Exercise And Botox: Simpler Than You Think

When you have a Botox procedure done for the first time, you may wonder how the procedure will affect what you do physically. You know that the shot will cause your facial muscles to freeze, for lack of a better term, but you may not know what else you have to do to keep the Botox working well, especially if you're used to doing things like exercising daily, when you may end up scrunching up your face a lot as you exert effort.

That First 24 Hours

At a minimum, avoid exertion for the 24 hours following the injections because excessive physical effort could increase bruising. If possible, you don't want to do any heavy exercise for the day before and possibly up to a couple of days after the procedure. Remember, you're getting something injected into your face. You need to rest to ensure you don't get headaches or other side effects. Botox is like any other procedure in that, as safe as it is, you want to be careful on at least the day of the procedure, if not on additional days surrounding the appointment. Resting simply helps your body process the Botox.

Facial Exercise vs. Regular Exercise

One important distinction could help you see those Botox results early. You don't want to head to the gym on the day of the procedure, nor do you want to take a brisk walk around the neighborhood. But you may want to do facial exercises, and your doctor or the medical professional who administers the Botox can show you what to do. These are exercises that do not involve touching your face at all; you're merely moving and contracting muscles to help the Botox work its way deeper into the muscles of your face. Research from Northwestern University shows that doing these exercises, usually within four hours of having the procedure, may help the Botox take effect more quickly.

The Deal With Sweat

Sweating after Botox is problematic. First of all, if you had Botox done around sweat glands, you won't sweat from those particular glands. But you could still sweat from unaffected glands, which creates two issues. One is that you would likely try to wipe away the sweat, and since you can't really touch your face after the procedure for a day, you could push the Botox into another area of your face or otherwise lessen the Botox's intended effects. Second, the sweat could irritate the injection site if the sweat runs down into that area.

Botox can be helpful and it usually works very well. You just need to be careful and not do anything that could move the Botox into the wrong part of your face.

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