The use of Botox to eliminate wrinkles

In modern cosmetology, Botox and its analogues are the main, and in some cases the only effective anti-wrinkle remedy. With proper use, it really allows you to completely eliminate wrinkles of almost any severity, and with additional procedures you can hide the traces of these creases on the skin - stripes, dents, unevenness in the tan.

However, not all wrinkles can be removed with Botox. This product and other botulinum toxin-based drugs are designed to remove the so-called dynamic wrinkles that develop due to frequent and severe muscle contraction, which leads to wrinkling of the skin. On the face, such wrinkles are most noticeable on the forehead, between the eyebrows, on the back of the nose, in the corners of the eyes.

Wrinkles, which do not develop due to muscle activity, are either not eliminated by Botox, or it provides only a partial correction of them.

For example, look at the photo below - here are the results of smoothing wrinkles on the forehead:

It is noteworthy that after correctly performed injections, the muscles here partially retain their mobility and are involved in facial activity. That is, violations of facial expressions in this case do not occur.

And so the results look before and after Botox injections directed against the "crow's feet" in the corners of the eyes:

It is important to understand that such effects are achieved, albeit in many, but not in all cases, even when botulinum toxin corrects precisely facial wrinkles. The final result of such a procedure depends on many factors: the sensitivity of the person and the reaction of his body to the toxin, the professionalism of the doctor and the correctness of the introduction of the drug, the quality of the drug itself. Therefore, anyone who wants to remove wrinkles with Botox needs to know when to count on this remedy, how the procedure is carried out and what undesirable consequences you need to be prepared for.

 

How Botox Eliminates Wrinkles

Botox itself (like most of its analogues) is a muscle relaxant based on botulinum toxin type A. The principle of its action is to disrupt the transmission of a nerve impulse to the target muscle or individual muscle fiber, after which, under no stimulus from the nervous system, the muscle will not shrink. Consequently, if, during contraction, a particular muscle caused the appearance of wrinkles, then after Botox is introduced into it, contractions cease and the wrinkle disappears.

If the wrinkles were very strong, then in their place deep deformation of the skin develops over time. Even after complete relaxation of the muscles and smoothing of the skin, strips and dents remain on its surface. They are caused by disturbances in the internal spatial structure of the dermis: here the amount of hyaluronic acid decreases, the number of fibroblast cells that ensure the flow of necessary biochemical processes decreases, and a lack of collagen and other proteins develops. Therefore, such old and neglected wrinkles sometimes require complex therapy with Botox and fillers (primarily based on hyaluronic acid), as well as the use of other cosmetic methods and tools.

Nevertheless, there are much more cases when Botox is enough to completely eliminate facial wrinkles, than there are situations when botulinum therapy needs to be supplemented with other methods. As a rule, at the age of 40-42 years, most dynamic wrinkles can be eliminated with Botox alone.

On a note

The concepts of “dynamic” and “facial” wrinkles are not completely identical. Dynamic wrinkles are all creases on the skin caused by muscle activity, no matter if they are on the face, neck, or buttocks.Expression wrinkles are just that part of the dynamic ones that are on the face and are involved in the expression of emotions. Nevertheless, given that in the vast majority of cases, Botox is used precisely against facial wrinkles in cosmetology, for the majority of patients these terms are equivalent.

Depending on the purpose of the procedure, Botox elimination of wrinkles can be complete or partial. In the first case, the muscle generally ceases to contract to the formation of a crease and the skin does not wrinkle at all. In the second, a small fold may be retained during muscle contraction, but this requires strong volitional muscle tension, which, in a calm state, excludes, for example, involuntary frowning and keeping wrinkles in a calm state. This may be necessary when the target muscle plays an important role in the expression of certain emotions, and its complete denervation can lead to disruption of facial expressions and the development of the undesirable effect of the “wax mask”, that is, a motionless face.

It is interesting that in addition to removing wrinkles, Botox and its analogues are used in cosmetology and for other purposes. For example, it allows you to weaken the muscle leading to the lower jaw, and make it less pronounced. Due to this, the contours of the lower part of the face are smoothed out and the overall oval of the face is corrected, it can be made more gentle and feminine.

