Wrinkles on face making you look older? Smoothing out laughter lines and wrinkles caused naturally by ageing or sun exposure has never been quicker or easier with anti-ageing injectables. Arrange a consultation and see how our doctors and nurse prescribers can help you.
What is it and how does it work?
This injectable treatment for wrinkles is made from neurotoxin (botulinum toxin type A).It was originally developed in the 1990s to treat neuromuscular disorders.
It received the approval of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and TGA(Australia) for use as a wrinkle treatment in 2009, but it has been smoothing out facial folds and lines in Europe, South America, and elsewhere for several years.
Whenever your face makes a movement—you smile, squint or frown for instance—your facial muscles contract and the skin over those muscles creases. These are called dynamic wrinkles because they disappear when the facial movements stop.
As you age and your skin loses its elasticity, those creases deepen into static, or permanent, lines and wrinkles. Anti- wrinkle solutions are injected directly into the muscles that cause facial wrinkles, temporarily immobilizing them. It specifically targets the glabellar muscles – the ones that form creases on your forehead when you frown.
Anti-wrinkle injections are one of the most popular non-invasive cosmetic procedure performed. The popularity is due to their ease of use and supreme effectiveness in treating common types of wrinkles.
These injections can reduce wrinkles of the brow (frown lines), eyes (crow’s feet), lips and neck. With a series of quick injections, you can see dramatic reductions in these types of wrinkles can be achieved.
What can it treat and what is its benefits?
Some of the advantages they offer, including:
- Safe and effective treatment of many types of wrinkles
- Quick procedure with no recovery
- Quick clinical results
- Ideal complement to laser skin resurfacing or dermal fillers
Treatment Areas
- Frown lines in the forehead
- Crow’s feet at the corners of the eyes
- Lipstick lines around the mouth
- Neck
- Excessive perspiration (underarms)
Areas that works best are the upper third of the face: frown lines between the eyebrows, horizontal bands of wrinkles across the forehead, and crow’s feet at the corners of the eye. It can also be used to soften or erase lines around the mouth, to sculpt the face by raising one or both eyebrows, as well as to smooth vertical and horizontal neck lines by relaxing the platysmal (neck) muscles.
Am I suitable for the treatment?
Botulinum toxin type A is contraindicated in
- patients with known hypersensitivity
- myasthenia gravis, Eaton-Lambert syndrome
- pregnant (pregnancy category B3).
- It is also contraindicated if there is infection at the proposed site of injection.
- Botulinum toxin type A may interact with medications that affect neuromuscular transmission including aminoglycosides or curare-like compounds.
The TGA has stressed that when given for approved uses—such as the correction of facial wrinkles—at approved doses, botulinum toxins are perfectly safe. Indeed, millions of people around the world have been treated safely with them for many years.
Any side effects that develop tend to be minor. Headache may occur, and if the drug diffuses too widely, eyelids or eyebrows may droop- which again is temporary.
Is there downtime?
Anti-wrinkle solution is injected directly into the facial muscles beneath the lines of the face. Usually, only 3 to 5 injections are needed to treat glabellar lines(frown lines). Most people find the injections almost painless, so a local anaesthetic is not usually needed. If you’re concerned, however, you can request an anaesthetic (numbing) cream prior to treatment.
The treatment session typically lasts less than 15 minutes. The full effect of the treatment will take several days as the muscles gradually relax.
When can I do another treatment?
Repeat treatments are usually needed approximately every 3-4 months over a 12 month period. It is encouraging to note that clinical trials report that some patients who have had treatment over 12 months only require further treatments once or twice the following year. It is important to be aware that it takes up to 14 days for the treatment to work.
