What You Need To Know About Botox and Facial Fillers

One of the great services we offer at our center is non-invasive facial rejuvenation utilizing Botox and Facial Fillers such as Restylane and Perlane. These products allow our patients to greatly yet subtly improve the way they look without down time or pain. These quick fixes can be done during your lunch hour or after work. There are no restrictions after these procedures and patients are able to get back to their normal activities right away.
Botox: a fantastic agent that allows us to smooth facial wrinkles and give the face a younger, rejuvenated appearance by weakening the muscle that wrinkles the skin every time it is contracted. Through experience we have found that if Botox is started when the facial wrinkles are not yet visible at rest (which applies to patients who are in their late 20s and early 30th) we are able to prevent wrinkles from appearing in a long run. I always tell my patients that "Botox for wrinkles is like Colonoscopy for Colon Cancer", it is a great preventive measure. However, that does not mean that patients who already have deep facial wrinkles at rest can't benefit from this product. They simply have to keep in mind that it may take several treatments for the skin to become smoother and for the lines to become significantly less evident or disappear completely. For that reason I tell my patients that Botox is really a commitment, and if he or she plans on doing it only once, then they should not waist their money. In four months after the treatment the wrinkles will return, they will be no worse, but no better. However, if patients use Botox on a regular basis they will begin to notice that the intervals between their injections become longer and longer, and the skin stays smooth for longer periods of time. That phenomenon occurs not because the drug stays around longer, but simply because the patient gets out of the mode of using that particular facial muscle on a regular basis. In my practice, I have patients who require reinjection only once a year. These patients, of course, have been using the product for several years, and if one was to guess their age they would be off by at least 6 to 10. Another common misunderstanding that patients have is that the muscle must be completely paralyzed in order to give you proper effect. As long as the muscle is weak enough to prevent you from constant involuntarily movement, the desired effect will be achieved. If over-injected, Botox can cause severe facial asymmetry by causing drooping of eyelids, eyebrows, corners of the mouth, or give one a very unpleasant, expressionless face. All my patients know that I am not only a big advocate of this product but also a user.
Facial Fillers are also a great way to refresh and rejuvenate your face. They however have an entirely different mechanism of action. They do just what the name states; they fill in deep facial crevices and add volume. Fillers are used to decrease the depth of the folds that run from our noses to the lips (called Nasolabial Folds), areas under the eyes (called Tear Trough), it also allows us to plump up thin lips and eliminate or decrease appearance of jowls on a person who is too young for a face lift but is bothered by the early signs of an aging face. Facial Fillers are temporary in nature and may last from 6 months to a year depending on where on the face they are injected. Typically fillers tend to get broken down faster on areas of the face that exhibit more movement. They also allow us to correct indentations on the face created from scars and even-out some facial asymmetries.
If you would like to know if you are a good candidate for these procedures, please do not hesitate to contact our office for a consultation.

Victoria Karlinsky-Bellini, MD FACS
71 Carroll Street
Brooklyn, NY 11231
T: 718 288 5519 F: 718 797 9796
ask@newlooknewlife.org
www.newlooknewlife.org