A viewer, Judy, recently posted a comment referring to our blog: Botox: How Does it Work?” Her comment was regarding the before and after photos – “Why do you have the women in the before and after photos for botox squinting? Does this not create a false before photo.”
I was going to just post a response to Judy’s question, but then I thought, what a good subject for a blog! I’m sure more than one person has wondered this. The truth is, the women are squinting in both the before and after photos. This is to show how Botox reduces what we refer to as “dynamic wrinkles”.
Photos Courtesy of Dr. Marcia Fleming
Photos Courtesy of Dr. Marcia Fleming
Dynamic wrinkles are created by using facial muscles to squint, frown, squinch (is that a word?) your nose, etc. Over time, these wrinkles can become very pronounced, deep and ulitmately permanent, causing us to look years older than we are. Not that there’s anything wrong with expression lines - nobody wants to look “frozen”, and ALL of our doctors realize that, but I don’t think anybody likes deep furrows on their brow either.
The way I usually decsribe the development of dynamic wrinkles is like this: when you go to the gym and work out, you are building muscle tissue that eventually grows and becomes stronger. When you frown etc., you are working out your facial muscles, building them up and making them stronger, and eventually those muscles grow and make deep wrinkles because the muscle is big and trained to be in that position.
Botox causes those muscles to relax, thereby reducing dynamic wrinkles. Over time the muscles weaken, and quite often that leads to fewer trips to the clinic for treatment and/or less Botox required to acheive the same result.
Like I said, there’s nothing wrong with expression lines. Even my 20 year old step daughter has laugh lines – and our doctors are very aware of this fact. That’s why we always do an initial consultation and a two week follow up after treatment. This way, we can use less Botox to achieve the desired result. Kind of like cooking a steak – it’s better to under cook it because you can always put it back on the grill to get it done right.
Judy, hope this answers your question. For some more light reading, you might want to look at “Botox: A Shot at Happiness”, The SoftLift Makeover with Botox & Juvederm, or visit our website to learn more. If you’d like to call for more information, we can be reached at 604-421-3111 Monday through Thursday from 9am – 8pm and Friday and Saturday from 9am – 5pm, or by email at info@lougheedlaser.com. As always, we welcome your questions and hope to be a help in any way possible.
