Office Notes: Botox
July 21st, 2009
Today I will be injecting Botox ®. Comments I hear frequently are, “My last Botox ® did not last as long as I would like. The Botox ® did not work as well as I had hoped.” Patients with these complaints usually had their last injections elsewhere. Often times, the injectionist is a non-physician and sometimes an individual with little or no medical training.
Botox ® is packaged in 100 unit bottles. This “unit” measurement is determined through a physiologic assay. The Botox ® package insert recommends 20 units for the frown lines. When the full 20 units is used in this one area, the results are consistent and should last for the full 3 to 6 months. It has become common practice in salons, med-spas and some physicians offices to inject less than 20 units of Botox ® into the frown lines. Injecting less saves money. Reducing the dosage leads to decreased effectiveness and decreased longevity. Patients return for “touch up” injections to get the result they desire.
My advice for the increased likelihood of a obtaining a professional and lasting result, is to consider having the full dosage recommended by the manufacturer (20 units for the frown lines) and consider having your Botox ® done by a physician.
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