Botox® Cosmetic
This is a medicine that reduces the wrinkles that are formed by contracting muscles. It blocks the impulses of nerves from reaching the muscles, thereby preventing the muscles from contracting.
- It is commonly injected into the target muscle without anesthetic.
- It typically lasts for 4-6 months with the first injection, and increases in its duration with each subsequent injection, so long as the muscles do not regain their full strength before the next injection.
- There is no downtime.
- Its effects are typically seen 1-14 days after injection.
- Dr. Hudak has been injecting BOTOX® since 1992, and is believed to be the 2nd most experienced physician to inject it in all of North Carolina.
- Possible complications:
- Temporary bruising, temporary bleeding, over-correction, under-correction, temporary redness and swelling, infection
BOTOX® Cosmetic
BOTOX® Cosmetic is a simple, nonsurgical, physician-administered treatment that can temporarily smooth moderate to severe expression lines in people from 18 to 65 years of age. It is the only treatment of its type approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) meaning that it has been proven and verified as safe and effective for its intended use.
These moderate to severe expression lines form over time as the result of a combination of many complex processes and factors, one of the most significant of which is muscle activity. Underneath your skin, your facial muscles contract, cause a pleating of the overlying skin. After years of crinkling and wrinkling, these lines start to linger longer and can become more pronounced. For women, whose faces tend to be more animated than men's, and whose skin is typically more delicate, these lines may appear exaggerated and more permanent.
BOTOX® Cosmetic is a purified protein produced by the Clostridium botulinum bacterium that works by blocking the transmission of nerve impulses to the injected muscles; this reduces the activity of the muscles that cause these persistent lines to form. Although the results are visible, a treatment with BOTOX® Cosmetic will not radically change your facial appearance or make you look as if you "had work done." The muscle activity, for example, that causes frown lines between the brows is simply reduced, so you can still frown or look surprised without the wrinkles and creases between your brows.
A physician determines where to administer the injections by examining your ability to move certain muscles in various areas of the face, such as between and above the brows or around the outer eye region. The location, size, and use of the muscles that create the furrows and wrinkling vary markedly among individuals. Your treatment will be customized to your particular needs. The entire BOTOX® Cosmetic injection procedure takes approximately 10 minutes.
No anesthesia is required, although a physician may choose to numb the area with a cold pack or anesthetic cream prior to injecting. Discomfort is usually minimal and brief.
The physician administers several tiny injections of BOTOX® Cosmetic directly into the muscles that cause those moderate to severe expression lines in the areas of concern.
You can expect to be in and out of the office without downtime. You may see a marked improvement within days. Improvement may continue for as long as a month, and could last up to 4 months.
Although BOTOX® Cosmetic is proven safe and effective there may be instance in which an individual is not a candidate for this treatment. BOTOX® Cosmetic should not be used in the presence of infection at the proposed injection site(s) and in individuals with known hypersensitivity to any ingredient in the formulation. Patients with neuromuscular disorders such as ALS, myasthenia gravis or Lambert-Eaton syndrome may be at increased risk of serious side effects. The most common side effects following injection include temporary eyelid droop and nausea. Localized pain, infection, inflammation, tenderness, swelling, redness, and/or bleeding/bruising may be associated with the injection.