do if a vessel is blocked?". If the answers are vague, the cheap price will not pay for what follows.
Quick answers
Can I bring my own filler to a clinic?
No reputable clinic accepts it; there is no way to verify it is original or was stored correctly.
Is Russian or Korean filler bad?
The issue is registration, not country. There are registered, respectable Korean products, and there is counterfeit Juvéderm. What matters: original box, known source, a doctor.
I had cheap filler and I am worried.
Come for a consultation. Dr. Sara examines the area, can dissolve it if it is hyaluronic acid, and plans the correction.
This guide is general information, not medical advice; your treatment is decided at your consultation with Dr. Sara El Hamawy.