A question we're often asked is can you treat the
Botox injections for the forehead
Botox can be injected into the forehead between your eyes. Botox injections for the forehead are treatments to smooth horizontal lines and vertical wrinkles between the eyes. The injections work to relax the muscles that cause these wrinkles to form.
Now you may be thinking “I'd like my crow's feet and forehead lines treating – so that's two areas, right?” Unfortunately, it's not quite as simple as that. A good practitioner would never treat the forehead without treating the frown lines as well.
Botox Injection Mistakes: Where Not to Inject Botox
Injecting the frontalis muscles (the two main forehead muscles above the eyebrows) instead of the corrugator supercilii muscle (smaller muscles around the eyebrows) can cause a “Mephisto Effect” or “Spock brows” — comically arched eyebrows.
The most common reason that Botox does not work is that not enough was given. Botox is not a one size fits all treatment and the same dosage does not work for everyone. Some individuals may need additional Botox to reach an effective level of muscle weakness. The Botox may also be old, overdiluted, or fake.
Since Botox actually prevents your muscles from contracting, it is impossible for them to worsen your dynamic wrinkles, or those caused by aging or sun damage. Instead, they stop regular movement from occurring, helping to prevent dynamic wrinkles from worsening and getting deeper.
Botox injections in the glabella area will lift the medial part of your brow. By injecting a small amount of botox on the outer aspect of the eye brow will result in a lateral lift as well. The lift is only a few millimeters however it does produce a nice refreshed appearance.
The use of high Botox dose usually results in loss of expressions. In some articles and textbooks, the recommended dose of botulinum toxin type A injections is 20-40 Units for the glabella region, 15-30 units for the forehead and 12-30 units for the crow's feet.
The frontalis is injected either intramuscularly or superficially just under the subcutaneous tissues. In general, injection is performed at least 1.5 cm above the superior orbital rim to prevent ptosis.
Eye brow drop is one of the most common complications of Botox injections. We have few patients that come new to the clinic that ask us specifically to be careful with the eyebrow as they had them dropped before from previous injectors.
It's highly recommended that you move your face around a lot after getting Botox. This includes smiling, frowning, and raising your eyebrows. It's similar to facial exercises, minus the touching. Facial movement may look — and feel — silly, but it actually helps the Botox work better.
Frown lines (Botox between eyebrows)
This is a very effective area on which to use BOTOX®. An experienced practitioner can subtly smooth these frown lines, resulting in a rejuvenated and more relaxed appearance.
When anti-wrinkle injections are injected into the skin it relaxes the muscle (see our 'How anti-wrinkle injections work' article) and makes the surface of the skin smooth. When light shines onto skin without wrinkles it bounces off the skin in a uniform way. The skin appears to be shiny like the surface of a mirror.
Answer: Botox treatment areas
It is your choice to either treat just the glabellar lines or address the forehead at the same time. If you don't see noticeable horizontal lines on the forehead when you raise your eyebrows, you do not have to treat both areas.
Forehead lines / horizontal lines: 10-30 units. Frown lines: 10-25 units. Glabellar lines (between the eyes): 10-25 units. Jaw area (masseter): 15-50 units per side.
Even if the masseter muscle is reached, failure to inject deeply enough can leave the lower parts of the muscle moving as normal while the top part is relaxed, creating a 'chipmunk' appearance. Practitioners should aim to inject at the site where the muscle meets the bone, using a longer ½” needle for best results.
Between 10 to 50 Units of botox
A forehead botox injection can require between 10 to 50 units needed in the forehead depending on the severity of your wrinkles. Allergan, the manufacturer of Botox suggests the amount of units that's recommended in the “five” sites of the forehead is 4 units.
Too much Botox in the forehead muscles can cause the eyebrows to droop, making the upper eyelids look very heavy and hooded. The face may look angry or sad all the time. Too much Botox around the eyes can dramatically affect facial expression. The face is simply frozen.
A question we're often asked is can you treat the frontalis muscle on its own. Without the others areas which are the glabella and the obicularis oculi. Generally we advise against this because of the slightly heavy brow caused. Although, you can just treat the glabella and the crows feet area by themselves.
Answer: Frontalis injection
No, you do not need to treat the glabellar area if it does not have the typical '11 lines' or is not bothersome to you; you can just treat the frontalis muscle of the forehead, making sure not to inject too closely above brow in order to avoid brow ptosis (drooping brows).
Using anti-wrinkle injections in the depressor of the brow (orbicularis muscle) can be a very effective way to avoid possible brow heaviness.
Dysport is primarily used for correcting glabellar lines, the frown lines between your eyebrows. Dysport is a great option for those who have moderate to severe frown lines. Botox, on the other hand, can be used to treat many different types of wrinkles, including crow's feet, forehead wrinkles, and laugh lines.
So, what works best? Fillers typically last longer than BOTOX in most cases, but a filler may or may not give you the long-lasting results you would want for forehead lines. The lines can be smoothed with fillers, but in most cases, BOTOX is a superior choice for forehead lines.
The key is to balance the forces between the forehead elevators and depressors. Typically, a “Spock Brow” is due to overtreating depressors and/or undertreating elevators in the outer half of the forehead. It can be corrected by placing a small amount of Botox into the elevators in the outer forehead.