Botox: What You Need to Know

Botox is a great procedure to go through if you're trying to get rid of some minor wrinkles or don't want wrinkling to start in the first place. However, there are a lot of misconceptions about how it works and what kind of effects it will have on your ability to make facial expressions. Here's what you should know.

What It Does To Nerves

Botox doesn't actually impact the muscles in your face directly. Instead, it goes after the nerve endings that control them.

Botox essentially numbs the nerves that control certain muscles in your face. When these nerves are turned off, it prevents certain muscles from contracting when you do things like smile or furrow your brow.

How It Helps

As you've probably heard, it takes more muscles to frown than smile. There are 43 muscles in the face alone, and botox doesn't prevent all of them from moving. Instead, it only targets the secondary muscles that contract when you do something like smile. You'll still be able to smile with botox, but these smaller muscles won't contract, which means that the crow's-feet and smile lines you're accustomed to seeing in the mirror won't appear when you crack a smile. This can make you look considerably younger, as younger people tend to lack these wrinkles.

Depending on the problem areas of your face, you can have botox injected just about anywhere that you're displeased with how you look. Botox can be used around the eyes, mouth, nose, cheeks, and forehead.

How Long Results Last

Botox results are not permanent, but they are long-lasting. You can expect your results to last several months before another treatment becomes necessary. During this time, you should expect your wrinkles to soften, as the muscles are no longer contracting and constantly squeezing the skin and collagen as a result, which can help lighter wrinkles to smooth out. These results will continue for a while even after the botox wears off, so it's not as though you'll immediately go back to where you were when the botox's effect ends.

Botox provides a solution to smaller wrinkles, helping to keep them from appearing while you're under the effect of the product and also reducing them temporarily even after the botox wears off. If you don't want to see a tired, wrinkled face when you look in the mirror or take a photo, consider asking a dermatologist about botox treatment.

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