It is interesting

Theoretically, Botox can be “delivered”, including for the prevention of wrinkles. However, this is impractical because wrinkles can be eliminated in the early stages of their appearance, when other people still do not notice them, and because of the individual characteristics of the face, it is extremely difficult to predict where and how a particular person will have the first wrinkle, and which particular muscle will cause it .

Similarly, with the help of Botox, the position of the eyebrows can be corrected, the asymmetry of the corners of the lips and the difference in the width of the opening of the eye slots can be eliminated. With botulinum toxin, the shape of the chin is also corrected, the horizontal “Venus rings” on the neck and vertical muscle cords are removed here (the so-called Nefertiti lifting).

Often, a cosmetologist, when assessing the condition of a patient’s face, indicates all such defects, and not just wrinkles, gives recommendations and, with the patient’s consent, carries out complex botulinum therapy. According to the reviews of many visitors to cosmetic clinics, they received the most pronounced and noticeable effect just after the procedures that the doctor recommended to them, but which they did not even think about before the visit, rather than after the planned removal of wrinkles.

 

What type of wrinkles are eliminated during botulinum therapy

An important advantage of botulinum toxin is that it acts on wrinkles of any depth and any age. If the wrinkle is dynamic and the muscle that causes it does not contract, then the hall ceases to form, no matter how deep it is. Due to this property, Botox is used, among others, in elderly people, in whom it is quite successful to remove 20-30-year-old creases.

On the other hand, Botox allows you to get rid of small, but numerous wrinkles in the corners of the eyes, around the mouth, under the eyes - all of them are also of mimic origin, do not catch the eye, but together with other age-related defects greatly age the face.

In general, using Botox and similar drugs, you can eliminate such facial wrinkles:

• Horizontal frontal, most noticeable due to their length and forehead openness;
• Between the eyebrows ("furniture"), among many people appears among the first;
• In the corners of the eyes ("crow's feet");
• Under the eyes (but not always);
• On the sides of the back of the nose - they usually appear when expressing disgust, rage or fright and are called "rabbit";

• "Wrinkles of a smile" in the corners of the mouth and on the cheeks;
• Purse-string wrinkles above the upper and under the lower lip, diverging radially from the mouth gap. They are considered unambiguous signs of old age and they try to remove them immediately when they appear;
• A net of wrinkles on the chin, because of which it seems lumpy and rough.

It is interesting

According to statistics, the removal of wrinkles in the upper third of the face accounts for more than 70% of cosmetic botulinum therapy procedures.

Also, as part of a facial treatment, wrinkles on the neck are usually eliminated. Here, with the help of Botox, it is possible to remove noticeable vertical cords running from the top of the chest to the chin, and horizontal "rings of Venus."

It is important that some of the wrinkles listed above can be noticeable even when the muscles that cause them are relaxed and when the person is at rest. And, as a rule, if the trace of wrinkles persists with complete relaxation of the muscle, Botox should be supplemented with other means during its correction.

On the contrary, only Botox cannot be eliminated:

• Vertical nasolabial folds, the main reason for the appearance of which is a decrease in skin tone and lowering of the cheeks;
• “Puppet lines,” or “wrinkles of sorrow,” falling from the corners of the mouth between the chin and cheeks;

• “Double” chin (although Botox is believed to be useful to some extent as a complement to the main methods of removing this defect);
• Lacrimal furrow;
• Horizontal wrinkle on the bridge of the nose.

In some cases, wrinkles can be of complex origin. Therefore, their therapy should also be comprehensive, during which all the causes that caused this defect should be eliminated. Therefore, even before the procedure, the doctor must assess the severity of each crease, facial features and the influence of different muscles on certain defects in order to accurately predict the result of injections in a particular area.

Often, factors affecting the formation and aggravation of wrinkles develop with age. If one wrinkle initially appeared as a typical facial expression, then in the future it can become deeper due to a decrease in skin tone, an increase in the fat layer and other reasons. Therefore, many cosmetologists recommend starting Botox as soon as the wrinkles that it eliminates appear on the skin. After all, if there is no wrinkle, then there is nothing to be aggravated.

