Why Our Skin Ages
As we age our skin changes. This is a natural process. Our skin looses flexibility and becomes less elastic. There are two main reasons for this. One is related to your own personal aging process and the other is due to the environment to which your skin is exposed. The good news is that with proper care, some preventive actions, and perhaps some cosmetic treatments we now can age more gradually and gracefully.
Some of the preventative things that we can do include:
- Protect your skin from the sun ALL THE TIME
- Sleep on your back
- Do not smoke
- Eat Properly, as fresh as possible, and with no chemicals and preservatives
Below are some of the common Botox And Xeomin FAQs that people have that are related to Botox and Xeomin treatments. A treatment with Botox® Cosmetic, Xeomin or a dermal filler or both, when coupled with the preventive measure above, can create an appearance where you may look years younger.
What is Botox and Xeomin?
Both are trade names for abotulinum toxinA by Allergan or Merz, respectively. Botox is certainly a happier name than its chemical one! It has become the handle of choice for any botulinum product, just like Kleenex means a tissue. The botulinum toxin protein was first identified by scientists in the 1940s. When its power to weaken muscles was demonstrated, ophthalmologists (EYEMDs) tried using it to treat cross-eyed kids. By weakening the muscle that was pulling the eye in the wrong direction, doctors hoped that the eyes could be made to work together. Because the protein needed to be re-injected every few months into the eye muscles of anesthetized kids, the treatment never caught on. It did, however, work for helping people with blepharospasm, a problem in which the eyelids spasm shut, rendering the patient essentially blind. Mature patients do not need general anesthesia nor mind a treatment every few months that keeps them seeing. So, it was in the 1980s that Ophthalmologists started to use Botulinum to weaken the spasmodic muscle around the eyes so the patients could control their eyelids again. It was a lady doctor in Canada who noticed that the treated patients could open their lids AND had no crow’s feet anymore. That is how the cosmetic use of Botulinum started. As they say, chance favors a prepared mind!
What Botox and Xeomin are not.
Neither Botox nor Xeomin can be used for skin spots or totally smoothing lines in the upper lip.
What’s the difference between Botox, Xeomin and facial fillers?
Botox and Xeomin make muscles stop moving while fillers replace lost volume. Wrinkles from muscle movement are relaxed with Botox and Xeomin, while cheeks and folded, saggy, skin are plumped up again by fillers such as Radiesse and Juvederm.
What results can I expect from Botox and Xeomin Treatments?
With frown lines softened and crow’s feet smoothed out. You will appear more calm and relaxed. NOT worried or frantic. People will stop saying that, “you look angry” or “always look tired” when your face is less lined. This reaction makes you feel less tired or angry and lowers your stress level too.
How does Botox and Xeomin work?
Simply put, this botulinum protein keeps the nerves from “telling” the muscles to contract. Normally, the nerve produces a chemical that crosses to the muscle and makes it contract. Botox and Xeomin, both being botulinum, attach to the chemical that signals the muscle to contract. As a result the signal never reaches the muscle with the message to contract. The nerve, “annoyed” that its message to the muscle is not getting through, then grows some new terminals to produce more of the chemical that has been deactivated. This takes 3-4 months, the time period that the Botox or Xeomin is “working”, so the muscles are not moving. The muscles do weaken from disuse during this time. This is why Botulinum products must be given routinely to keep the muscles from regaining their strength. If the Botox or Xeomin is regularly done over a few years, the spacing between treatments can be lengthened to every 4, every 5, and even every 12 months because the muscles remain weak.
Is treatment with Botox or Xeomin painful?
Dr. Carol Boerner uses tiny insulin injection needles to place the medicine in the skin. Neither the Botox nor Xeomin itself stings. If you are particularly needle phobic, she can use an anesthetic skin cream or the skin freezing pen too.
Who is a good candidate for Botox or Xeomin?
Any man or woman who wishes to improve their appearance by softening the strong lines in their face from muscle movement is a candidate for Botox or Xeomin.
Is there an ideal age to start using Botox or Xeomin?
One can either use Botox or Xeomin to treat wrinkles or to prevent deeper ones from forming. If you start in your late 30s, you will keep your un-furrowed brow. If you start later, you may need to have filler placed in your deepest, between the eyebrows, lines to entirely smooth them out. Please know that it is never too late start slowing down how your face is ageing. Sometimes people look in the mirror, realize that they look like their parent, and come running to the office for rejuvenation. Weddings, reunions and other landmark events often stimulate people to improve their faces too.
Will I experience any side effects from Botox or Xeomin?
Adverse reactions to Botox ® Cosmetic are extremely rare. They are also limited in time since its effect wears off in 3-4 months. The most obvious adverse effect is a dropped eyelid that would need eye drop use to keep it elevated. Extremely rarely someone can get bruising, bumps, infection or swelling at the injection sites.
Will my facial expressions continue to look natural?
Dr. Carol Boerners’ goal is for you to look like you, the way you did years ago. The goal is to keep the emotion and personality in your face and to soften those well earned, but ugly character lines.
What will happen if I choose not to continue Botox or Xeomin treatments?
As the Botox or Xeomin wears off the muscle action will resume to the way it was before you started treatment, and the lines will become deeper and deeper again.
Is Botox or Xeomin affordable?
Nobody can put a precise value on looking more relaxed since everyone has a different idea of what that means. It is also hard to answer this question since everyone needs a different amount of treatment depending on how much muscle modulation is requested.
If you have any other questions or want to discuss anything in more detail please feel free to call 802.356.2343 or send an e-mail.