Botox Weakens the Muscles The same thing can happen to the muscles in your face: "If used regularly, over a prolonged period, without interruption, eventually the muscle will atrophy from lack of use," says the legendary dermatological surgeon Patricia Wexler, MD. That's not to say your entire face will atrophy.
Numerous reports demonstrate that muscle atrophy after botulinum toxin type A treatment occurs and is both reversible and temporary, with current literature supporting the notion that repeated chemodenervation with botulinum toxin likely responsible for both therapeutic and incidental temporary muscle atrophy.
Botulinum toxin-induced atrophy has been reported as early as one month after injection, and is well maintained for 6 months. In some cases, variable degrees of atrophy were noted up to one year after a single administration.
"If you do too much Botox on your forehead for many, many years, the muscles will get weaker and flatter," cautions Wexler, adding that the skin can also appear thinner and looser. Moreover, as your muscles become weaker, they can start to recruit surrounding muscles when you make facial expressions.
The cosmetic use of Botox is safe even in cases of repeated injections. On the other hand, the long-lasting cosmetic use of botulinum toxin can trigger permanent changes in facial expression, and an expressionless, mask-like face.
Botox Weakens the Muscles
The same thing can happen to the muscles in your face: "If used regularly, over a prolonged period, without interruption, eventually the muscle will atrophy from lack of use," says the legendary dermatological surgeon Patricia Wexler, MD. That's not to say your entire face will atrophy.
While BOTOX is most known for smoothing out wrinkles and creases, it can also make small adjustments to your jawline. BOTOX can narrow your face and make it appear thinner. It works by temporarily freezing the masseter muscle, so it eventually shrinks down in size.
Having heavy Botox from a young age is likely to make you look older over time. An early start and heavy-handed approach can leave a face looking frozen and over-treated.
As discussed above, after BoNT injections muscles have the propensity to accumulate lipid which may lead to underestimation of atrophy in these muscles.
There's a common misconception that Botox makes you look older when it wears off. On the contrary, regular Botox treatments make you look younger even after the neurotoxin wears off.
Nausea. Redness. Temporary facial weakness or drooping. In rare instances, the botulinum toxin may spread beyond the treatment area, causing botulism-like signs and symptoms such as breathing problems, trouble swallowing, muscle weakness and slurred speech.
Possible side effects and unwanted results include: Pain, swelling or bruising at the injection site. Headache or flu-like symptoms. Droopy eyelids or crooked eyebrows.
Negative side-effects of prolonged over-use of Botox may include muscle weakness as the facial muscles involved with Botox application slowly lose their ability to function normally. This might be regarded as a positive if these same muscles result in the development of prominent lines and wrinkles.
Portela recommends younger patients who seek out preventative Botox do it one to two times per year. “This allows the muscles a chance to recover and move to prevent atrophy,” he says.
People of any age can get treatment with Botox, and it is regularly used on people between the ages of 25 and 50 particularly. No matter how old or young you are, however, this treatment can relax the look of wrinkles and even stop them from forming in the first place.
The amount of time it takes to regain muscle after atrophy depends on the type of atrophy and how severe your condition was. Disuse (physiologic) atrophy is usually reversible, but it won't happen overnight. You can recover from muscle atrophy by exercising regularly and eating a healthy diet.
Collectively, these results demonstrate that intramuscular Botox injection causes tendon atrophy and degradation of the collagen matrix.
Puffy, bulging cheeks
But if it's done by a less-than-credible injector, you can get the dreaded “pillow face.” If too much filler is put into the cheeks, or it's injected into the wrong area, the cheeks can bulge and essentially give you chipmunk cheeks.
The causes of fat atrophy are varied. Fat atrophy can be associated with Parry-Romberg syndrome and linear scleroderma, or exist as an isolated condition with unknown causes. Loss of fat tissue may also be associated with reactions to medication, corticosteroid injections, systemic illness, or as a result of trauma.
If you use Botox for ten or more years, your skin will appear brighter and smoother with fewer wrinkles. Even after stopping Botox injections after years of use, you'll still notice fewer wrinkles between your eyes or on your forehead, which means you'll continue to age gracefully.
Patients must be 18 years or older to be able to get Botox. However, most experts agree that in most cases, patients at a good age for preventative Botox treatment are those in their mid-late 20s and early 30s who are prone to wrinkles.
Injecting Botox into the chewing muscle (masseter muscle) will cause it to become smaller, and the lower face will appear thinner. It isn't used to make a round or chubby face smaller, only for those with prominent masseter muscles that define the shape of their face.