As we age, wrinkles and other scars on our face can cause us to feel self conscious about our appearance. When we should be enjoying ourselves, instead we are worried about whether or not our smiles, laughter or frowns make us look like we are ancient! Living in anxiety about physical appearance is no way to live, but there are some solutions to make us look better so we can feel better.
Thanks to Botox and dermal fillers, we can now reduce wrinkles without invasive surgeries. What is even better is that Botox and dermal fillers are not as expensive as more invasive for of cosmetic surgery.
So many people benefit all the time from the confidence boost that Botox and dermal fillers offer by creating a more youthful appearance of the skin. If you want to explore the idea of getting either of these procedures to rejuvenate your facial features, it is a good idea to differentiate one from the other. This way there are no big surprises when you go to get a Botox and dermal filler consultation with a cosmetic surgeon.
How to Choose Between Botox and Dermal Fillers?
The best way to figure out whether you need Botox or dermal fillers is to consult with a cosmetic surgeon, so that you can get expert advice on which treatment will benefit you the most. The following is a basic explanation of the different purposes of the two treatments, so you can better understand the difference between Botox and dermal fillers.
Botox is meant to prevent wrinkles from getting deeper by freezing muscles that cause wrinkles in the first place. Notice on each wrinkle there is a ridge and a valley. The goal of Botox’s goal is to target mainly the ridge, so that these ridges don’t come closer and deepen wrinkles further.
By preventing movement of certain muscles, Botox also temporarily lowers the appearance of wrinkles. In summary: if you have wrinkles that are caused by you moving your face, you probably would be best served by Botox injections.
Dermal filler works more as an inlay into the crevices of wrinkles. The dermal fillers treatment literally fills in the valley that appears between wrinkles or any other indentations of the skin. Instead of treating moving parts of the face like Botox, Dermal fillers treat the stagnant creases in our faces. So if you have a lot of wrinkles and creases in your face when your face is relaxed, you may want to consider dermal fillers.
How Botox Works
Botox is most commonly used on areas where you get creases from using facial expressions, areas like crow’s-feet, the forehead and frown lines are commonly treated. Botox works by freezing the facial muscles used in these expressions. The first thing Botox does is weakens the muscles that causes the creases in the first place.
The more lasting part of this treatment is that the patient gets out of the habit of using these frozen muscles for facial expression, so when the Botox wears off they will not use these muscles as much. So even though overtime the muscle relaxation created by Botox will wear off, the treatment will have long-lasting effects to slow down the process of ageing.
How Dermal Fillers Work
The job of dermal fillers is to restore the elasticity and fullness in skin by literally adding volume to the dermal layer of skin. The dermal layer of the skin is the part that gets worn out over time, so when we plump out this tissue with dermal fillers it revitalises the appearance and health of the facial skin. When you get dermal fillers, the wrinkles are pushed out to diminish the appearance of wrinkles.
This type of treatment can also work for acne scars, enhancing cheekbones, enlarging lips, and treating dark circle. How long the dermal filler lasts largely depends on the type of filler you get, so you’ll need to explore the different options with a cosmetic surgeon.
Proceed when Caution When Getting Botox and Dermal Fillers
Botox and dermal fillers are well understood cosmetic procedures that are relatively safe, but they are drugs that can cause serious complications if used improperly. One issue in recent years is unlicensed individuals have been offering Botox and dermal fillers to unknowing customers.
Would you go to some random Joe off the street to fill your cavity? Of course not! So the same common sense should go for getting a cosmetic procedure. In order to ensure your safety and the effectiveness of the procedure, it is recommended by the CDC (Centres for Disease Control) that all consumers of Botox and dermal fillers get the procedure done by a licensed cosmetic surgeon.