At the same time, there is no lower limit for the use of Botox. According to medical indications, children from six months of age sometimes start injecting him, because due to high safety, he does not cause even side effects in them. So, to eliminate wrinkles, the drug can be administered at any age at which they become noticeable or begin to bother a person. As practice shows, before 23-25 ​​years of age, permanent facial wrinkles are not formed (except for pathological cases, for example, in short-sighted people, often forced to wrinkle their foreheads), and from this age Botox can be pricked.

 

The speed of the drug

The effect of all botulinum toxin preparations appears 1-5 days after their administration. In fact, wrinkles begin to be smoothed right after the procedure, but this effect becomes noticeable only after a few days, and reaches its maximum severity only on 10-14 days. Moreover, the speed of the onset of the desired result depends not only (and not so much) on the speed of action of the drug on the muscles, but also on the severity of temporary side effects.

So, it is known that after the procedure, swelling and bumps at the injection sites often develop. They pass within 2-3 days, but under them it is not visible whether wrinkles are preserved or not.

In addition, “boasting” of the result of the procedure in the presence of such consequences will not work, and in any case it will be necessary to wait until they pass.

In general, the effect of all drugs appears almost at the same time. In this regard, there are no pronounced differences, for example, between Botox and Dysport.

However, there are such differences in the number of side effects.

For example, the Russian drug Relatox botulinum toxin more often than other similar drugs causes pain and itching when injected, because of it, edema can often develop. As a result, if after the introduction of a more delicate Xeomin or Dysport, all the consequences pass the next day (or do not develop at all), and then the target effect appears, then with Relatox injections it is possible to maintain side effects for 3-4 days, and the desired result is all this time will not be visible.

However, if side effects do not develop, all botulinum toxin preparations in the same person act approximately equally quickly.

However, the timing of the effect of the use of botulinum toxins varies in different people. They depend on the sensitivity of a particular person, on the individual characteristics of his body, on the behavior after the procedure. If in some patients the wrinkles are smoothed out already on the day of the procedure, in others the effect may appear after 3-4 days or even more.

On a note

According to statistics, about 5% of people are generally not sensitive to Botox and its analogues. This number includes those who have had botulism in their lives and have developed immunity to botulinum toxin, and those whose body independently inhibits the activity of this substance. They botulinum therapy does not give any result.

Similarly, the duration of the conservation of the Botox effect depends on the individual sensitivity of a person.

 

How long does the Botox effect last?

An important feature (and for many people - the main drawback) of Botox is the temporality of its effect. It is associated with the fact that the body begins to deal with the consequences of botulinum toxin activity immediately after the procedure, triggering the mechanisms of regeneration of nerve synapses. These mechanisms are relatively slow, and therefore, before the complete restoration of the innervation of the target muscles, it usually takes several months. That is how much time the Botox effect lasts.

The speed of such regeneration depends on the abilities of the body, on the specifics of the drug and on the amount of it introduced during the procedure.

Speaking specifically about Botox and its analogues - Xeomin, Mioblock, Relatox - on average, its effect lasts 7-8 months.

After this period, muscle activity is restored so that wrinkles appear again. To eliminate them, the drug must be re-administered. In this case, after the completion of the effect, wrinkles appear gradually and do not become more noticeable than they were before the procedures. With the cessation of injections, they continue to develop and become deeper exactly at the speed with which they would have developed, if the person had not been injected at all.

The duration of Dysport is shorter: on average, its effect lasts for 5-6 months.

Interestingly, from an economic point of view, the cost of Botox and Dysport's continuous injections is almost the same. An injection of a Botox unit costs about 300-350 rubles, in the framework of one procedure for removing wrinkles on the forehead, 20-25 units are used, for removing “crow's feet” - 10-15 units. The cost of an injection of a Disport unit is about 100-120 rubles, about 40-45 units will be required to remove the same wrinkles on the forehead. That is, Dysport injections are about 20-30% cheaper than Botox injections, but they need to be repeated more often to maintain the desired effect, therefore, in general, the costs of botulinum therapy with both drugs will be approximately the same.

