BOTOX®….Is it Time?

If you don’t know anyone who has ever had BOTOX® treatments, you are either under twelve years old, or your friends are dishonest. All kidding aside, BOTOX® is so popular, you practically have to live on a different planet not to have at least some peripheral exposure to the product. I am commonly asked when to start BOTOX® treatments. The answer is, “It depends.”

BOTOX® is a solution that is injected into facial muscles to prevent the muscle from contracting. Muscular contraction is what leads to wrinkling in the face. Over time, the areas where the muscle connects to the deep surface of the skin become wrinkled because the constant pulling by the muscle leads to collagen thinning. BOTOX® blocks the signal from the nerves to the muscles that tells them to contract. Over a billion doses have been injected, and in adults, no serious complications have occurred.

So how do you know when to start getting treated? If you already have furrows between your eyebrows or crow’s feet outside your eyes, don’t worry. Even though you weren’t pro-active, with regular treatments the lines can be softened. If you know you have a very expressive face, it is wise to be pro-active about treatment and start earlier so the lines never develop, or at least not until advanced aging sets in.

The perfect time to start depends on many factors, such as genetics, sun-exposure and smoking history, and skin type. I have injected patients as young as twenty-four and as old as eighty-four. Most importantly, seek out a physician who has a lot of experience with BOTOX® injections and prefers a natural result. Once you’ve tried it, I bet you’ll like it.

Categorized in: Non-surgical Procedures