Photo: Gennadiy Poznyakov / 123RF Stock Photo.
BOTOX 101
Frowning, squinting and raising our brows over time create wrinkles between our brows, around our eyes (crow’s feet), and on our forehead. Most people already know that these wrinkles are treated by injecting Botox® or Dysport® (and now recently Xeomin®). However, most do not know that the wrinkles themselves are not being injected, but rather, the muscles of expression in the region where the wrinkles are located. This technique requires multiple, very tiny injections right under the skin. As a result, the treatment is very quick, with minimal discomfort, and usually without any bruising or swelling. Within 3-5 days, the expression muscles begin to relax and the wrinkles start to disappear.”WARNINGS OR SIDE EFFECTS
With Botox® or Dysport, bruising is not very significant because they’re very tiny injections.
FILLERS 101
In contrast to Botox® or Dysport®, fillers are gels that are injected directly into wrinkles or facial folds to improve their appearance by filling them. For example, they can be used to fill wrinkles around the lips or fill in the hollow area under the eyes. They can also be injected into the deeper layers of the face to create a lifting effect. As a result, filler injections can be pretty simple (wrinkle injection) or substantial (‘liquid facelift,’ or injection of multiple, deeper layers of the face to ‘lift’). Unlike Botox® or Dysport®, the results of a filler treatment are seen right away, although some swelling or early bruising can mask some of these immediate effects.”
WARNINGS OR SIDE EFFECTS
Aspirin-like products, which include all over-the-counter pain relievers except for Tylenol®, will thin your blood for five or six days. Although there is a greater awareness of this, most people don’t know that just one dose can have this effect. As a general rule, I always tell patients to avoid all Aspirin-like products for seven days before coming in for filler treatments. When you do a filler, you have to slide the needle under the skin, which is more traumatic, and they’re much more likely to bruise in that case. ■
