Is Botox Really For Men?
The premise of this article is that you want to treat and prevent wrinkles in your face, therefore achieving the appearance of a younger self or something along those lines.
Yes, vanity, my friends.
How Botox Works: Targeting Muscle Movement
The secret behind Botox lies in its active ingredient: botulinum toxin type A. When strategically injected into specific facial muscles, Botox temporarily blocks the nerve signals that tell those muscles to contract. Think of it as a temporary traffic jam on the communication highway between the nerves and the muscles. More on that here.
The dynamic wrinkles that appear when we frown, squint, or smile – like crow’s feet around the eyes, forehead lines, and the “elevens” between the eyebrows – are caused by these repeated muscle contractions over time. By relaxing these muscles, Botox smooths out existing wrinkles and prevents new ones from forming in the treated areas. It’s important to note that Botox primarily addresses these dynamic wrinkles and has less impact on static wrinkles, which are visible even when the face is at rest.
I have been doing it for roughly 4 years. Once every six months.
For me, the effects, meaning the paralysis, are between three and four months, hardly more than that. Maybe the first time I did it was closer to six. The duration may vary due to different factors. There are brands like Daxxify that promise 6 to 9 months.
The fact is that much of the duration will depend on how your body reacts.
Let’s Get Practical
First, your doctor will ask what bothers you. In my case, it is the forehead where there is a prominent horizontal wrinkle. Besides that, I want to prevent having crow’s feet, those wrinkles around the side of the eye.
You will, then, make a series of funny faces. Extreme smile, extreme frown, put your eyebrows up to the max. That will indicate where to apply the injections and how much of it.
Does it hurt?
Of course it does hurt a little—these are injections into your face!! But don’t worry, it’s totally bearable.
After the injections, the recommendation is not to put your head down for a couple of hours and avoid doing exercises that day. It will help with the longevity of the effects.
For me, it takes about 10 to 15 days to fully see the results of the paralysis. After 30 days, I normally go back for a checkup and sometimes apply a small complement in places where the effect was not that efficient.
Be Careful With The Over Paralysis
Always keep in mind that your facial expressions will be affected by the toxin. Well, that’s the whole point, isn’t it?
Botox in women is sometimes used to give them a little arch on their eyebrow, giving them a more feminine look. So, in men, you have to be very careful. Besides that, there is the Spockbrow.
Here is a great explanation from Dr. Tim Pearce:
“What causes a Spock brow?
The ‘Spock brow’ look, named of course after the eyebrow presentation of the famous Star Trek TV show character is often caused because many aesthetic clinicians are afraid of causing a brow drop when treating patients with botulinum toxin. The result is that they leave a lot of untreated muscle, above the eyebrows, to avoid dropping the eyebrows, their main fear. The downside, however, is that it can cause the opposite problem – too much lift in the eyebrows due to increased activity of the lateral frontalis muscle. In a small cohort of patients, this will cause a significantly larger brow lift than you might expect; often also presenting with Wi-Fi or ladder lines at the sides of the temples.
Interestingly, notes Dr Tim, this is not a true Spock brow (we will get to that in a moment). This one is predominantly caused by undertreatment when a patient asks for a brow lift or when you are afraid of causing a brow drop. This is a better outcome or complication, than a side effect from overtreating, because you could always add more botulinum toxin to correct it.”
Final Thoughts
Personally, I think that Botox is one of the best ways to prevent wrinkles. It is not the cheapest, but very effective. Using topical products with retinol, vitamin C, hyaluronic acid, and peptides can also be beneficial, but more as a supporting role. I would say, in terms of wrinkle prevention, the two major tools are avoiding sunlight (use sunscreen every day) and Botox.