Hello Gorgeous!
I’ve talked a lot about skin care but I also want to share one of my favorite aesthestic treatments…Botox. It’s my favorite treatment to give and to receive! It used to be so taboo and hush-hush to talk about it amongst friends. It was a big secret. We knew so-and-so looked great but we just couldn’t quite put our finger on why. Nowadays, friends share who to go see to get their botox, who not to see, how much it will cost, and the newest trends. Botox has become very mainstream because it’s readily available and affordable to most.
Botox is a neuro-modulator meaning it interrupts the signal between the nerves and the muscle. Botox is just one example of a neuromodulator. There are several others such as Dysport, Xeomin, Jeaveau. To make this easy, we’ll just stick with the term botox. Botox has been around for a long time. It’s actually been used in the medical field since the 70’s. Did you know there are over 200 medical uses of botox? Neuromodulators are used to treat numerous conditions like neck spasms, TMJ, excessive sweating, overactive bladder, and migraines, just to name a few.
Cosmetically, botox is used to soften or stop the formation of wrinkles. Since our skin is attached to muscle, repetitive movement, such as raising the eyebrows, will eventually cause wrinkles. To relax that muscle movement and soften the wrinkles, botox is injected into that specific muscle. This inhibits that muscle from moving and you are left with a smoother version of your skin.
Botox does not work immediately. It takes about 5-10 days to start seeing the effects. Around day 14 is when you’ll see the least amount of muscle movement. After day 14, you’ll very gradually begin to get the slightest bit of muscle movement. By the time you reach 6 weeks, 50% of muscle movement will have returned. By the time you reach 3 months, wrinkles will have returned full effect and you’ll be ready for another dose of botox. The reason this happens is because our bodies are miraculous. Botox blocks the neurotransmitter that causes muscle contraction. After 3 months, our bodies have figured out an alternate way to get that signal back to the muscle and voil’a…muscle movement and wrinkles have returned. Such a bummer!
I’ve been getting botox for at least 10 years, if not more. I started getting it injected between my eyebrows so that I didn’t look like I was scowling all the time. Gradually, I moved on to my forehead to get rid of a deep wrinkle in the center and then to crows feet to soften the wrinkles at the corner of my eyes. There are other areas of the face that can benefit from botox injections. For example, if you have a “gummy smile”, botox can be injected so that you’re still able to smile but not pull your upper lip up so high that you’re showing a lot of gum. I could go on and on about the many uses. Let me just say that as a nurse in the aesthetics industry, I love helping people feel like the best version of themselves. Botox is definitely not something you need. You are beautiful just as you are. Think of botox as another tool in the anti-aging toolbox. It’s an option that’s available but there are other tools that will get the job done too…like sunscreen!
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