On a note

Due to the fact that, ceteris paribus, Dysport has to be pricked more often than Botox, it is preferred less often.His main audience is people in whom Botox and analogues cause side effects, and Dysport injections are completely painless.

Numerous cases of a significant deviation from the standard terms for maintaining the effect of botulinum toxin are known.

For example, for most athletes, the Botox effect lasts for a maximum of 2-3 months, and for many of them, wrinkles are restored within the first month after injections. This is due to intensive metabolism and rapidly occurring regenerative processes in their muscles.

In general, people with a fast metabolism have a Botox effect that is shorter than people with a slow metabolism. Therefore, by the way, patients with an asthenic body type often have to make injections more often - their harmony is often the result of an accelerated metabolism.

Interestingly, according to many patients, the duration of Botox increases with each subsequent procedure. In part, this may be due to the fact that immobilized wrinkles lose their strength over the months of the drug’s action, and when they begin to contract again, they do this relatively weakly. During this time, facial expressions are often rebuilt and immobilized muscles are not involved in the expression of emotions even after their innervation is restored.

Be that as it may, but many patients note that after the first 2-3 procedures with an interval of 7-9 months, the need for subsequent injections arises after 12-14 months, and sometimes more.

 

Procedure

In general, in terms of duration and complexity for the patient, the botulinum treatment procedure is similar to the manicure procedure: it takes about 30-40 minutes, does not require any special preparation, and after that the person can do his daily business, observing only some specific restrictions.

The procedure begins with the doctor seating the patient in a sitting or reclining position in a chair and proceeding to the diagnosis of wrinkles. To do this, the patient needs to frown, imitating certain emotions. According to wrinkles, the doctor plans and marks the points of administration of the drug and its amount, evaluates the individual characteristics of certain zones, muscle interaction, correlation of wrinkles with other facial defects.

Then the patient signs an informed consent for the introduction of Botox (the formality necessary for the safety of the clinic), and the doctor prepares the drug. As a rule, cosmetic botulinum toxins are available in the form of a lyophilisate (powder), or a concentrated solution, which must be diluted with water. Such a finished drug is drawn into a special syringe with a very thin needle, and the doctor begins to inject it at the selected points.

In most people, Botox, Dysport, and Xeomin injections do not cause pain, and only a few patients can feel pain. They injected places with anesthetizing solution or ice. According to patients, the administration of Relatox is almost always accompanied by pain.

In one procedure, the doctor makes from 1 to 40 injections, more often - 4-12. Some doctors, after removing the needle, massage the injection site; others do not. Then, for about 10-15 minutes, the doctor monitors the patient's condition to be sure that he will not develop a rapid episode of allergy. If there are no signs of hypersensitivity, then the procedure ends.

If additional procedures and methods are required to remove or correct wrinkles, they are carried out either several days or weeks before Botox injections, or at least several days after botulinum therapy. It is impossible to inject botulinum toxin and carry out other serious cosmetic procedures in one day.

After the procedure, the patient must comply with some rules of the rehabilitation period. Among them:

• For 3-4 hours, you can not lie and bend over;
• 2-3 days after the procedure, you can not play sports, go to the sauna or bathhouse, be in the sun, drink alcohol;
• Within 2-3 days after the procedure (and, by the way, for the same amount of time before it), certain antibiotics, antidepressants, anticonvulsants and other medications should not be taken. This question is best agreed with the beautician in advance;
• Within 3-4 days, it is impossible to massage the injection sites and other cosmetic procedures in these areas. Aggressive therapy - peels, the introduction of mesothreads, plastic surgeries - can be performed no less than a month after botulinum therapy.

If you violate these rules, incomplete elimination of wrinkles or the development of unwanted side effects is possible.

