|
Welcome!
Thank you for visiting! This web site will give you information on how Botox® is used to enhance facial appearance.
More About Botox®
Facial Lines -- How They Form
Furrows and lines form on the face as a result of the pull of the underlying muscle. Damage from the sun and normal aging also play a part, making the furrows easier to form by reducing the elasticity of the skin. Lines will form on the skin perpendicular (at a 90 degree angle) to the underlying muscle. For intance, the frontalis muscle that pulls the eyebrows up runs vertically (up and down) under the forehead. As a result, lines that form on the forehead always go horizontally (across).
What Botox® Is And How It Works
Botox® must be injected. It does not work as a tablet or a cream. In its raw form Botox® is produced in nature by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum when the bacterium is deprived of oxygen. Raw botulinum toxin contains a mixture of subtypes. The manufacturer purifies subtype A and crystalizes it onto human albumin to make Botox®. (The other botulinum product, Myobloc®, is subtype B.)
When injected, Botox® travels through the tissues until it finds the nerve that ends on a muscle. The nerve ending absorbs the Botox® (or Myobloc®), and the medication acts to prevent the nerve from firing. This weakens the muscle, and the muscle can no longer produce the facial lines.
Ultimately, the nerve ending regenerates, and the muscle regains its previous strength. This is why injections of Botox® and Myobloc® wear off and have to be repeated.
What Botox® Can (And Cannot) Improve
Botox® works best on the upper third of the face. Forehead furrows, glabellar frown lines (between the eyebrows), and lines around the eyes (“crow’s feet”) nearly always respond favorably to Botox®.
Lines around the mouth respond only about half the time. Injections around the mouth risk an uneven smile, even if the injection is properly performed. Dimples, discolorations, and sun damage do not respond to Botox®.
Botox® is measured in units. When pricing injections, be sure to get the number of units, since Botox® is very costly and most of the cost of injection is for the medication. Typical doses are 16 units for forehead furrows, 20 units for glabellar frown lines, and 12 units per eye for lines around the eyes.
Because Myobloc® is not pH balanced like Botox®, Myobloc® is seldom used for facial injections because it may cause a burning sensation when injected.
Precautions
Serious complications of Botox® injections are infrequent. Troubling side effects are still infrequent and nearly always wear off. From cosmetic injections, the most frequent adverse effect is a slight unevenness of the face. If bothersome, this can be corrected with a “touch up” re-injection. In about one in a thousand cases, temporary drooping of the eyelid or double vision results.
Scheduling a Botox® Injection
Click to find a botox doctor or clinic in your area that performs Botox® cosmetic injections.
For furthur Botox Cosmetic information, go to the Botox Injection Information
website.
|
Botox Sites