Botox & Fillers

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Botox & fillers

BOTOX

Botox treatment relaxes muscles, and prevents skin from creasing and causing wrinkles. It is effective for smoothing out expression lines, such as frown and surprise lines on the forehead and crow’s feet around the eyes, and turkey-neck – lines on the throat. The treatment is becoming increasingly popular, with some people even taking it as a preventive treatment.

What is BOTOX?

Botox treatment is used to improve the appearance of both moderate to severe wrinkles in the forehead, between the brows, at crow’s feet (outer corners of eyes) and neck in adults. This is a non-invasive treatment where, with the help of a very fine needle, Botox is injected into facial muscles beneath the wrinkles. The injected medicine relaxes the muscle and reduces its ability to contract, resulting in smooth skin.

Unlike most facial rejuvenation procedures, the treatment takes only a few minutes. You need to take out very little time from your busy schedule to get the Botox treatment. No downtime is needed for recovery.

How do wrinkles form?

Wrinkles are a natural outcome of the aging process. The facial muscles repeatedly contract and expand with changing facial expressions over the lifetime. As we grow older, however, the dermis (middle layer of the skin) slowly loses elasticity-providing ingredients – collagen and elastin. The fatty subcutaneous (bottommost) layer of the skin also loses fat over time. When these things happen, the skin gets thinner and less moisture gets to the epidermis (the outer layer of the skin). The epidermis begins to sag, creating wrinkles. The extent of wrinkles also depends upon the lifestyle and heredity.

How does Botox work?

The injected Botox works beneath the skin’s surface and targets the underlying muscle activity that causes the formation of wrinkles over time. Normally when we squint, frown or make other facial expressions, our nerves release a neurotransmitter chemical – acetylcholine. This neurotransmitter binds to receptors within the muscle to make it contract.

Botox binds to the acetylcholine receptors and blocks the signals from the nerve to the muscle, resulting in a reduction of muscle activity and temporarily preventing the contraction of the muscles responsible for the formation of wrinkles. The binding process starts within 48 hours of the treatment its impact on the skin starts showing within 10 days.

Is Botox safe?

Yes. It is FDA-approved. Botox is a neurotoxin that causes muscles to relax. Doctors have used Botox for many years to improve the cosmetic appearance of facial lines and wrinkles. Botox also has some medical uses to treat various symptoms and conditions. Like any other treatment, it may become unsafe if administered by inexperienced hands. The dosage is critical to both safety and effectiveness. Prescribed frequency and clinical conditions need to be maintained. The only way to ensure this is to have it under the supervision of a qualified and experienced medical professional, specially a qualified dermatologist.

Fillers

Facial fillers are substances injected into the skin to smooth wrinkles and make them less noticeable. Injection of a facial filler is generally an outpatient procedure that’s done with numbing medication. The procedure takes up to an hour.

You might have mild discomfort, bruising and swelling for up to a week. After the swelling goes down, you might need a touch-up injection for best results. How long the effect lasts depends on the type of wrinkle and filler, among other factors.

Facial fillers, or soft tissue fillers, generally aren’t used for people who have suppressed immune systems or who take blood-thinning medications (anticoagulants).

Types of facial fillers

Facial fillers include:

Hyaluronic acid (Restylane, Juvederm, others).This natural component of the skin’s connective tissue is the most common filler used for wrinkles. The results typically last 6 to 12 months.
Calcium hydroxylapatite (Radiesse).This filler is used to contour the jaw line, restore volume in the cheeks, and treat deeper wrinkles and skin folds. The results last up to a year when used for contouring and 3 years when used to fill wrinkles.
Fat grafting.With this method, fat is removed from the lower abdomen or other area through liposuction. It is then injected through small incisions into the cheek, temple, lips or forehead. The effects might be permanent. But achieving the desired results usually requires more than one session as well as overfilling the site because the body reabsorbs some of the fat.
Permanent soft tissue filler (Bellafill).This filler is used to smooth deep wrinkles around the mouth. The body can’t absorb this type of filler, so it doesn’t require reinjection. Permanent soft tissue filler generally isn’t recommended as a first-time facial filler treatment.
Poly-L-lactic acid (Sculptra).This product is used to restore facial volume lost due to aging or illness. Two or three sessions are usually required. The effects last up to two years.

Risks

As with any procedure, injecting facial filler for wrinkles has risks, including:

Allergic reaction at the injection site or throughout the body
Swelling and inflammation
Changes in skin color (postinflammatory hyperpigmentation) on brown or Black skin
Mild pain
Bleeding or bruising at the injection site
Infection
Scarring
Irregularities in the surface, contours and firmness of the skin
Rarely, blood vessel damage