Botox

Botulinum toxin is a purified protein that blocks the chemical signal passing from a nerve to the muscle it supplies. The muscle it is placed into relaxes over several days, and the nerve grows new endings over the following months, so the effect wears off and the muscle returns to normal.

In cosmetic use it is placed in small measured amounts into the specific muscles whose repeated movement creases the overlying skin, so those creases soften while the surrounding expression is left alone. The same property is used medically where a muscle or a gland is overactive, including excessive sweating.

The effect lasts about three to four months for most people and a little longer with repeated treatment. It is temporary in every use, so it is a treatment you return for.

This is a Day Care treatment with no general anaesthetic. A numbing cream is applied for twenty minutes where you want it, though the needle used is very fine and many people have it without.

Your doctor asks you to frown, raise your brows and squeeze your eyes shut, and marks the muscles while they move, since the map differs from face to face. The injections themselves take five to ten minutes and feel like brief pinpricks. Small raised bumps appear at each point and settle within half an hour.

You go home immediately. Stay upright for four hours, do not rub or massage the area, skip the gym, steam and alcohol that day, and avoid facials for a fortnight. A review at two weeks lets your doctor assess the settled result and add a small amount where it is uneven.

There is no recovery period and no time off work. You can put on make-up after a few hours and go straight back to your day.

Pinprick marks fade within an hour and a bruise, if you get one, lasts three to five days and covers easily. Some people get a mild headache for a day or two after treatment of the forehead area.

The effect starts at around day three, builds through the first week, and is complete at two weeks, so judge it then instead of on day four. It holds for three to four months and fades gradually, and most people return before the movement is fully back, since treating early keeps the result smoother.