Wrinkles

Some Lines You Can Do Without

Undo years of aging, neglect and wrinkles. That’s the effect of botulinum toxin. By understanding and appreciating how facial muscles work to cause lines and furrows, our doctor will be able to effectively and safely give you a younger, natural-looking appearance.

Facial lines are created when we try to express ourselves using different facial muscle groups. As we age, the skin on our face will develop more wrinkles as the underlying collagen support diminishes. The epidermis and dermis start to crinkle more easily and like a piece of paper that is repeatedly folded, the lines will become deeper. Initially, you may notice the deepening of facial lines of expression, giving an older appearance. These are known as dynamic wrinkles. Eventually, the wrinkles will be apparent even when we are not trying to express ourselves, giving rise to static wrinkles. Wrinkles make us appear older, more tired and fiercer than we are.

The solution to this is simple: relax the muscles responsible for the wrinkles, and the lines will naturally become less obvious. With a few appropriately applied micro-injections done on numbed areas, the wrinkles can be smoothed to give a younger appearance. Our treatments typically last 3 to 6 months, so it is important to return for regular sessions to keep your skin smooth and wrinkle-free.

Botulinum Toxin works by inactivating the facial muscles that are causing unwanted wrinkles. The key to creating a natural result, is to use the an optimum dose. This will avoid a “frozen” look.

Upper face

The usual areas that can be treated include the forehead horizontal lines (frontalis muscle), the corrugators/procerus vertical lines between the eyebrows (also known as the glabellar) that give us a fierce or worried look; the bunny lines on the nose when we try to crinkle our noses and also the crow’s feet at the corner of the eyes.

Lower face

Often we also get requests to treat the wrinkled appearance of the chin. In other instances, we may notice a gradual down-turning of the corner of the mouth, giving a sad look. These concerns can also be addressed with botulinum toxin.

Commonly seen in caucasian skin types, but less so in Asians, the lips may also start to appear wrinkled, especially when trying to make the “oooo” sound, whistling or when placing a cigarette or straw to the lips.

There is very little risk to our anti-wrinkle treatments and no down-time, so you can pop into our clinic for a quick treatment session and be on your way to that important meeting or dinner function, looking your very best.

Botox Neck Lift (Banishing Platysmal Bands)

These at times unattractive looking muscular bands can be hereditary or they could appear with age. They tend to plague thinner women who are more expressive or use their neck muscles more, and are most prominent looking when you clench your teeth. Platysmal bands make your neck appear older than it really is. Secondly, these bands pull down on the skin at your jawline and lower face, making them more saggy looking than normal, serving you double whammy of a turkey neck.

Treatment is in the form of what we call the “Botox Neck Lift” or the elegant moniker, “Nefertiti Lift”, named after the Egyptian Queen known for her beautiful swan neck involves microinjections of botulinum toxin into the neck muscles to smoothen out these unsightly bands and along the underside of the jawline in small, divided doses to give the lower face a subtle yet appreciable lift.