Comparison

Dysport vs Restylane

Dysport relaxes the frown muscle; Restylane adds volume. Both on the same day is routine, but no published trial has tested the order or the spacing between them.
Written & medically reviewed by the Dermapedia team
At a Glance

Yes, most people can have Dysport and Restylane at the same appointment, and the two are routinely combined - but no published trial has tested the order or the spacing. Dysport is a botulinum toxin that relaxes a muscle. Restylane is a family of hyaluronic acid gel fillers that add volume. They are not competing options.

Their approved territories barely touch. Dysport's only US cosmetic indication is moderate to severe glabellar lines - the frown lines between the brows - in adults under 65, at a label dose of 50 Units given as five equal 10-Unit injections. Those are Dysport Units and they convert to no other brand. The Restylane family's approvals are spread across the rest of the face, area by area and product by product.

What is actually published about combining them is thin but real. Randomized trials have tested adding a hyaluronic acid filler to a botulinum toxin treatment, and found the combination did better than either alone in the lower face and lasted longer in the forehead and glabella. None of those trials used Dysport or Restylane by name, and none of them compared one order against the other, or one appointment against two.

Dysport
abobotulinumtoxinA, injectable botulinum toxin
Restylane
a family of hyaluronic acid gel fillers

What it is

A botulinum toxin injection that relaxes a muscle

Its FDA label calls it "an acetylcholine release inhibitor and a neuromuscular blocking agent."

Hyaluronic acid gel implanted under the skin to add volume

Class III devices approved through the FDA's premarket approval route, one named area at a time.

What it is approved to treat

Glabellar lines only, in adults under 65

No US cosmetic indication for crow's feet or forehead lines.

A different area for each product in the family

Restylane and Restylane-L: facial wrinkles and folds, and lips. Lyft with Lidocaine: facial folds, cheeks, the backs of the hands (2018) and the chin (2025). Silk: lips and perioral lines. Refyne and Defyne: facial wrinkles and folds, with Defyne also approved for the chin (2021). Kysse: lips and upper perioral lines. Contour: cheeks, and temple hollowing (2026). Eyelight: under-eye hollowing (2023).

Both
Restylane Eyelight is distributed only to injectors who have completed an FDA-approved device-specific training programme. So is Juvederm Voluma XC for the temples. Not every product is available from every injector.

What you see on the day

Nothing yet - the muscle relaxes over the days that follow
The volume is there straight away, mixed in with swelling

In the Restylane Lyft cheek trial, roughly half of treated subjects had at least one adverse event, most commonly injection-site haematoma (18.1%), pain (8.5%) and swelling (7.5%), with a median duration of 11 days or less.

How the dose is measured

In Dysport Units - 50 Units total, as five 10-Unit injections

The label states these units cannot be converted into any other brand's units.

In millilitres of gel

Restylane syringes come in 0.5 mL and 1.0 mL fills depending on the product; Restylane Eyelight is supplied in 0.5 mL.

Whether it can be undone

No - but it wears off on its own
Hyaluronic acid can be broken down with hyaluronidase

In the US that use is off-label - the FDA labeling for Hylenex lists three indications and dissolving filler is not one. In laboratory testing, Restylane products degraded at lower enzyme doses than Juvederm gels did.

What it cannot do

It adds no volume at all

It occupies no space. It cannot fill a hollow cheek, a flat chin or a thin lip.

It does not relax a muscle

A crease produced purely by muscle contraction is not a volume problem, and adding gel to it treats the wrong mechanism.

Who tends to be happy with it

Best for
Someone bothered by the frown lines that appear between the brows on movement.
The mindset
One muscle group, temporary, repeatable.
Best for
Someone with a hollow, a fold or a thin area that is visible when the face is completely still.
The mindset
Match the specific product to the specific approved area.

Can you have both on the same day

Usually, yes, and it is common practice. What does not exist is a trial that compared same-day treatment against separate appointments, so nobody can tell you that one is safer or works better. Anyone who does tell you that is stating a preference, not a finding.

There are two practical points worth raising with your injector before you book both.

Filler swells and bruises, and that makes the result hard to judge for several days: If you are having both to a deadline, the filler is the part that determines when your face looks settled.

If a problem appears after a combined appointment, it is not always obvious which product caused it: That matters more for the delayed problems - a lump, or new swelling weeks later - than for the immediate ones.

Which order

No published evidence establishes an order: Any sequence you are given is a clinic's own routine.

What is worth asking about instead is the plan itself: which specific Restylane product is going where, how much, and what it is approved for. Restylane Contour holds a cheek indication and, since 2026, a temple indication; Restylane Defyne holds a chin indication; Restylane Eyelight holds an under-eye indication and requires the injector to have completed a specific training programme. Those details change the answer more than the running order of the appointment does.

Get emergency help now - go to an emergency department or call 911

These signs can mean filler has entered a blood vessel. Time matters in hours.

Sudden vision change, blurring or loss of vision in either eye

Pain that is severe or out of proportion to the procedure

Skin that turns white or pale soon after the injection, then goes dusky, grey, purple or mottled

Any stroke-like symptom: weakness, drooping, slurred speech, confusion

Filler-related vision loss is usually permanent: In a review of 511 published cases, of the 318 that reported a visual outcome, 6.0% recovered completely and 68.2% did not recover at all. Do not use pain as your gate - it was mild or absent in 47% of intravascular events reported in a survey of experienced injectors.

Call your injector

Swelling that keeps growing after the first few days

A lump that will not settle

Redness spreading outward from the site, or a fever

Tenderness or firmness appearing weeks or months later

Filler that appears to have moved

A drooping eyelid or brow after the toxin

Questions people ask

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Can I get Dysport and Restylane on the same day?It is commonly done and the two treat different problems, so there is no conflict in principle. No published trial has compared same-day treatment against separate appointments, so there is no evidence-based rule to quote. Ask your injector what their own routine is and why.
Does the order matter?No published evidence establishes one. Randomized trials that combined a botulinum toxin with a hyaluronic acid filler reported better results than either alone, but none of them compared one sequence against another. Any order you are given is convention, not a tested protocol.
How long should I wait between them if I do them separately?There is no published interval. If you are working to a date, the practical constraint is filler: bruising and swelling are common and take days to settle, and the result is hard to judge until they do.
Can Restylane treat my frown lines instead of Dysport?It is the wrong mechanism for a line that only appears on movement. Restylane products carry approvals for facial wrinkles and folds, lips, cheeks, chin, hands, temples and under-eye hollows - all volume problems. FDA's dermal filler page lists the glabella among areas where filler injection is not an approved use.
Can Dysport do anything Restylane does?No. Dysport adds no volume. It blocks the nerve signal to a muscle, and its only US cosmetic approval is for glabellar lines in adults under 65.
If something goes wrong, can either be reversed?Restylane is hyaluronic acid and can be broken down with hyaluronidase, though that use is off-label in the US and there is no standardized dose. Dysport cannot be reversed; it wears off. That difference is the main reason it is worth knowing which product went where.
Which costs more?There is no current published price for either. The last American Society of Plastic Surgeons figure for hyaluronic acid fillers was $715, from 2023 - a per-procedure surgeon or physician fee that pooled many products across every facial area and excluded facility costs. It is not a per-syringe price, and ASPS stopped publishing minimally invasive fees after 2023.