Botox® is used to manipulate the movement of muscle and targets wrinkles that are worse on movement. Dermal Fillers in comparison, contour, define and volumise areas to uplift areas of the face, rejuvenating and resolving issues of asymmetry and shrinkage in the face.

There are many Botulinum Toxin A brands on the market, with Botox® being one of them, however, “the best” for one practitioner, may not be the best for another and it’s best to find a practitioner who knows their brand and how to manipulate it to suit your individual needs and requirements.

The three areas of Botox® that are traditionally treated are the forehead lines which appear worse when you raise your eyebrows, the lines you get between your eyebrows when you frown or concentrate, and the lines around the eyes when you smile.

You can however also have the lines treated that appear on your nose, the muscles that make your upper lip retract more when you smile, exposing your gums, your chin muscles that create a dimpled appearance when you crease your chin up, the lines that appear between the corners of your mouth and your chin, and finally, the platysma bands that appear in the neck vertically that become more apparent as we age.

This will really depend on the area being treated, whether you are a male or female and how strong your muscles are. It will also depend on the effect that you’re hoping for, for example, if you want more of a baby botox effect, then less Botox® will be added. We do not however charge per unit and charge instead for the area being treated and this is the ensure that you achieve the best results possible.

It is important to realise that no one is “text book” when it comes to these treatments and the injection pattern and amount of units very much varies between patients.

Botox® can take between 2 and 14 days to work and is a gradual change, both in when it starts working, and when it starts wearing off, but at 14 days, you should see the full effect of your treatment. This should also be when you have a review with your practitioner to ensure the desired results have been achieved.

Some minor lines are likely to disappear within the first two weeks of your treatment. However, deeper lines may take longer to “drop out” and in some cases, may need alternative treatments to completely rectify.

The first time you have Botox®, it is likely to last about 6 weeks before you start to get some movement back, however full movement is unlikely to occur until 10-12 weeks after your treatment. Due to the fact muscles get weaker when they aren’t moving, the more routinely you have Botox®, the longer generally you can go between treatments and it isn’t uncommon for patients to go 5 to 6 months between treatments after their first couple of years of having treatments. Having said that however, there are some patients who are the exception and have found Botox® to 2-3 months longer than the average patient.

Unfortunately, Botox® doesn’t work that way and the more you add, the stronger the block between the brain and the muscle which means you have less movement you have for the period of time it is effective for (this is also how muscles become “frozen” and why patients start to loose the ability to become expressionate”. However, as your body gets used to the lack of movement the more routinely you have it, the weaker the muscle becomes and the longer you can go between treatments.  

Baby Botox® is where tiny amount of Botox® is administered into specific areas to maximise movement and minimise the creasing of the skin and the appearance of wrinkles. If you are nervous about having Botox®, it is a really good way of stepping into the treatment because more can always be added at the two week review if necessary

Firstly, it’s important to put this into perspective as Botox® isn’t called liquid gold for nothing:

Believe it or not, Botox® is over 4000 x more costly than the equivalent in weight in 5ct diamonds.

So if you see a practitioner that is “cheap” you need to question several things such as, are they in fact using Botox® or are they using something that they have purchased through WhatsApp or instagram that isn’t licensed or known to be safe in the United Kingdom such as Botulax? Are they giving you enough units per area to have the desired affect, or giving you less so they can share the vial with another patient illegally? Are they diluting the Botox® down to get more areas out of the vial? Are they going through the legal channels to provide the treatment such as ensuring that every patient has a face to face consultation with a prescriber to ensure is it safe of them prior to treatment?

There will always be practitioners doing it cheaper and it’s important to ask yourself at what cost, and always remember that good Botox® isn’t cheap and cheap Botox® is never good!

There is very little downtime for Botox® but you may experience slightly redness and what looks like lumps in the areas across the forehead and around the eyes for about twenty minutes, caused by the substance sitting on the muscle (this is only temporary).

You may also experience a headache, or a feeling of heaviness in the brow which can take a few days to subside.

Botox® is a very safe treatment to have but it is vital to have a consultation first to see if it is safe and right for you and your needs.

Due to the fact the skin is being broken with a needle, there is a risk of bleeding, bruising and a very small risk of an infection occurring. If you do experience bruising, it is usually very minor and can be covered with make up from a few hours after your treatment (this is to avoid the risk of an infection)

Muscles work in pairs and your forehead and frown muscles work together in this way. This means that if the amount of Botox® injected isn’t balanced correctly then you could end up with hooded eyes due to an eyebrow drop, or the opposite where you have “spot brow’ caused by the most outer part of the eye brows raising up (both are rectifiable!). This can happen to the most experienced of practitioners due to the face that we don’t know exactly how much Botox® you need to achieve your desired look (this is also why it is important to have a two week review appointment.

Another issue that can occur, is if a particular muscle is injected which sits close to the boney part, just above the eye. If this is injected (and this can happen due to poor injection technique or how your particular muscles sit) then this can cause the eyelid itself to drop. Whilst eyedrops can be provided to help, unfortunately this is something that is more difficult to immediately rectify and is generally left to resolve on its own.

Finally, if Botox® is injected too close to the eye, there is a risk of having double vision which may also not resolve until the Botox® has worn off but in our opinion, this should never happen.

Many practitioners don’t mark up prior to injecting and we feel that this is bad practice. Many of these problems are easily avoidable when the injection points are marked up prior to injecting as it puts you through the process of thinking about anatomical landmarks in the face prior to administering the Botox®.

This will really depend on what it is we are treating, what your home skin care regime is like, whether you have tried other types of non-surgical treatments and the condition of your skin.

We are always happy to discuss the various options to you based on your individuals needs and requirements and invite you to book a consultation with us to do this.