Botox®
Botox® has been used successfully for more than twenty years to treat eye muscle spasms and conditions such as cerebral palsy in which muscular hyperactivity features.
Common uses of Botox®:- To relax facial lines and wrinkles
- To treat tooth clenching and to slim the lower face
- To treat Hyperhidrosis (excessive underarm sweating)
Botox® Treatments to relax facial lines and wrinkles
When applied as a rejuvenation technique, small quantities of clostridium botulinum are injected into specific facial muscles causing them to relax (or freeze). The muscles are no longer able to flex thus stopping the formation of frown lines, forehead lines and crow’s feet and existing lines are much less pronounced because the underlying muscles are totally relaxed.
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How is Botox® administered?
Botox® injections are administered using very fine sterile disposable syringes.
The patient will experience very mild discomfort lasting for only a few seconds as each area is treated. Although this treatment is not generally considered to merit the use of a topical local anaesthetic, patients may opt for this if they wish.
How Long does Botox® Treatment Take?
A typical treatment of the whole forehead and crow’s feet area takes less than ten minutes.
Does Botox® have any side-effects?
The vast majority of patients experience no side-effects whatsoever. Occasionally, a small bruise at the injection site may occur which will disappear after a few days and mild headaches lasting a few hours have been reported in a very few instances. In rare cases a reversible condition known as ptosis, heaviness of the eyelids, may occur due to the technique being inexpertly administered. Proper regard to dosages and location of injection in susceptible muscle patterns should avoid this condition.
Is Botox® Safe?
Provided that Botox® injections are administered by a practitioner with medical training, there are no serious risks. Any side-effects are minor and temporary, as discussed above.
Although research to date has not shown any risk to the developing foetus caused by exposure to Botox®, in the interests of good medical practice I advise that injections are best avoided in pregnant or breastfeeding women.
How long do the effects of Botox® last?
You will begin to see noticeable effects within two or three days. Two weeks after the initial Botox® injection the beneficial effects become really clear. I aim to see all new patients two weeks after injections to ensure that the desired effect has been achieved. The effect lasts for 3 months in the first instance when the procedure will need to be repeated. If Botox® injections are given regularly, subsequent injection intervals are increased. It is not uncommon to find that after the first year, patients may need Botox® injections for maintenance only once every six months. However the majority of clients will need retreatment every 4 months.
Can Botox® be used anywhere else?
Botox® can be used where muscular activity causes an undesirable pull on the skin on the face or neck. Good examples of these are the ‘bunny’ lines on the nose, vertical lip lines around the mouth “smokers lines”, puckering of the chin caused by activity of the mentalis muscle and the platysmal bands in the neck – the nefertiti lift.
Careful administration of Botox® can lift the corners of the mouth so turning a “sad” into a “happy” mouth.
Botox® is extremely effective in treating local hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating). Treatment of the underarm area will reduce sweating by more than 85% and lasts between 4 and 12 months.
Botox® Treatments to treat Hyperhidrosis
Hyperhidrosis is excessive sweating. Sweating is one of the most important ways in which the body loses heat; however, people with hyperhidrosis produce sweat in amounts far greater than needed to control their temperature.
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What’s happening in the body to cause hyperhidrosis?
Hyperhidrosis is caused by over activity of one type of sweat gland, the eccrine gland. Many things can trigger normal sweating and this is also true for hyperhidrosis – it’s just the amount of sweating that’s different. Examples include:
- Exercise
- Stress, anxiety or strong emotions
- Heat or cold
- Certain times of the day
- Alcohol, coffee or tea, smoking or spicy food
People with hyperhidrosis can produce a large amount of sweat. This means that the armpits may be constantly damp. This can cause embarrassment at work or socially, and it may make normal everyday activities more difficult to carry out. But it is not true that hyperhidrosis causes body odour: the smell that some think is due to sweating is in fact caused by bacteria on the skin if the sweat remains on the skin for a long time.
What can I do about Hyperhidrosis?
Simple self-help measures you can take include:
- Choose clothing that will keep you cool. Natural fibres are cool but they absorb sweat and can remain damp; some synthetic fibres are warm but they wick sweat away from the body and feel dry.
- Keep your work environment cool and well aired
- Avoid the food and drinks that trigger sweating; these will be different for everyone and you will probably know what causes problems for you
- Stress, tension and anxiety are common problems for everyone, though people with hyperhidrosis have the extra difficulties of coping with sweating. Think about how you can reduce stress during the day: plan your activities carefully and make time to relax
- Odour can be prevented by attention to personal hygiene (such as frequent showers); although this will not be convenient for people who constantly sweat, it is an effective and simple measure to take.
How does Botox® treat Hyperhidrosis?
Botox® is the first line treatment for the treatment of hyperhidrosis. When small doses are injected into the skin, Botox® block the actions of the nerves that supply the eccrine glands: preventing the glands from producing sweat. The effects of treatment last for several months but eventually they will wear off.
What happens during a course of treatment with Botox®?
Every client will have iodine and starch powder applied to the underarm area in order to delineate the areas of maximal sweat production. Using a very fine needle, you will be injected with a small amount of solution into 10 to 15 places about 1 cm apart and spread evenly in each armpit. A treatment takes about 10 minutes to perform.
How soon does it work and how long will it last?
The effects of treatment will become apparent over the first week. Clients tend to return for their next treatment on average every 8 months.
How effective is Botox® at reducing sweating?
In clinical trials, the average reduction in sweat production one week after treatment was 87% and sweating was reduced by at least half in 95% of patients. The average duration of effect was 8 months.
In practice, most of our clients repeat the treatment once per year.
What happens if I decide to stop treatment?
The effects of Botox® wear off over a period of several months. If you decide not to repeat this treatment there will be no lasting change in the areas treated and sweating will gradually return to the level it was before you started treatment.
Botox® Treatments to treat tooth clenching and to slim the lower face
This increasingly popular treatment effectively reduces the bulk of the muscles which cause tooth grinding/clenching (masseters). This results in a reduced ability to tooth clench (therefore breaking this habit) and an ultimate slimming of the lower face.
Dr St John has been treating the masseters for 25 years now, treatment using appropriate doses of Botox® using fine needles takes 10 minutes to perform and the results last on average 8 months.