Botox Treatment Side Effects
Does Botox treatment give side effects? This question is asked frequently by persons who are considering the usage of botox cosmetic injections to make them look younger and prettier. The answer is YES, but only in untrained hands. This is why botox treatments must only be administered by properly-trained personnel, whether they are doctors or para-medical or aesthetic personnel.
What kind of side effects are possible with botox treatments?
In order of decreasing frequency, the most common side effects are listed as:
Headache
Flu syndrome
Pain at injection site
Swelling at injection site
Bruising (due to accidental nicking of small blood vessels on injection)
The above side effects are minimal, tolerable and transient. What is of more significance to the patient and the injector is the muscular effect.
To understand this side effect, one needs to look at how botox injections work. They work by paralysing or weakening the muscles (depending on the dosage) into which the injection is administered. Obviously if the botox cosmetic injection is given into the wrong muscle by untrained hands, the wrong muscle is affected. For example, if injections are given too deep for the treatment of crows feet, one can theoretically cause weakness of muscles that move the eyeball, leading to double vision. Or if too high a dosage is given too deeply into the muscles for the treatment of square jaws, marked weakness in the chewing ability is produced due to paralysis of all the muscles of chewing. Or if injections are given too low in the forehead for the treatment of forehead or surprise lines, this can result in droopy eyebrows.
It is fortunate that the side effect of muscle weakness is only temporary, and lasts for a maximum of 4 – 6 months, which is the length of time that the beneficial effect of botox lasts. In order to increase the speed of recovery, it is recommended that the affected muscle be regularly exercised. Application of hot compresses is also suggested to speed up the rate of breakdown of the injected botulinum toxin.
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