Tips on understanding potential Botox® side effects

Tip 1.How To Avoid Headaches

Botox® can dehydrate your body and you will need to follow a couple of instructions to minimise and prevent this.

(a) We recommend to drink plenty of water after the procedure, at least 2 litres of water in the first 24 hours.

(b) We also advise to avoid alcohol for the first 24 hours.

(c) You may want to take your normal painkillers a few hours before the procedure and after the procedure to prevent any headaches.

Tip 2.How To Prevent Drooping eyelids

There are a number of reasons why this may occur:

(a) Too much Botox® has been given in the forehead. This muscle lifts your eyes, so if it is relaxed too much it will not be able to maintain the position of your eyes.

(b) Not enough Botox® has been administrated in your frown muscle. This muscle pulls your eyes down, so if this muscle is still active, then it will have a downward pull on the eyes

(c) The Botox® may have travelled downwards to the eyes. This could have been caused by exercising straight after the procedure or bending downwards. So we recommend not to exercise for 24 hours after the procedure and also not to bend down too excessively

(d) We also advise against having any facial massages or facials within 24 hours of having Botox®. This may migrate the material towards the eyes.

(e) Also if you have a saggy upper eyelid, this would indicate your forehead muscle does not want to be frozen as this will most definitely cause the eyelids to drop. So in this instant you may not be suitable for Botox® and may need to seek alternative procedures.

Tip 3.How To Prevent The Frozen look

This will occur if too much Botox® has been administrated. We would normally recommend to underdose initially and if you require further treatment then to have the Top Up after a couple of weeks. The frozen look will disappear over time as the effects of Botox® begin to wear off. This is different for each person and can be anything between 3-6 months.

Tip 4.How To Make Sure Your Wrinkles are still not there

The effects of the treatment will normally take around 2 weeks to work. The first few days your skin will feel tighter at the injection area. You should have a review appointment 2 weeks after the initial visit. At this visit the Doctor will see if you require any further Botox®, known as the Top Up. This will take on average a week for you to see the results. If the wrinkles are still present then either you will need more Botox® or you were not suitable for the procedure, e.g deep lines or lines at rest only (i.e no lines on facial expression).

Tip 5.How To Reduce Any Inflammation and Swelling

You will experience slight redness at the injection sites. This is common, so don’t be alarmed. This will normally resolve within an hour of having the procedure.

Due to the amount of fluid being injected you will also expect to see some swelling at the injection sites. This will be similar to a bee sting and will resolve within an hour of the procedure.

This can be minimised by having the area frozen by an ice pack and also ask to have an ice pack given so you can apply it to the area for a couple of hours after the procedure.

You may experience some bruising in certain areas. To reduce this make sure the operator uses a thin needle. Also you want to avoid being directly injected into a vein and this risk increases the deeper the needle goes into the skin. If bruising does occur then you can use Arnica cream or Vitamin K cream to encourage healing and mask the bruise.