Botox® injections are frequently used to soften lines that have formed on a person’s face and neck. The use of Botox® in the face is usually intended to soften the lines that appear on a person’s forehead and between his eyebrows. Botox® is also useful for softening lines that develop around a person’s eyes, which are often referred to as crow's feet. In many cases, doctors also recommend it for softening the lines around a person’s mouth. While the rejuvenating effects of administering Botox® in the face are less frequently focused on the chin and jaw, it can be employed for treating lines and defects in this area as well.
Botox® injections are commonly used to reduce and soften wrinkles caused by facial movement. For example, this treatment may be used to soften the lines a person has developed as the result of frowning periodically over the years or even wrinkling his forehead in concentration. It may also prove useful for softening the lines a person develops around the eyes and mouth after years of laughing or smiling. A doctor may even administer Botox® in the face to soften wrinkles that develop when a person repeatedly purses his lips to smoke cigarettes.
Sometimes Botox® is also used to fix a condition commonly referred to as a falling brow. This condition develops when a person’s facial muscles in the forehead area begin to lose their tone. As a result, a person’s forehead skin droops, and the result can be a face that looks dramatically older than its years. To correct this, a doctor may provide a chemical brow lift by administering Botox® in the face.
It is important to note that despite the fact that Botox® can be effective, it is a treatment that only has temporary effects. It cannot remove a person’s wrinkles and imperfections permanently. Instead, the effects of Botox® usually last for a few months. An individual can have repeat Botox® treatments after this time has passed, however. In fact, there is some evidence that repeat treatments may make Botox® last progressively longer.
Interestingly, Botox® treatments involve the use of a bacterial pathogen called botulinum toxin. This toxin can cause a type of food poisoning that has the potential to result in death. When it is injected into a person’s face, however, it works to paralyze his facial muscles temporarily. It is this temporary paralysis that does the job of reducing the appearance of facial wrinkles.
