Botox & the 5 Ws
Botox is what is known as a neuromodulator. Neuromodulators stop the nerve from sending the signal to the muscle to contract. It reduces the range of motion of the muscle, paralyzing it to an extent to where wrinkles are diminished. Botox is a brand of neuromodulator, and there are many brands out there, although “botox” is trademarked and is the most acknowledged of all the brands. This does not necessarily mean it is the best brand, it is just the most recognized name. Other brands include dysport, newtox, and xeomin. OnabotulinumtoxinA is the protein released by the bacteria that is the “main ingredient” of botox. All neuromodulators have this main ingredient, however the purification processes differ.
Botox is reconstituted into a liquid substance that a qualified professional uses to inject into the patients’ muscles to reduce the appearance of wrinkles. The point of botox is to make you feel refreshed and youthful. It can be done moderately or heavily, depending on the patients’ preference on the range of motion of the muscles. If someone does not want to be too stiff or frozen, a more moderate amount of botox can be injected into the muscle, rather than a heavy amount.
An average botox treatment lasts between 3-4 months. Any treatment that does not reach a 3 month duration is due to not enough units injected in the muscle or the botox being overdiluted. An underdosed patient will have underwhelming results that do not last 3 months. A botox result should last up to 4 months, and at that 4 month time period the botox will be completely metabolized. In order to keep up with the preventative results of botox, a patient should return to the office between 3-4 months to get reinjected with botox. This means that the average patient visits their clinic to get botox 3-4 times a year.
Botox gets injected into various muscles of the face to help reduce the appearance of wrinkles. The three most common areas that patients get injected are the forehead (frontalis muscle), between the brows (the glabella region), and around the eyes (where the crows feet lie). The forehead often has vertical lines running across the surface of the skin, where the glabella area is the region where those “angry 11s” lie. The crows feet become most apparent when someone smiles or squints in the sun.
With the muscle movement we have throughout life, these wrinkles in the upper face tend to deepen with age. Botox injected into these areas will soften these lines, greatly improving the how the patient looks and feels. Botox also prevents these wrinkles from getting deeper with time, as a patient consistently gets treated. If a patient stops doing botox for any reason, they simply return back to their baseline (what they looked like before they started doing botox). Once the botox wears off entirely, the range of motion returns back to “normal” because the botox is not working anymore, so the muscles are not paralyzed. This also means that the depth of the wrinkles will return to normal, they will no longer look camouflaged as they do when botox is active in the muscle.
Botox takes an average of 3-5 days to start working in the muscle, and is complete at 2 weeks. I always advise my patients to take their own before and after pictures, because they can really see their botox results in action. Within that 3-12 day time period, the botox gradually gets stronger and stronger. The result is not complete until 2 weeks pass post treatment.
There are other areas of the face that can be injected with botox, but it takes an experienced injector to touch these areas of the face. These areas include the masseter muscles, platysmal bands, the nose for “bunny lines”, and the upper lip for a lip-flip or to alter a “gummy” smile. Advanced injectors like myself can also treat a downturned mouth or a crepey looking chin. Masseter injections can help with someone who clenches often or has TMJ, to relax the muscle and reduce symptomatic pain. Botox in the platysmal bands of the neck has anti-aging effects on the client. Botox can also be injected into the underarms for excessive sweating.
In another blog I will get into why some people have bad results from botox. But in a nutshell, you should seek a new practitioner if you did not get the results that you sought the first time around. Botox is meant to be a confidence booster. It is meant to make you feel lifted rather than heavy. It is meant to open your eyes, not make them feel smaller. It is meant to raise or even the brows, not drop them. If any of your botox results were negative, it is never the botox’s fault (your botox was simply injected incorrectly by your provider).
It is best to stick with your provider once you have found an injector that gives you amazing results. Please do not price shop around for the cheapest price per unit, you are doing yourself a great disservice in doing so. Why? Because cheap botox could mean that you are getting an inexperienced injector, the business not being busy for whatever reason, so botox sits around in a fridge for months (old product)…these all lead to questionable and inconsistent results. An average price per unit is between $10-$14. $10/u botox is pretty cheap now-a-days if you ask me. It costs us nearly $7 per unit as providers, so cheap botox raises a lot of question marks in my head and it should do the same for you.
Botox is priced per “unit” because that is the measurement we as injectors use to pull up “x” amount of product into our syringe. A unit is a teeny tiny amount of liquid, imagine the amount of honeysuckle liquid that comes out of the flower when you would eat the nectar as a kid (this is roughly the amount of liquid that a unit contains). I do not like saying an average number of units that a patient uses, because honestly it’s all over the board depending on the area to cover and the depth of the wrinkles.
Is there an appropriate age to get botox? To answer your question in a nutshell, a big N-O. I hear some people say “I am going to wait until I am 40 to start botox.” That makes no sense… as if at age 40 your wrinkles get 10x deeper than they were at 39? No. If you are holding off because you have other expenses, that is understandable. Botox is not cheap. But if you think there is an appropriate age to start, that is just not the case. Women as early as 20 are starting to do botox preventatively, and I support it.
There are both genetic and environmental factors such as your ethnicity (genetic) and the sun or smoking (environmental) that contribute to getting deeper wrinkles at a younger age. You should not shun someone by saying “you are too young to get botox,” because they are doing themselves a great service by starting to prevent wrinkles earlier in life. Why? Because once wrinkles are deep, there is no going backwards… the wrinkles are there forever. Although the application of Botox can make these deeper wrinkles look less deep, wouldn’t you just wish you would have started botox sooner? For someone who is treating early (in their 20s), they are actually preventing their wrinkles from getting deep to a point where there is no going back. Those who treat early will look youthful going into their 40s, 50s, 60s… if you are questioning whether it is the right time to start, IT IS!
Thank you for reading my blog. I am happy to answer questions over a phone call, email or text message. My office is located in the Cherry Creek North shopping center inside of Sola salon studios. I am happy to take you on as a new client!
Lastly, please do not plagiarize by copy and pasting any of this content as your own. This content was written by and belongs to Vanessa Volarich, Registered Nurse & Licensed Esthetician.
970-458-5447 info@divinefeminineaesthetics.com