Would you have botox

[faiththeone]

I have a few wrinkles coming and am considering following my friends down the botox route. Has anyone got any personal experiences of this treatment. Good, bad or indifferent.

will do - am having a bit of a focus on myself at the moment - had a colonic yesterday lol. I have had them before but it was the best one and felt fantastic afterwards and tummy is flat as a pancake.

Yes. I wake up with deep frown lines and a tense head from nightmares. The odd dab of botox would stop that.

How quickly did it work last time, mine was a few days?

I got it in my forehead for migraines (it has worked, by the way)

I was terrified of looking like Nicole Kidman (sorry Nicole) but it has reduced my forehead lines by maybe 50%, nothing drastic and nobody has noticed (although someone said I looked too young to have children!!)

Hmmm I have a friend who is 10 yrs older than me. She's been having it done for at least a decade. At first it looked good - but now she has lines in really strange places and looks older for it. I was thinking of it but having seen her a couple of weeks back - I now don't want it.

That's probably because Nicole has been having it done a long time too into

I could notice it within few days with final results 10/12 days afterwards

I have had it for about ten years for migraine. Works a treat .

Yes. I have my 11 lines injected twice a year with Botox by a plastic surgeon. I would only use a fully qualified, experienced plastic surgeon as I like the very targeted approach he uses. I can move my brow but cannot scowl and my 11 lines have almost gone.

My crow feet really has softened and forehead lines gone completely. Shame it's temporary!

I get botox and I love it. I do not look weird. A lot of times I think people confuse botox with fillers and someone who gets fillers will often also get botox. Fillers are what make faces look unnatural in that all the contours are rounded out and they end up with odd shiny apple cheeks. (Although fillers for tear troughs actually do work well and aren't in the same category at all.)

Two caveats for botox:

1. It only works on some things well. 11's between the eyes respond VERY well to botox. If you have Gordon Ramsey lines across your forehead botox can help smooth them. Botox will help with crowsfeet at the corners of the eyes, but doesn't do anything for the fine lines under the eyes. If you have a grumpy, downturned mouth, botox can relax that and give a tiny hint of a mona lisa smile, instead. Finally, botox works very well on a "gummy smile" by relaxing the upper lip so that it does not pull up and expose a centimetre of gums.

1. You can't actually look younger than your age, no matter what you do. Some people look shit for their age and you can look less shit. That's all you can do. To see what I mean, google "Botox before and after" or "fillers before and after" or "CO2 Laser before and after" or "Retin A for wrinkles before and after." What you will find is a bunch of photos of people who look grumpy and old and tired on the left, and refreshed and happy on the right. To the left will be a tired, grumpy, saggy 58-year-old. To the right will be a refreshed, relaxed, perked-up... 58-year-old.

I am a 45-year-old woman. I do Botox on my 11's, my crowsfeet, and the little grumpy clutch of muscles at the corners of my mouth. I also do Retin A. I look like a serene, rested, luminous 45-year-old. I look pretty good for my age, but I look my age.

No way would I have a deadly poison injected into my face.

Why overload your body with unnecessary toxins?

Oh, of course, because you think you will look better.

Would consider. Would have it for migraine and lovely side effect would be getting rid of frown lines!

I second Fabulassie.
I am now 56 and had botox just before my 50th birthday.
I have found really skilled practioners so have never looked frozen. I have also had fillers, the first time not so great.
I need to appear a bit "fresher" for my job, it is not a vanity thing with me.
I would ask all those stating that the injections are poison, to verify that the food they eat every day is not full of poison too ;-)

I would love Botox in my frown lines,
Just that wee bit between my eyebrows,
Too extravagant though so I'll need to stay grumpy looking

God, I would love to have the two frown lines done that you can park a bike in. Nowt else, can keep my Gordon Ramsey horizontals, just the 11s between the eyes.
To those above who have had botox, did it become a must then rather than a one-off, and my million dollar question....does the inability to frown have any impact on your mood? I do know how weird that sounds...

Please yourselves but I like looking angry It's a useful skill.

Amanda Holden. Scary.

I use Frownies and/or clear surgical tape in a x shape on my frown lines -every night, works for me

It was the Spock eyebrows that I dreaded- but they are absolutely fine, any minor lift looks v natural

Fabulassie- inspired by your post

How many years and how often do you go for top up? When did you start?

I write from a clinical/biomedical perspective.

Botox > muscle paralysis > muscle wastage --> ultimately sagging of skin.

The muscle paralysis resulting from Botox injections does not just occur at the site of injection, but also at distal sites (in mice). Botox also leads to a decrease in bone mass.

An increase in muscle atrophy and a decrease in bone density are both associated with aging. Therefore, botox is bad news if your ultimate aim is to defy the physical signs of aging.

I'd not touch it unless it was medically necessary (eg I had cerebral palsy)

Duchesse: yes, most of the food we eat is full of toxins too.
I eat organic food wherever possible. I'm very fortunate to be able to afford to do so.
But I haven't been abroad for six years, I holiday very cheaply in the UK, I don't drink and rarely eat out.
I choose to spend more on organic food to avoid the poisons.

I really don't understand the short sighted view of choosing to inject poison into your face in an attempt to look younger whilst ignoring the possible long term side effects of overloading your body with toxins.

Yes, I've had it. The first time was not good-very Spockish- but the second time was fine. I'd have it now if funds permitted.

I'd agree with the pp who said that ageing is less to do with wrinkling and more to do with sagging.

I just can't imagine asking someone to inject stuff into my body or perform a surgical procedure on me unless there were something actually wrong with me medically. And somehow I don't think medical professionals would regard those things as being on a par with eating non-organic food!

Aging is not something wrong with you. Everyone does it. The alternative is worse! I am a 43 year-old woman and therefore expect to look like a 43 year-old woman.

No way, not ever.