Understanding Botox
I’m doing a consult with a woman in her 40’s. “I need Botox and a lot of it.” My reply, “what bother’s you the most?” “Everything, I’m getting older and very aware of it. Look at all these wrinkles? My skin just isn’t the same. All these wrinkles use to be evident only when I smiled or frowned; now I see them all the time. I use the best products which aren’t cheap but they don’t seem to make that much of a difference.”
Let me give you guys the breakdown on what is going on here. You have static and dynamic wrinkles. Dynamic wrinkles are the ones that appear when you smile (crow’s area), frown (glabella aka “11’s”), raise your brows (frontalis aka forehead). Dynamic wrinkles over time become static wrinkles. Static wrinkles are what you see without making any facial expressions (face in neutral position). This happens due to age, sun damage, poor nutrition, stress, and the unavoidable aging process. Aging, although has many wonderful benefits, has some not so great effects on our skin. As we age, the breakdown of collagen (protein) causes a loss of elasticity, resulting in sagging skin and wrinkles. When we hit our 20’s, we lose about 1% of our collagen each year and at 30, it’s enough to be visible.
Let me now give you the breakdown on Botox. Although it’s an amazing treatment, in my opinion, should be used not only to treat existing wrinkles but preventative in combination with other therapies to help slow down some of the mentioned side effects from the inevitable aging process. Botox paralyzes or freezes the muscle, reducing the appearance of wrinkles as muscles remain relaxed. Please understand, Botox works to treat dynamic wrinkles, prevents static wrinkles but if static wrinkles are already present additional skin maintenance therapies are necessary for improvement.
These additional therapies include micro-needling, platelet-rich plasma facials, integrating radiofrequency and ultrasonic therapy, which allows the skin to stimulate cell growth and collagen production, leaving improved complexion and texture and naturally restores lost volume.
Nicole Winterhalter, Nurse Practitioner
