How Botox and Other Neurotoxins Can Reduce the Appearance of Wrinkles

Fine lines and wrinkles are inevitable. No matter how well you eat and how regularly you exercise, your face eventually shows signs of aging. Even if you avoid the sun and apply sunscreen daily, your skin creases over time. 

Fortunately, neurotoxins can help. Board-certified cosmetic dermatologist Dr. Bruce Saal of Los Gatos Dermatology has extensive experience providing Xeomin injections. Los Gatos Dermatology has a number of very knowledgeable licensed providers that see patients as well.  Interested? Learn how neurotoxins can make you look younger.

What causes facial wrinkles?

As you get older, your skin loses moisture, elasticity, and collagen, and it gets thinner. This combination of factors contributes to wrinkles forming. Facial muscle contractions, over time, create temporary and eventually permanent lines and creases in your forehead and around your eyes and mouth. 

Smoking and sun exposure also contribute to the breakdown of skin cells and the formation of wrinkles. 

While you may be able to slow down the aging process by staying out of the sun, eating a healthy diet, exercising, and maintaining a healthy body weight, you can’t stop it. But you can reduce the effects of aging on your face. 

How does Botox reduce the fine lines and wrinkles?

Botox is a brand name of a toxin that paralyzes your facial muscles. It’s made from the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. Xeomin® and Dysport are other neurotoxin brands that help reduce fine lines and wrinkles in a similar fashion as Botox. 

Botox is the most popular product and has been around the longest. Botox is so well-liked, in fact, that it’s the most popular noninvasive cosmetic treatment. In 2020, according to a plastic surgery statistics report, there were 4.4 million Botox treatments.

Neurotoxins reduce the appearance of wrinkles by stopping your muscles from contracting and forming wrinkles. 

Xeomin, also offered at Los Gatos Dermatology, differs from Botox and Dysport in that it doesn’t contain a protein additive. It’s sometimes called “the naked Botox” because it is considered by some to be more pure. Both treatments help you smooth fine lines and wrinkles and make you look younger

During a treatment session, we ask you to frown or scrunch up your face so we can see where the wrinkles and lines are most pronounced. Then we inject a tiny amount of Botox, Dysport, or Xeomin into those areas. 

Treatments are quick, usually taking around 10 minutes. There’s rarely any bruising and no downtime and the results are not immediate. It usually takes three days or can take up to 10 days for the muscles to stop contracting. 

The effects are not permanent. Most treatments last about four months, although this varies among patients. Botox, Dysport, and Xeomin are most commonly used to smooth forehead lines, crow’s feet, and frown lines.

Are you ready for smoother, younger-looking skin? Call our office in Los Gatos, California, to make an appointment for Botox, Dysport, or Xeomin or to learn more.