Having confidence in your appearance can have a positive effect on virtually all aspects of life, from your relationships with others to success in business scenarios. While we all eventually age and develop lines and wrinkles along the way, Botox therapy offers a quick and effective way of treating these types of issues. Here at Kadz Plastic Surgery in Beverly Hills, CA, we offer this therapy as both a corrective and preventative treatment.
Because it can be used in both scenarios, we tend to see patients of all ages in our office. Although there are some additional benefits to receiving regular therapy sessions and starting earlier in life, your reasons for wanting treatment and your aesthetic goals are what’s most important. So, no matter your age, here’s how this popular cosmetic treatment works and why it can be suitable for just about anyone.
This therapy can be beneficial for adults of all ages, and the typical age of our average patient ranges anywhere between 20 and 60 years old. This is because Botox therapy can be used for different reasons and to treat different types of cosmetic conditions. Regardless of your age, you can use this treatment as either a corrective or preventative approach to aging.
Many of our patients who are in their 20s and 30s use this treatment as a preventative measure and book regular appointments with us every three to four months to keep the skin soft while preventing lines and wrinkles from developing.
Most of our older patients use it as a corrective measure to treat these types of issues after they’ve already become visible, but even older patients can benefit from the preventative benefits that come with regularly scheduled treatments since new wrinkles and lines can appear at any time in life.
Botox is an FDA-approved medication that’s used for many purposes, most notably in the treatment of expression lines. These lines are the types that come about from facial expressions, which can become more noticeable and even permanent over time. However, Botox therapy can be highly effective at treating these types of lines, even when they’ve been long-lasting or unresponsive to other treatments.
This medication works by blocking acetylcholine, which is a neurotransmitter responsible for muscle contractions. With a few injections to each targeted area, we can relax the muscles that contribute to lines and wrinkles, and in many cases, this leads to an improvement in texture with healthier-looking skin and a revitalized appearance as the main result.
This medication begins to settle into the treated muscles almost immediately after it’s injected, but its effects can take some time to appear, mainly because of how acetylcholine works within the body. Since Botox blocks the production of this neurotransmitter, you won’t notice any significant effects until any existing acetylcholine is removed from the body.
Botox injections can’t affect acetylcholine that has already attached itself to muscles before treatment, as only the body can effectively remove this. Therefore, it can take between one to two weeks for the effects of this therapy to become noticeable, since this is how long it sometimes takes for the body to process and remove any pre-circulating acetylcholine.
When you arrive at our office for your appointment, the therapy process is normally very quick and easy and typically starts with a consultation. Here’s what you can expect from start to finish:
After you schedule your first appointment with us, we’ll want to conduct a consultation and exam just before your treatment session so that we can answer all your questions while assessing both your skin and muscles. Aside from lines and wrinkles, we’ll want to know about any health conditions you currently have or have had in the past, as well as any surgeries.
If you’re taking any medications that either thin the blood or have anti-inflammatory effects, you should discuss this with your doctor beforehand to see if it’s possible to stop taking these temporarily until at least 48 hours after your treatment with us.
Treatment begins with us palpating any facial muscles that we’ll be treating to gauge how much medication we should use for each one. We’ll then fill a syringe with a very small amount of the medication and inject it into the muscles with expert precision. Because we use conservative amounts and are trained and certified to administer this treatment, the whole process is a safe one and shouldn’t take longer than about 15 minutes.
Once the injections are finished, we’ll then provide you with some post-care instructions for taking care of your skin while the medication is circulating within the muscles and doing its job. This is just to make sure that you receive the most optimal results, though there’s no downtime, and you won’t have to worry about any long recovery periods.
Three to four months is the average time frame that the results of this treatment typically last, though some patients have experienced as many as six months, and this is not uncommon. Sometimes this can be explained by a person’s metabolism, diet, physical activity, or general health. Other times, it may simply boil down to their genetics or other things beyond your control.
What we do know is that those who receive regular treatments often enjoy longer-lasting results, and for different reasons. The muscles can become less hypertonic over time, leading to softer muscles that are more responsive to treatment. Feeling confident about one’s appearance can reduce stress and reduce muscle tone as well. Then there’s vitamin E, a nutrient that evidence is starting to show may play a role in extending the effects of this therapy.
While there is no sure-fire way to extend the results of this treatment beyond the average three-to-four-month time range, the following things may help in this regard:
Because this therapy targets both the skin and muscles by stimulating collagen and reducing muscle contractions, it has the following benefits as a cosmetic treatment:
Stress and frequent facial expressions can tense the muscles and lead to increased muscle tone. Not only is this noticeable to others in the form of lines and wrinkles as we age, but it can cause a feeling of tension in the face as well. This medication relaxes muscles, leading to both aesthetic and physical improvements in this regard.
Wrinkles can form because of regular contractions from muscles that raise the surface of the skin in some areas and a reduction of collagen that prevents these areas from returning to a flat, tightened position. When muscle contractions are paralyzed by this medication, the skin can remain undisturbed and wrinkles become less prominent.
Facial lines often develop as a result of lower collagen levels in the skin, which occurs naturally as we age. As this treatment is capable of increasing collagen levels, the skin can become more supple and lines often begin to fade or diminish in appearance as a result.
Long-known as a rejuvenating therapy, many patients report that their skin looks brighter and healthier with regular Botox treatments, and this is for several different reasons. The collagen-stimulating effects help restore a softer texture to the skin, while the muscle-relaxing effects allow the skin to relax as well so that it can repair itself.
The skin naturally loses elastin over time, and aside from aging, another reason for this is because of muscle contractions that continually stretch the skin. When Botox is used to regularly relax the muscles, this can help preserve skin elasticity over time.
As the most popular anti-aging therapy available today, Botox has earned its reputation based on its effectiveness, safety profile, and quick injection process with no downtime. To get started with this treatment, contact us today at Kadz Plastic Surgery in Beverly Hills, CA, and we’ll schedule your first appointment on a day and time that’s convenient for you. We look forward to helping you achieve your aesthetic goals, and we’ll be here to answer any remaining questions you might have.
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