My First Botox Experience (Before & After Photos)

"You don't need Botox" said hubs. "But you don't have wrinkles" said a couple of friends when I told them about it. Regardless what they said, it's done and over with. An after-the fact statement. Less than five minutes and 12 units later, this woman is tippy-toe happy with the result. 

But it's true, at 41 (turning 42 on July 4), I don't have prominent wrinkles yet but whenever I smile or forcefully squint my eyes, you can see the dreaded crow's feet. While I was happy with Tria Eye Wrinkle Correcting Laser (read entire experience here), Botox is tried-and-tested and will definitely reduce the lines I loathe albeit for 3-4 months only, hence the maintenance. One important tip with Botox: don't over-do or over-inject because you should be able to maintain your natural facial expression; that's a great Botox treatment in my opinion: you know you had it done but no one can guess it.

Left photo: I know, highlight on point, haha! But seriously, those pesky 3 lines aren't cool. Right photo: The day after, I had 6 units injected on each side (for a total of 12). Generally, Botox takes effect within two weeks but you can already see the marked improvement from the above photo.

So how does the actual injection feel? pain threshold is relative but personally, not even 1 on a 10-point scale. I "heard" swoosh as the liquid was pushed from the syringe to the eye area but it was literally pain-free and fast. As a side tip, you can request your doctor for a numbing cream if the whole idea of needle scares you. But trust me, the needle is so tiny, you can hardly feel the poke (unless the injector blindly hit the nerve endings which can jolt you). Beauty pain, beauty gain.

The photos below demonstrate my weekly progress with Tria Age Defying Eye Wrinkles Correcting Laser. We will use these as our starting point, a leverage so to speak. It took all of 8 weeks to gradually see the result. Take note, in all of these photos, that's moi smiling at you.

Now here's the same eye area treated with Botox (3 weeks after, I already stopped using Tria). Oh yeah, I'm still smiling at you.  Look ma, no lines! And the great part? I can move my eye area and make silly expressions.

Botox, like any beauty or cosmetic procedures, is a personal decision. Would I recommend it? of course, but you need to do ample research and set realistic expectations with your doctor. Botox is not permanent and it only targets certain areas like crow's feet, glabella (frown lines between brows) and forehead. It's a good compliment to laser skin resurfacing and pelleve (which I will talk about later),  both of which are non-ablative procedures. There is no downtime with Botox but some do report swelling, minor tenderness and bruising. Post-treatment is nothing tedious: just stay upright for 4 hours and try doing facial expressions in areas of injection so Botox can penetrate the muscles. Other than that, enjoy the younger you!

In the interest of transparency, I work as Aesthetic Nurse. While I cover certain skincare and anti-aging topics, my opinion should not replace your doctor's.