This medical mishap is no laughing matter.
Comedian Hannah Berner, 34, has revealed that after getting injections for jaw tension, she woke up to an unpleasant surprise: She couldn’t smile. Not because she was sad — she just physically could not pull he mouth into a grin.
“Like joy, laughter is my life. That’s all I care about,” she said in a TikTok video. “We’re gonna get through this. Pray for me, I’ve turned to religion. Stay safe out there in these streets.”
Berner said she got Dysport injections to alleviate tension in her temporomandibular joint, or TMJ. The treatment is also done to slim the jawline and decrease teeth grinding.
Dysport is a neurotoxin, like Botox, that temporarily blocks nerve signals to the masseter muscles, used for chewing at the side of the face and jawline. This reduces muscle contractions, eliminating chronic tightness and grinding.
Over time, it causes the muscle to weaken and shrink. This takes 6-8 weeks, and results last for up to 6 months. The body will naturally break down the neurotoxin over those months.
Though Dysport and Botox are used to treat TMJ tension, this is an off-label use — AKA not FDA-approved.
And despite how common this is, there are risks. Injections could hit the wrong spot or spread, which is something Dysport is known to do. The med is known to diffuse more widely compared to Botox, making it more useful for larger areas, and its effects may also appear sooner.
But if it’s applied too close to the edge of the masseter muscle, it can spread to the risorius, also known as the smile muscle, a tiny muscle near the surface which sits just above the masseter.
When Dysport reaches the risorius, it can’t contract or pull the mouth into a smile. This could result in an uneven or totally distorted smile.
One study showed that about .15% of people who get this treatment could get smile limitations.
If this happens, there’s not much a patient can do about it — they just have to wait several months before the effect wears off naturally.
The injection could also hit the parotid gland, which would cause swelling and affect saliva, or hit a facial nerve, temporarily paralyzing muscles in the face.
That’s why getting the procedure done by an experienced injector is critical. The injector needs to know how to evaluate each person’s facial anatomy, inject at the right depth, and get the right dosage.
Dosing for masseter reduction varies for each person. It relies heavily on the amount of muscle the person has, and the amount they want reduced. Dysport may also need 2.5-3 times as many units as Botox for the same effect.
Berner said she only noticed a problem with her smile a week after the injections, turning her smile into more of a grimace.
The comedian rose to fame when she appeared on two seasons of the Bravo reality show “Summer House.” She also had a stand-up comedy special on Netflix called “We Ride at Dawn” in 2024.
The Brooklyn native hosts two podcasts, “Berner Phone,” with her comedian husband Des Bishop, and “Giggly Squad” with Paige DeSorbo. She also wrote “How to Giggle: A Guide to Taking Life Less Seriously” with DeSorbo, which debuted as a New York Times bestseller.
