Treating Facial Lines And Wrinkles With Botulinum Toxin

TREATING FACIAL LINES WITH Botulinum Toxin

Fine Lines Can Become Deep Creases Over Time

Every time you smile, laugh, squint or frown, the contractions of the underlying facial muscles form wrinkles in the outer layer of your skin. Over time, these fine lines can become deep furrows and creases. As a matter of fact, most facial lines result from excessive and repeated contractions of the muscles used for facial expression.

Often these so-called “dynamic wrinkles” are due to habits we’re not even aware of. Many people unconsciously frown when concentrating, for instance. This can cause frown lines to develop between the eyebrows, resulting in a fixed worried or angry expression that doesn’t necessarily reflect the person’s true personality. To give another example, the horizontal creases on the forehead commonly referred to as “worry lines” can make someone look perpetually concerned or troubled – although often they are simply the result of habitually raising the eyebrows to express surprise or questioning.
Dynamic wrinkles can also make us look older than we need to. Common examples include “crow’s feet” (the lines radiating from the outer corners of the eyes that are formed when squinting or smiling), under-eye creases, “bunny lines” (horizontal crinkles on the ridge of the nose), “smoker’s lines” (fine lines around the mouth), and “marionette lines” (vertical lines extending from the corners of the mouth down the chin).

If you’re unhappy with your current facial appearance, non-surgical cosmetic treatments could help you appear more youthful and relaxed while looking entirely natural. Lines caused by excessive and repeated muscle activity can be temporarily reduced and sometimes even virtually erased by treatment with botulinum toxin type A, or BTA. Botulinum Toxin is a protein produced by bacteria that temporarily relaxes the muscles in the area where it is injected and thus reduces their ability to cause wrinkles. BTA treatments are one of the most popular methods used to reduce dynamic wrinkles and are often combined with hyaluronic acid injections. They can also be effective in softening the appearance of vertical neck cords (platysmal bands) and in treating a condition known as “cobblestone chin” and by numerous other descriptive names including pitted chin, peau d’orange chin, golf ball chin, strawberry chin and pebbly/pebble chin.

Note: Many facial lines can be successfully smoothed with Botulinum Toxin, but in other cases it may be more effective to use the dermal filler hyaluronic acid, which which acts like a cushion and improves hydration to “plump” facial tissues that have lost volume. Often the best results can be achieved by combining both methods. Each individual is different, but an experienced professional can advise you on whether BTA or Hyaluronic Acid alone or a combination of the two is likely to be the best approach in your particular case.

Botulinum Toxin can be used to treat:
 – Frown (glabellar) lines (frequently in combination with hyaluronic acid)
– Worry lines (sometimes in combination with hyaluronic acid)
– Crow’s feet
– Under-eye creases
– Bunny lines
– Vertical neck (platysmal) bands
– Cobblestone chin
– Smoker’s lines (although these are generally treated with hyaluronic acid)