| • Other names: Chemodenervation, Botox Cosmetic (Allergan), Dysport
• Primary goal: Reduction of wrinkles, folds, and furrows due to muscular pull
• Secondary goals: Treatment of brow, eyelid, and facial asymmetries
• Anesthesia: Local anesthesia is unnecessary and may even interfere with best localization of the areas requiring treatment. Injection is painless or nearly so.
• Operative technique: Botulinum toxin treatment is a non-surgical procedure. Tiny amounts of a potent neurotoxin are injected through a fine needle either into or just above multiple areas of muscle whose pull is responsible for the generation of many facial wrinkles and folds. The intent is to partially paralyze the action of the muscle and thereby relieve its creasing of overlying skin.
• Variations: Beyond it effect on wrinkles, the toxin may be employed for any number of other creative purposes on the face, such as addressing imbalances in eyebrow shape or symmetry, smoothing "lipstick lines" above the upper lip, and so on.
• Advantages: Chemodenervation provides a safe and effective method for softening wrinkles associated with "hyperkinetic" muscular pull, such as . . . |
