This naturally occurring muscle relaxant
acts by stopping muscles from contracting and has been in
use worldwide since 1980 for the medical treatment of a number of spastic
muscle conditions.
However, it wasn't until 1987 that the benefits of its use cosmetically
were realised after a number of patients who were being treated for eye
lid spasms noted that their cranky or worry lines had disappeared. In
fact, some complained bitterly to their doctors when their treatments had
finished becaused their forehead, frown and eye wrinkles had returned
after cessation of their treatment.
Now, tens of thousands of Australians a year are having this treatment
regularly and increasing numbers are receiving
it every year. It is best used to smoothen out lines and
wrinkles of the upper half of the face, and in fact, it
has now become the treatment of choice for these cosmetic
conditions. |
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| How does it work? |
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| As mentioned above, the injections cause muscles
to relax, allowing the creases and lines they created
to smoothen out. It does not give you an effaced look
or wipe out your expression. What we achieve is to soften
the look, to make it more natural and relaxed in appearance. |
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| Can this treatment be damaging to the system? |
| This treatment is amongst the safest and most effective
treatments in cosmetic medicine today. Although it is
related to the toxin that causes botulism it is given
in an extremely diluted form and the product is treated, purified,
sterilized and then it goes through a washing process
so that it takes away any harmful side effects.
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| Who is it best suited to? |
| Any person, any age from teens to seventies,
for the treatment of lines and wrinkles of the upper face,
including frown lines (between the eyes), 'crows feet'
(lines on the sides of the eyes) and horizontal brow lines.
These are people who don't like the aging look that this
creates, or who have a stressed, cranky, or tired look
when they don't really feel that way. And because the treatment
is simple, safe and it works so well and there is no need
to take any time off work it is rapidly becoming one of
the most popular cosmetic procedures today. |
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| How is the procedure carried out? |
| There is no need for any preparation or
for any anaesthetic. The muscles to be treated are accurately
located and the medication is injected into them using
a fine needle. At our clinic the product is mixed with some local
anaesthetic making the injections relatively painless.
Patients are instructed not to massage or rub or wipe
the area vigorously with a towel because it is injected
specifically into certain muscles and we don't want it
to disperse from there. |
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| How long does it take for the injections to
work and start smoothing those lines? |
| If the patients are first-timers, they
may not see anything for 5 or 6 days, but for people who
come back for subsequent injections, it often kicks in
the first day or two. |
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| Are there any side effects? |
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Just minor ones, such as some bruising if the needle
inadvertently pricks a small blood vessel under the
skin.
With their first treatment, some people complain of
a mild, dull heaviness in the area that has been injected,
and this may last for several hours. This does not recur
with subsequent treatments.
In less than 1% of cases the product may disperse to the
upper eye lid muscle and can cause the upper eye lid
or brow to droop very slightly. This is usually not
very noticeable and settles within a week or two. It
is probable that some of these cases may be due to inadvertently
rubbing the area after the injections.
Allergy to the product is extremely rare.
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| How long do results last? |
| Most average about 3-4 months, however,
this varies and you may get longer or shorter duration.
With the first treatment you should expect only around
2 or 3 months and then this extends with further treatments. |
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| What could happen to long-term users? |
| We can draw upon the experience of ophthalmologists
and neurologists who have been using it for over 20 years,
and they have not seen any problems. In cosmetic medicine
we have been using it since 1987, and again no long term
problems or side effects have been noted. |
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| How is it different Wrinkle Filling Injections?
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Wrinkle filling injections (called dermal fillers) work by filling
in lines, but when you contract
your muscles you can still recreate the lines, where as wrinkle
smoothing injections soften these lines by relaxing the muscles that cause
them. Further, by preventing future creasing it allows
the lines to fill in with your own natural collagen
and fade over time, achieving even better results.
For heavy lines, these treatments can be
combined for best results.
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