This blog will conclude the 3 part series on understanding the LONG-TERM BENEFITS OF CONSISTENT BOTOX USE.  Many individuals who have not been educated by their injector (try everyone outside of my office!) have no idea why they are doing Botox.  They come to my office with a bewildered expression, “Oh I thought I was just doing it to make myself look better when I want to, like before a party.”  NO!!!  Botox does give you those short-term gains, but what it does with consistency over time is begin to make significant improvements in your wrinkles.  

I really like to think of Botox like good exercise.  Do you feel the endorphin rush after a quick jog?  Yes.  That is what I call the short-term effect of exercise.  Similarly, the short-term gain with Botox (or “endorphin rush” equivalent) is that you look better immediately and that is why you get Botox done.  You feel better after a little exercise and that is why you exercise.

 But what are the long-term effects with exercise?  Better health, better appearance, etc.  What are the long-term effects of Botox?  Wrinkle reduction, better tone and texture in the treated areas.  Now, if you exercise once a year does exercise do any good for you?  Not really.  How about if you exercise twice a year?  Not really.  Here is the point, exercise is important for you if you do it consistently.  That is the same way you should think of Botox.  Consistent usage will provide long-term gains for you not just the short-term fix.  In short, BOTOX IS A REGIMEN AND CONSISTENCY IS THE KEY.  It is not just for the short-term quick fix.

Okay, I hope you liked Part 1 yesterday, “The Botox Scale”.  In review, if you don’t do Botox, every year you don’t your wrinkles will get worse. (Remember Botox does not fill in lines it prevents motion in the muscle, albeit temporarily.)  Every year you do CONSISTENT Botox, they will get better.  

Now, let’s think of a shirt analogy for you to better understand the situation.  I have used the shirt analogy extensively throughout the learning modules and virtual consultations.  But who has bothered to read those?  If you already understand what I mean by thinking of Botox like a shirt, you can skip this blog.  If not, read on.

Here’s the deal, your skin is undergoing constant creasing and wrinkling every day every movement you make.  Think of your skin like a shirt you would wear.  If you wear the exact same shirt every day consecutively for 5 years what will your shirt look like.  Obviously, pretty bad.  Now, let’s say you take a somewhat crumpled shirt and let it hang on the wall for 5 years, the wrinkles will look much better over time being hanged on the wall.  Let’s say your best friend at the same time wears his/her shirt for that same period of time, what will that shirt look like?  Obviously, bad.  There are really only 2 options:  wear the shirt (no Botox) or don’t wear the shirt (using Botox).  Like the principle of the Botox scale, wrinkles will either get better with Botox or worsen without Botox.  Now, one caveat.  Some wrinkles will persist in a shirt even hanging it for a long time.  However, with Botox the skin can completely heal since it has regenerative capacity so the analogy is not perfect.  

Many people then ask, “How about ironing the shirt?”  I always say, “Ironing the shirt is like laser or plasma skin resurfacing”.  The ironing can make the shirt look better but what if you start wearing it again.  It will start the process over.  So in almost any case Botox is a critical part of a regimen toward healthy skin, more important than anything else you can do for the skin other than sun avoidance and sun protection.  If the wrinkles are early, “ironing the shirt” with lasers, etc. may not be necessary and “hanging the shirt on the wall” (Botox) may be sufficient.  Whatever technique you do to make your skin look great:  facials, skin care products, drinking water, etc., the most important thing to do is Botox to prevent the source problem which is motion and the cause of wrinkles.

I would like to take a step back and go back to basics.  I think that Botox is one of the most fundamentally important treatments to limit aging especially in the fairer skinned individual.  However, it is also one of the most misunderstood treatments. Every day, I spend countless time explaining to each patient why to do Botox.  I use 3 analogies to explain how the LONG-TERM effects of Botox are nothing short of miraculous.  These analogies are “The Botox Scale”, “Botox Like a Shirt”, and “Botox Like Exercise”.  We will take 3 separate days to explain my philosophy to you so that there is no question you understand why Botox is so very important for you over the coming years of your life.Although most individuals focus on the “quick fix” mentality that you look better with Botox immediately, they oftentimes do not focus on what benefits they are actually accruing over the coming years.  My goal in this blog is to explain the long-term effects of Botox.

First off, Botox is not a filler. It does not fill in lines or plump up lips. It blocks a muscle from moving for 3 to 4 months. This allows the wrinkles not to form and the treated area to look more relaxed and refreshed. I think most of you know that but I should at least state that again from the outset.

Okay, let’s begin today with what I like to call “The Botox Scale”.  Let’s first discuss where your wrinkles are today.  Perhaps, they don’t exist.  Perhaps, they are just starting.  Perhaps, they are already advanced.  Whatever the situation, every day, every month, and every year that you do NOT do Botox, they will inevitably get worse.  There is no doubt that over time they will get worse without Botox.  Besides the short-term gains with Botox, consistent long-term usage of Botox will gradually let the skin heal, the collagen grow, and the wrinkles to fade even with the Botox completely faded, i.e., even when the Botox has completely gone after a few sessions you will eventually see the wrinkles STAY gone. (See my Botox gallery to see both the short-term and long-term effects of Botox. The short-term photos were taken when the Botox was in full effect (2 weeks after treatment). Believe it or not, the long-term after photos were taken when the Botox had completely faded and the patient returned for additional services.)  

So in summary, every year you do Botox your wrinkles continue to fade.  Every year you do NOT do Botox, your wrinkles will get worse.  In 5 years without Botox, you will be worse off.  You will never be at time point A, i.e., today, even if you don’t mind your wrinkles today, they will get worse over time without Botox (Just look at an old photograph of yourself).  I always like to say that if I can reverse your wrinkles in 2 to 3 years with consistent Botox usage and you move to a remote Eskimo village and can’t get Botox, you will have to fight to get back to time point A, i.e., today’s wrinkles, and regain all those bad wrinkles that you accumulated over the years.  So always remember the Botox scale.  You are either getting worse without Botox over time or better with Botox over time. There are no other options.

Okay, here’s another blog on Botox. I think Botox is one of the most misunderstood products and also one of the most important anti-aging treatments we have around but so under appreciated by everyone that more people could be benefiting from it if they could only bypass their misconceptions. I know I have facts and thoughts on Botox scattered all over this website but I thought I would like to review the 4 BIG misconceptions that plague prospective patients. (more…)

No, this does not mean that I am going to give you only a rip-off dose of Botox! Micro Botox is something that I learned about last year from a colleague in New York, who in turn learned about it in the Philippines. Essentially, micro Botox treatments require a lot of injections into the cheek area, for example, to make the pores of the skin start to shrink and the texture of the skin to start to appear better over time. I have not incorporated this Botox treatment into my practice as yet for a couple of concerns. First, it is extremely time consuming to perform. Second, there are some risks in terms of diffusion of the Botox from the cheek skin into the deeper structures like the zygomaticus muscle that could affect your speech.

That being said, I actually have been doing some thinking recently that incorporates some of the ideas from micro Botox treatments. Here are my thoughts. (more…)