Say Goodbye to Fine Lines and Crow’s Feet With Botox

Botox® is the leading minimally invasive cosmetic treatment in the United States, with millions of treatments performed each year. Quick application, no downtime, and high levels of patient satisfaction are among the factors driving Botox’s popularity, especially when it comes to reducing the appearance of fine lines and crow’s feet.

Ken Jesser, MD, of Vein Specialists Institute in Palm Desert and La Quinta, California, has helped countless women and men roll back the years through Botox treatments. In this blog, he explains what Botox is and how it can treat fine lines and crow’s feet.

How Botox works

Over time, certain muscles in the face can begin to stay in a contracted state due to years of making repeated facial expressions. Because these muscles stay contracted, they push up the skin above them, forming lines called dynamic wrinkles.

Botox is a neuromuscular agent that targets the nerves that cause these muscles to stay contracted. These injections cause the targeted muscles to relax, which causes the skin above to smooth out.

Dynamic wrinkles include crow's feet, forehead lines, and the “11s” — which are the vertical grooves that appear between your eyebrows. Botox can also be used around the lips to create subtle fullness or to relax so-called smoker’s lines.

The other type of wrinkles — called static wrinkles — are usually caused by environmental factors — such as sun damage — and genetics. These types of wrinkles are best treated with dermal fillers, which can restore volume and plump up the lines and wrinkles. Many people opt to have both Botox and fillers to treat wrinkles from the forehead all the way down to the chin.

What to expect during and after Botox treatments

First, we carefully map out the injection sites based on your treatment goals, your facial anatomy, and other factors. Then, we inject the Botox, which usually only takes a few moments.

The needles used during injections are extremely thin and fine — much slimmer than the needles used for vaccines, for instance. Most people liken injections to a “sting” or “pinch,” but if you’re very nervous or sensitive about needles, we can apply a topical agent or ice to numb your skin.

After your injections, you may have small, pinkish areas around the injection sites similar to a mosquito bite. You can gently apply ice to the area to reduce redness and swelling, but you shouldn’t apply pressure or rub the area, since that could cause the solution to migrate and become less effective.

You can expect to see initial results within a few days and final results within a week or so. Injections usually last about four months, but you can have repeated touch-up injections to maintain your results indefinitely.

Learn more about Botox

Making Botox a part of your anti-aging regimen could be just what you need to keep your lines and wrinkles under control. To learn more about Botox and to see if you might be able to benefit from treatments, request an appointment online or over the phone with Vein Specialists Institute today.