BOARD CERTIFIED PLASTIC SURGEON IN RENO

Botox is the only approved treatment to temporarily improve the appearance of both moderate to severe frown lines between the brows and crow’s feet lines in adults. It’s derived from sources that exist in nature, containing tiny amounts of a highly-purified botulinum toxin protein refined from the bacterium, Clostridium botulinum.

Formulations, potency, and approved doses vary among botulinum toxin products, which means that one product cannot take the place of another. Those are a few reasons why there is no such thing as a “generic” form of Botox Cosmetic. There have been no studies to support that other products are Unit-to-Unit equivalent to Botox.

• Softening frown lines, glabeller wrinkles and crow’s feet.
• Lifting the brow and opening the eyes.
• Smoothing the bags underneath the eyes.
• Relaxing drooping cords in the neck (turkey neck).
• Migraine Headaches.

Botox targets one of the underlying causes of frown lines and crow’s feet—the repeated muscle contractions from frowning and squinting over the years. After injecting these muscles with Botox, muscle activity will be reduced temporarily. You will notice a visible smoothing of your crow’s feet lines and frown lines between your brows.*

Botox works by blocking the acetylcholine, the nerve messengers, in muscles. When injected into a muscle, the botulinum toxin blocks the nerve messages sent from the muscle to the brain. The brain never receives the message to contract the muscle, so the muscle stays relaxed.

Why does this matter for wrinkles? Certain wrinkles, known as dynamic wrinkles, form due to muscle contractions when we make various expressions such as frowning and showing surprise. Go ahead. Make a frown or squint. You can feel the muscles around your eyes, brows, and on your forehead engage. Over time we form hundreds of thousands of these expressions and muscle contractions. As we age and our skin thins, wrinkles begin to form on the surface skin above these muscle contractions.

You see where this is going. When Botox is injected into the muscles that contract and create your crow’s feet, for example, it blocks the nerve messages, so the muscle stays relaxed. This erases or dramatically reduces the crow’s feet on the surface skin. Botox keeps the muscles relaxed for around four months.

Yes, Botox is safe and virtually non-invasive. This wrinkle treatment is at the forefront of the ever-evolving field of non-surgical aesthetic enhancements. It is one of the most extensively studied medical aesthetic treatments and is approved for cosmetic use in 78 countries. The Botox treatment has a record of experience that aesthetic specialists know and trust. The safety and efficacy of Botox have been evaluated in both Allergan sponsored clinical trials as well as in 417 peer-reviewed articles in scientific and medical journals.

In 2002, the FDA approved Botox for cosmetic use on the upper third of the face. This is the expressive area, as described above. Botox only works on dynamic wrinkles caused by muscle contractions under the skin. These are the areas where we use Botox:

• Crow’s feet at the outside of the eyes.
• Frown lines (also called the 11s) between the eyebrows.
• Forehead lines.

Some patients also can have success with Botox when treating neck banding, but this varies.

Beyond its cosmetic uses, Botox continues to find more and more uses in the medical world. The FDA has now approved Botox for these non-cosmetic uses among others:

• Chronic migraine.
• Overactive bladder.
• Incontinence due to overactive bladder.
• Cervical dystonia (abnormal head position causing neck pain).
• Spasticity (muscle stiffness).
• Severe underarm sweating.
• Temporomandibular joint disorder.
• Blepharospasm (involuntary eyelid spasms).
• Strabismus (lazy eye).

Ever since it was approved for aesthetic use by the FDA in 2002, Botox injections have been the most popular cosmetic procedure, surgical and non-surgical, around the world every year. That’s quite a run, and it shows the popularity and effectiveness of Botox.

Prior to its approval by the FDA and other health organizations, Botox was one of the most extensively studied medical aesthetic treatments. Botox has been injected tens of millions of times around the world with very few reactions. The main possible problem comes if Botox is injected by an inexperienced injector. If Botox is injected into an incorrect muscle, it can cause issues such as a droopy eyelid. That’s why it’s very important to have Botox injected by an expert in facial anatomy who has extensive training and experience with Botox, such as our Nurse Practitioner Renee Hinojosa.

Otherwise, the main issues after Botox injections are slight swelling and redness at the injection sites. These usually resolve themselves in a day.
It is important for patients to refrain from rubbing their injection sites for the first 24 hours after their injections. Rubbing the sites can cause the Botox to move to an unintended muscle.

Different people have different muscle strengths, so it is hard to predict exactly how much Botox a patient will require to erase their wrinkles. Here is an approximate range for different areas of the face where Botox is typically used:

• The 11s between the brows — 20-35 units of Botox.
• Horizontal lines on the forehead — 6-20 units of Botox.
• Crow’s feet — 6-15 units of Botox.

Other areas, such as neck banding, vary widely between patients.

There is no recovery time after your Botox session. You may have some redness and slight swelling at the injection locations, but that passes in a day or so. Some people can have a slight headache for a few hours. Otherwise, Botox was the original “lunchtime procedure,” meaning you can go right back to work or your other normal activities immediately after your session.

While this isn’t “recovery,” as mentioned above, it’s important not to rub your injection sites for 24 hours after your session. This prevents the Botox from migrating to an unwanted location.

Botox results are described as giving one a relaxed and youthful appearance.* The results last approximately 3-4 months, but with reapplication, the results begin to last longer.*