Has my Botox worked?

Botox is one of the most popular injectable treatments around and it’s no wonder why so many Brits opt for this treatment for wrinkle-smoothing. It’s a fast, virtually painless treatment to administer, works for most patients and can last anything from 3 to 6 months. However, it’s important to understand how Botox® works and the results that you, as an individual may receive (and for how long), so as not to rely on Botox® as the miracle product for all your anti-ageing needs. At KL Cosmetic Clinics in Doncaster, we offer Botox® to many of our patients who are experiencing the early and more significant signs of ageing, to help them reduce their dynamic wrinkles and expression lines. But we always consult with our patients thoroughly, to help them understand the type of results they can expect to achieve with this treatment.

The skin around eyes is very delicate and prone to even the earliest signs of ageing (those seen in our twenties and thirties) and this is due to many changes that the skin goes through. We often find that we will see skin laxity underneath the eyes and this is very normal to notice once we have Botox®. When injecting Botox® around the eyes, the substance gets to work on the orbicularis oculi muscle. This muscle is what causes expression lines around the eyes (crow’s feet) and we can test this muscle movement by squinting. We can successfully reduce crow’s feet temporarily, using Botox. However Botox® injections cannot completely reduce the lines directly underneath the eyes as there is no muscle in this area to be affected by the drug. Therefore, you will notice that when you smile, having had Botox® you may see the skin around this area move upwards and ‘bunch’ up. This is a common occurrence and usually unavoidable using Botox® alone.

Some patients also have what we call, extended crow’s feet. These are the lines forming down the cheeks and can be most commonly seen when we smile. This is due to volume loss in the cheeks, due to the natural ageing process. The fat pads held within the cheeks drop and therefore reduce their support to the cheeks. In these instances, the use of an injectable dermal filler would be the best option, to accompany your Botox® treatment.

It’s important to understand that a Botox® treatment isn’t permanent and will show optimal results at around 6 weeks following your treatment. We can understand this better if we consider hair and nail growth (the 12 week cycle). You will most probably notice a decline in the results, steadily to around week 12. This is due to the natural muscle activity increasing after week 6 and the induced muscle deactivation decreasing in a similar fashion. Botox® wears off like other personal treatment. Sometimes it takes 2 full treatment cycles to get your perfect dose, as we have to assess your response to the Botox. Therefore always contact us throughout your cycle if you have concerns about early movement so we can plan and adjust your next dose accordingly. However, at KL Cosmetic Clinics, we would never recommend more than 3 Botox® treatments in any one year. We would however, be able to recommend a myriad of treatments and products to help you maintain good skin quality, youthful facial contours and a healthy glow (one of the mainstays of youthful skin).

Static lines (lines we see when our facial expressions are at rest) can’t always be reduced by using with Botox®. Regular Botox® is required to affect some of these lines and in some cases, even after multiple sessions of Botox®, static lines never fully disappear. However we can improve them and perhaps offer you a dermal filler treatment to tackle these lines, as well as ZO growth factor serum for skin laxity underneath the eyes, which is a superb product by Dr Zein Obagi and not available in pharmacies or supermarkets.

Botox® is a fantastic treatment to reduce those annoying facial lines, such as crow’s feet, glabellar lines (the lines between the eyebrows at the top of the nose), forehead lines and even neck lines. However, we must remember that Botox® works on the muscle not on the skin. If we have poor skin quality or ageing skin Botox® isn’t a one-stop shop solution. Good skincare, skin tightening and dermal fillers can help and on assessment, in a no obligation consultation, here at Kl Cosmetic Clinics where we would provide you with comprehensive advice for the very best results, long-term.