Injectables
Botox® in North Spokane your face still moves
Botox softens the lines that come from expression: the horizontal lines across your forehead, the vertical ones between your brows, and the creases at the outer corners of your eyes.
The Treatment
What Botox actually does.
Your muscles fire when a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine reaches them. Botox interrupts that signal, so the muscle stays still and the skin above it stops folding into the same crease a few thousand times a day. That treats what causes the wrinkle, not the wrinkle itself.
It will not add volume anywhere. There are also places on the face where Liz will not put it, because relaxing the wrong muscle drops a brow or changes a smile. She calls those the no-fly zones. Filler and Sculptra solve some of the problems Botox cannot, and she will tell you which one you are actually describing.
“Acetylcholine is the neurotransmitter that tells a muscle to fire. I like to call it the go button. Botox blocks access to the go button, so the muscle cannot do what it was going to do.”
Liz Gilroy, ARNP
- Appointment
- About 15 minutes once you have had your consultation
- First results
- 3 to 7 days
- Full effect
- Around 2 weeks
- How long it lasts
- 3 to 4 months for most people
- Downtime
- None, though mild bruising is possible. Small raised bumps settle within an hour
Treatment Areas
Where it goes.
The three areas Botox is FDA-approved to treat are the ones people ask for most:
- Forehead lines, the horizontal ones
- Frown lines between the brows, the pair people call their elevens
- Crow’s feet at the outer corners of the eyes
People also ask about the chin, the jaw, a lip flip and neck bands. Those are real uses and they are off-label. There are also areas Liz will not treat at all, because the muscle doing the creasing is the same one holding something else up. She will show you the difference on your own face.
What to Expect
How the appointment goes.
You start with a consultation
Liz watches how your face moves, asks what bothers you, and tells you what Botox will and will not fix. If she thinks you do not need it, or that you are not ready for it, she will say so.
She marks your face first
Every patient, every time, before anything is injected. She does it because it makes the placement more precise and lets her check her own work partway through.
The injections take about fifteen minutes
A series of small injections with a very fine needle. Most people describe it as a quick pinch. No numbing is required, and you will not need anyone to drive you home.
Ninety minutes later you are done worrying
The aftercare list is short: no massage the day of, nothing that makes you sweat heavily for a sustained stretch, saunas included, and hands off the area for fifteen minutes. After about ninety minutes the product has bound where it was placed and, as Liz puts it, you could not undo it if you tried.
It settles over two weeks
You will notice something in the first week. Give it the full two weeks before you decide what you think. If anything looks uneven once it has fully settled, call us.
Pricing
What it costs.
Botox is priced per unit, and how many units you need depends on how strong your muscles are rather than how old you are. A first-timer with a strong frown can need more than someone ten years older with a light one, so a number quoted from a website would be a guess. At your consultation you will get the unit count and the total before anything happens. If you want a rough idea before you come in, call us and ask.
Questions
What people ask.
Not unless you ask to be, and Liz will talk you out of it. Dosing is the craft. The goal is that your forehead stops creasing and your face still does what your face does.
Barely. The needle is very fine and each injection takes about a second. Most people say it stings less than they expected.
Three to seven days for the first change, about two weeks for the full effect. Do not judge it at day three.
Three to four months on average. There are outliers in both directions: a few people get four to six months, which is rare, and some burn through it faster. Lifestyle and genetics seem to decide which one you are, and there is no way to know before you try.
Coming back too soon is how people build resistance. Any medication your body sees repeatedly it gets better at recognizing, and neurotoxins are no exception. Liz wants roughly ninety days between treatments. True resistance is rare, and she has seen it twice.
Liz calls these anticipated rather than potential, because they are the known short list: bruising, a little redness, tenderness at the site, and sometimes a mild headache, usually mild enough that you will not reach for anything. You are welcome to take ibuprofen or Tylenol if you want to. She goes through the full list with you before you consent.
It has been FDA-approved for cosmetic use since 2002 and is one of the most studied treatments in medicine. Liz spent twelve years in hospital and clinic practice before aesthetics, and she will walk you through the risks in full before anything is injected.
They do the same job with different formulations. Dysport tends to show up a day or two sooner. Liz picks based on your face and what you have responded to before.
Botox is temporary, which is the honest answer. It cannot be dissolved the way filler can, but it is fully gone in three to four months. Tell us what you did not like and the next round gets adjusted.
Book with Liz Gilroy, ARNP.
New patients start with a consultation. You will hear what we recommend, what it costs, and whether we think you need it at all.
