What Is Botox® Cosmetic?
Botox® Cosmetic is a prescription injectable treatment used to temporarily relax specific facial muscles that contribute to expression lines and wrinkles.
These lines develop through repeated facial movements such as frowning, squinting, raising the eyebrows and smiling. By carefully adjusting the activity of selected muscles, Botox can soften existing lines, help prevent them from becoming more deeply etched and improve facial balance—without eliminating natural expression.
Common areas treated with cosmetic Botox include:
- Forehead lines
- Frown lines between the eyebrows
- Crow’s feet around the eyes
- Brow asymmetry or heaviness
- Bunny lines across the nose
- Chin dimpling
- Downturned corners of the mouth
- Vertical neck bands
At Dermetics, Botox treatment is personalized to your anatomy, facial movement and desired outcome. The goal is not to make every muscle completely still. It is to create the appropriate degree of relaxation while maintaining expression and ensuring the face continues to feel like your own.
Dermetics has been providing cosmetic injectable treatments since 2003. Dr. Channy Muhn and Dr. Nathan Rosen are cosmetic dermatologists with extensive experience in facial anatomy, clinical research and advanced injectable techniques. Treatments may be performed by our physicians or by experienced cosmetic injectors working under their medical direction.
How Botox® Cosmetic Works
Botox® is administered through a series of tiny injections into specific muscles with a fine needle and works by blocking signals from the nerves to the muscles. Injected muscles can no longer contract, causing wrinkles to relax and soften.
Before your treatment, your cosmetic injector will carefully assess your facial anatomy and expressions to determine the optimal dosage and treatment areas. Dr. Muhn or Dr. Rosen support the consultation process and approve all new treatment plans if the treatment is being performed by one of our expertly trained cosmetic injectors.
No anaesthetic is required and most patients report very little discomfort. Results begin to appear within days and full effects are visible in one to two weeks. If you’re a new patient, or just new to Botox®, our doctors will always support the treatment planning process. Your cosmetic injector will see you again in two weeks to assess results and in some cases make small adjustments.
Botox® effects are temporary and generally last between three and four months, at which point wrinkles gradually reappear. With repeated treatments lines and wrinkles may become less severe as muscles become conditioned to relaxing. Treatment every four months is recommended to maintain results
What Can Botox® Treat?
Botox may be used to soften expression lines, adjust muscle balance and address specific facial concerns. Your treatment plan may include one or several areas depending on how your muscles work together.
Forehead Lines
Forehead Botox can soften horizontal lines created when the eyebrows are raised. Treatment must be carefully balanced to avoid creating heaviness or lowering the brows.
Frown Lines
The vertical lines between the eyebrows can create a tired, tense or angry appearance. Botox can relax the muscles responsible for these lines while preserving natural facial expression.
Crow’s Feet
Botox can soften the fine lines that form around the outer corners of the eyes when smiling or squinting.
Brow Balance
Small, precise adjustments may help improve brow position or reduce visible asymmetry. The approach depends on the natural pull of the muscles around the forehead and eyes.
Lower Face and Neck
Botox may also be used in selected patients to address chin dimpling, downward pull at the corners of the mouth, prominent neck bands and other concerns involving muscle movement.
FAQs - Botox® Cosmetic
1. How long before I see results with Botox® or Neuromodulators?
For any of the brands that fall under the family of neuromodulators (Botox®, Dysport®, Nuceiva™ and Xeomin®), the onset can occur as early as a few days after treatment. Full effect taking 7 days for most patients and no longer than 14 days.
2. How many units of Botox® do I need?
There are a few factors we considered when determining the number of units needed.
- There are slight differences between the brands of neuromodulators. For example, one unit of Botox® might give a similar effect as 3 units of Dysport®.
- It depends on a patient's treatment goals and the look that they are hoping to achieve.
- A person's individual anatomy and muscles.
- Proper placement of the injection.
We encourage our patients to focus on results rather than on the number of units. Injectors that don’t properly target the muscles will require more units to achieve their effect, compromising the result, and risking more side effects.
3. How long does Botox® last?
There are a few factors that can play a role in an individual's result duration
- Duration can be affected by dose, but only up to a point. Higher doses generally increase duration.
- The type/brand of Neuromodulator being used.
- Muscle size/location.
- Individual variability in overcoming the effect.
In terms of averages, effects can be expected to last 3-6 months. We tend to see that the effects fade a bit faster in the forehead and crow's feet areas vs. the eyebrows/glabella. However, in preventing unwanted lines, it is best to re-treat before the effect has completely worn off.
4. What are the risks of Botox® or Neuromodulators?
Side effects can occur when adjacent muscles to the target are affected. Most commonly this can lead to eyelid droop, altered smile or double vision. Too much effect on the forehead muscles can lead to heavy or dropped brows. ALL of these side effect risks are lessened by choosing an experienced and qualified injector. The good news is that all the side effects are all temporary.
5. Is Botox® reversible?
The short answer ‘NO’. If you are unhappy with the look or you experienced a rare side effect, you would need to wait for the product to wear off. There is no antidote for botox or the neuromodulator family. However, if you are experiencing an imbalance in your face, injectors are able to make adjustments in a follow up visit in order to achieve a more optimal balance.
6. Is there downtime after a Botox® treatment?
Not really. There is a small chance of bruising at the sites of injection. We additionally ask our patients not to touch their faces immediately and for four hours after treatment.
Want to know more?
Check out our Drs talking about ‘The Dermetics Botox® Blend’. See what sets Dermetics apart when it comes to Botox® treatment.
Post Care:
Download Dermetics Neuromodulator post care instructions here.