 

What troubles are possible when removing Botox wrinkles

In some cases, after the introduction of Botox, side effects develop even with full compliance with the rules of the procedure and rehabilitation after it. Basically, these consequences do not cause serious inconvenience to humans and disappear in 2-3 days, but sometimes they can be very serious. Among these consequences:

• Bruises, swelling, bumps, itching, a foreign body sensation at the injection site. Develop more often than others, pass quickly, cause a minimum of inconvenience;
• Noticeable changes in facial expressions, immobilization of unwanted muscles, manifestation of cosmetic defects - ptosis (drooping eyelids), even worse - inability to blink, unnaturally strong lifting of eyebrows (“Mephistopheles eyebrows”), drooping or lifting of the corners of the lips, the appearance of the “mask” on the face from for the immobility of individual muscles. As a rule, they last as long as the main effect lasts; only in some cases can such effects be corrected;
• The appearance of compensatory wrinkles, due to the activity of the muscles that take on tasks immobilized. The phenomenon is relatively rare and difficult to correct, because sometimes there are more compensatory wrinkles than the original ones;
• Flu-like syndrome with fever and sore throat - usually lasts 1-2 days;
• Allergy is a very rare consequence, but it is also the most dangerous. It is allergy that causes a small number of deaths after botulinum therapy.

Some of these consequences are due to beautician errors. For example, denervation of non-target muscles and unwanted facial defects are almost always the result of insufficient consideration of the individual characteristics of the anatomy, incorrect selection of points for injection and incorrect calculation of the amount of the drug. You can avoid such consequences by choosing an experienced cosmetologist with a good reputation.

Other consequences can be avoided if you do not carry out the procedure if there are contraindications. These include, inter alia, infectious and oncological diseases, rashes at the sites of the alleged injections, taking certain medications, a tendency to keloid skin scarring, and pregnancy.

Finally, after the procedure, all the instructions and recommendations of the cosmetologist must be strictly observed. If any troubles occur, you should contact the beautician, inform him about the pathology and get directions for further actions.

 

Other cosmetic wrinkle removal methods

In general, among cosmetologists and regular visitors to cosmetic clinics, Botox is considered the best way to remove dynamic wrinkles. Other methods against these defects, if they are used, are either in addition to Botox to enhance its effect or to correct traces of wrinkles on the skin, or in situations where botulinum toxin does not work, or the patient should not be used for one reason or another.

Other methods are used to combat static wrinkles that are caused not by muscle contraction, but by other causes (decreased skin tone, increased body fat and tissue mass, thinning of the skin):

1. Biorevitalization using hyaluronic acid - it allows, to a certain extent and for a certain period, to imitate the condition of young skin and give it a younger look with fewer wrinkles;
2. The use of fillers based on fats (lipofilling) or other substances, including non-biodegradable ones (the so-called permanent fillers) - to some extent, they even allow you to remove small facial folds, because the creases are filled with them and the skin does not wrinkle here;
3. A thread lift, necessary, for example, to eliminate puppet wrinkles or nasolabial folds;
4. Surgical lifting is much more complicated than the same botulinum therapy or biorevitalization.

Many of these methods are combined with Botox, and with this combination, the result is much more pronounced. However, the combination of these procedures is much more expensive and difficult than each of them individually.

Finally, there are non-injection analogues of Botox. For example, the so-called Argireline-based Mesobotox has a similar effect, but does not require administration under the skin. It is used either in the form of serum or in the form of a cream, which are simply applied to the skin. Its effectiveness is much lower than the effectiveness of injectable drugs, but in the future it can be used at home independently.

There are also preparations in the form of a patch, which is glued to a skin area with a targeted wrinkle, but they are not widely used due to the aesthetic features of the application (in contrast to the cream, the patch is very noticeable on the face).

Be that as it may, the removal of wrinkles is a complex task that requires not only the use of effective tools, but also an understanding of the causes of each specific wrinkle, taking into account the individual characteristics of the patient and understanding the steps to be taken in unforeseen cases. Therefore, the most reliable and safe way to choose a method or tool and remove wrinkles is to contact a good cosmetologist and entrust this task to him.

 

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