Botox® Safety: What Actually Happens During and After Treatment

Botox® is definitely a popular treatment for smoothing out wrinkles and restoring a more youthful, more rejuvenated, and less stressed-out appearance. But if you’ve never had Botox, you might be a little anxious about what to expect — and how safe the treatment truly is.

Those feelings are absolutely natural. The good news is, once you have all the facts in hand, you’ll almost certainly feel a lot more confident about tapping into all the benefits Botox can offer. In this post, Yamuna Gurrapu, MD, Jenine Referente, FNP, and the team at Novéra Med SPA offer an overview of what to expect during and after Botox treatment, along with a quick explanation of how Botox works to give women and men the beautiful results they’re looking for.

The basics of Botox

Botox is a neuromodulating substance, which means it affects the way nerves function. Specifically, Botox prevents messages from traveling from specific muscles to and from the brain, in turn preventing those muscles from contracting or spasming. 

In aesthetic treatments, Botox is used to smooth dynamic wrinkles (lines caused by repeated facial movements, like frowning). The product itself uses very tiny doses of a neurotoxin called Clostridium botulinum. In high doses, this substance can cause significant problems, but in medicine, very tiny, controlled doses of a purified form are used, making treatment especially safe.

Botox safety

In fact, Botox has a long and proven track record, not just for cosmetic treatments, but for other important uses, too, like treating painful neck spasms and torsion, managing migraines, reducing excessive sweating, and treating spasmodic blinking (blepharospasm) and crossed eyes (strabismus). 

Interestingly, it was during these eye-related treatments that researchers first realized Botox’s ability to smooth wrinkles around the eyes and forehead. In 2002, the FDA granted approval for Botox to be used cosmetically, and since then, millions of people have enjoyed its wrinkle-smoothing benefits.

Today, unwanted “side effects” are very rare and temporary, typically involving overcorrection of wrinkles that can result in a stiffer-than-anticipated result. The key to avoiding overcorrection is to have your treatments performed by experienced providers, like our team.

During and after treatment: What to expect

Botox treatment is very quick, typically taking a few minutes at most. After discussing your goals and assessing your facial anatomy, we map out the injection sites and cleanse them before injecting the Botox solution using a very fine needle.

The injections themselves are far less uncomfortable than most people anticipate, thanks to that ultra-thin design. Most people describe it as a pinching sensation. There’s no need for anesthesia or downtime afterward, making it especially convenient for people with very busy schedules.

It’s common to have some mild redness and swelling at the injection sites, effects that go away within a few hours. You’ll need to avoid rubbing or massaging the treatment area to prevent spreading Botox into other areas, which could in turn lessen the effects you see over time.

Enjoying your results

While you may see some improvements soon after your injections, final results take a week or two to appear. During this time, your muscles begin to relax, softening those unwanted lines and wrinkles around your eyes, forehead, mouth, and chin. Depending on where you have injections, Botox can even help gently lift a drooping brow.

Most people find their results last about 3-6 months, but regular touchups can help you maintain your results indefinitely. You can even combine Botox with filler treatments to smooth out wrinkles from your forehead to your chin while restoring natural fullness and volume.

Our team is skilled in tailoring Botox treatment to each patient’s individual goals, achieving beautifully natural results that help you look like yourself, only younger and more relaxed. To learn more about Botox treatment and how it can help you achieve your own aesthetic goals, request an appointment online or over the phone with the team at Novéra Med SPA in Frisco, Texas, today.