Where Should You Get Botox?
Wrinkles, fine lines, and sagging skin are some of the most common signs of aging. The cosmetic industry has evolved, and there are many ways to help eliminate or reduce those signs. While some are surgical, Botox is one of the most common non-surgical choices.
Also called botulinum toxin, this is an injectable that weakens the muscles under the areas where you receive it. That helps reduce the movement of those muscles, and in turn, reduces the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines.
Botox weakens muscles so there are some parts of your body that you cannot have Botox injections. So, where can you put Botox?
The most common part of the body to receive Botox injection is the face. Some of the most common areas where Botox injections work include:
Forehead
There are two common types of lines that appear on your forehead which are frown lines and forehead lines.
Frown lines
These are normally vertical creases that appear on your forehead between your brows and are also referred to as the 11 lines or glabella lines. When they appear, these lines give you an angry and tired look.
Your doctor can inject Botox along those lines and smooth them out. If they are too deep, they might recommend that you get dermal fillers, too, to help fill and smooth them out simultaneously.
Forehead lines
Also known as the surprise lines, these are the horizontal lines that form on your forehead. When you are young, they mostly appear when you raise your eyebrows, but they become more apparent and permanent when you get older.
Around Your Eyes
The skin around your eyes is one of the most vulnerable to aging signs and symptoms. Some of the things that Botox helps with around your eyes are:
Hooded eyes/ eyebrows
When you are younger, your brow has perfect support, and it maintains its high position above your eye. However, as you age, your brow starts dropping, giving a hooded appearance to your eyelids, which creates horizontal creases on the surrounding skin.
Botox helps lift your eyebrows and gives them a defined shape. The doctor applies the Botox moderately to avoid giving you an overarched and surprised look. The procedure that doctors use to do that is known as a Botox facelift, or chemical brow lift.
Crow’s feet
These are one of the most common things that people use Botox to treat. They are lines that appear on the outer corner of your eyes when you smile. However, if they are present even without you smiling, that is a sign of aging.
Mouth
Smoker’s lines
These are lines that appear around your mouth that become more permanent and apparent as you age or continue smoking. You use the muscles in that area mainly when you smile, laugh, or make other facial expressions.
Frown smile
This happens when the sides of your mouth droop, giving you a sad expression. One of the main reasons why it happens is because of overusing the depressor anguli oris muscle.
Botox helps smooth those lines, but if they are very deep, doctors could use fillers too to help increase the volume of the skin.
Chin
As you grow older, you may have a dimpled and puckered chin. That happens because your mentalis muscles become overactive, making them flex more than they should. Botox helps relax that muscle, giving you a smoother and younger-looking chin.
Neck And Jawline
As you become older, you start experiencing both vertical and horizontal lines on your neck and jawline. Some factors that speed up or exaggerate the appearance of the lines include gravity, overworked muscles, weakened collagen, and genetics.
Jaw Angle
If you have an enlarged masseter muscle, you could suffer from prolonged periods of teeth grinding (bruxism). As you continually grind your teeth, it could cause your face to become wider.
Injecting Botox to the jaw helps relax the masseter muscle, which eliminates teeth grinding and potentially slims the face.
How Much Botox Will I Need?
Now that you know the areas that you can treat using Botox, you need to understand how much Botox you will need for effective results. The Botox amount differs from person to person depending on the extent of the lines, desired results, and facial characteristics.
It also depends on the area you are treating. Averagely, the units of Botox you need are:
• Crow’s feet- 5-15 units for each eye
• Forehead lines- 10-30 units
• Frown lines- 15-20 units each side
• Brow lift- 2-5 units each side
• Jawline- 15-20 units for each side
• Around the mouth- 5-10 units
When you go in for a consultation with your doctor, one of the main questions you need to ask is, “where can you put botox” and “how much Botox will I need?” That not only helps with the budget, but it helps you understand the results you will get.
