Botox Cosmetic 101: Science or Magic?

Would you pay someone to inject Clostridium Botulinum into your orbicularis oculi muscle? Sounds scary, I cannot even pronounce that and where exactly is that muscle located? But once you learn about Botox® Cosmetic and how it works you will feel more informed and it all sounds less scary.

Over the years I have been driving without sunglasses, laughing with friends, smiling for selfies and helping kids with math all which has caused these unsightly wrinkles between my brows and around my eyes. I use Botox® Cosmetic to help soften these lines and until know I never really thought about how it actually worked. Is it a Botox® Cosmetic fairy sprinkling magic dust on my wrinkles to fill in the lines or is it science? The Sullivan Centre has always put patient education first. We pride ourselves in helping our patients obtain the knowledge to make an informed decision about their own treatments and what is best for them. So let’s learn how this treatment actually works.

Botox® Cosmetic contains tiny amounts of a purified botulinum toxin protein. This protein is refined from the bacterium clostridium botulinum. Botox® Cosmetic will not “freeze” your facial muscles leaving you expressionless. Botox® Cosmetic will temporarily soften the lines between your brows and those around your eyes; your orbicularis oculi. Botox® Cosmetic blocks the nerve signals in your brain that tell your muscles to contract. It will paralyze your muscle but not damage the muscle; this prevents a wrinkle from forming. As we age we lose elasticity in our skin. We can develop a permanent crease in our forehead and around our eyes that will leave a deep wrinkle even when we are not using those muscles to smile or to get through our child’s 5th grade math homework.

Botox® Cosmetic will not make these wrinkles disappear but it will soften those lines making you appear fresher and rested. More importantly it prevents the lines from getting deeper.

Botox® Cosmetic is most commonly injected in between the brows, around the outside of your eyes “crow’s feet” and your forehead. There is no generic form of Botox® Cosmetic and the injection is not reversible. You will begin to notice a change 7-10 days after the injection. The first time Botox® Cosmetic will last between 4-4.5 months. If you stay up with your injections before the effect has worn off it will last longer eventually the results will last around 6 months.

Now you can say “YES” to that first sentence that seemed so scary at first glance. Botox® Cosmetic is the #1 selling product of its kind in the world; patients have said “YES” to over 10.9 million vials since 2002 when the FDA approved Botox® Cosmetic. Call Sullivan Centre today 614.436.8888 and tell us “Yes” to your Botox® Cosmetic!