About BOTOX® Cosmetic & Dysport®
Since its rise to popularity in the mid-2000s, BOTOX Cosmetic injection has become the most popular cosmetic procedure in the U.S. for a reason: it works. It appeals to so many people because it is a quick and easy treatment that can have a profoundly positive impact on their appearance. Women and men visit the facial plastic surgeons at L&P Aesthetics for BOTOX treatments in Palo Alto and Los Gatos, CA, from San Jose, Redwood City, and around the Bay Area.
How Does BOTOX Work?
BOTOX is derived from a natural nerve blocker, botulinum toxin type A. The active ingredient prevents targeted muscles from receiving the message to move. Synthesized in a safe and highly regulated environment, this agent can be placed into selected muscles of facial expression to temporarily inhibit their movement.
When injected correctly, BOTOX can relax these muscles and reduce facial wrinkles and folds that contribute to an aged appearance. Only a highly trained professional can accomplish this while preserving facial expressions and keeping the overall result subtle, powerful, and enhancing.
Every person is our top priority
Trust Your Beauty To An Award-Winning Team of Aesthetic Experts
America’s Best Plastic Surgeons by Newsweek, 2024
Best Plastic Surgeons by Palo Alto Weekly, 2024
Best of Silicon Valley Magazine for Plastic Surgery, 2024
Castle Connolly Top Doctors of San Francisco Bay Area, 2024
New Beauty Top Doctors, 2024
What Should I Expect From My BOTOX Appointment?
Once you decide to proceed with treatment, we will carefully analyze your face and devise a comprehensive treatment plan that takes on a global approach. We will suggest very specific refinements to enhance your beauty without the worry of surgery or downtime. Using a very small needle, we inject the product into targeted areas. The entire treatment session can take as little as 10 to 15 minutes, and many patients are able to return to work after their treatment.
Every patient experience is different, but in our experience, there is rarely much discomfort, and redness at the injection sites is expected to subside within an hour. Bruising is infrequent, but when present can last for a few days and be camouflaged with makeup. The treatment takes effect between 3 and 7 days after injection, and the results can last up to 6 months.
Patients interested in continuing the look provided by BOTOX can return for maintenance treatments every few months, if desired. Our team will explain the minimum time allowed between injections, depending on the region treated and the number of units used to achieve the desired effect. Over time, some patients find that fewer injections are necessary to get the results they seek, as their muscles as “trained” to relax by the regular injections.
Why Choose L&P Aesthetics for BOTOX?
BOTOX can be found in many locations outside of a facial plastic surgeon’s office. We are always surprised by how many different types of doctors, nurses, and technicians are selling treatments. While much of the time discounted treatment by less experienced practitioners may not harm patients, occasionally disastrous results can occur due to inadequate training or practice.
We have dedicated our career exclusively to the enhancement of the face and have undergone extensive training in all aspects of facial rejuvenation, including all forms of injectable treatments. Even something as simple as BOTOX can be overdone and look unnatural. With any of the muscle-relaxant therapies such as BOTOX, Dysport®, and Jeuveau™, the intent should always be to produce a youthful and natural result by preserving facial expressions while reducing wrinkles to soften and enhance your appearance. Our goal is to accentuate each patient’s attractive features right in the comfort of the office with minimal downtime.
The L&P Aesthetics team emphasizes a commitment to both safety and creating an environment and rapport with patients to provide the best aesthetic outcome possible. We stay up to date on the latest medical and cosmetic developments and techniques, holding ourselves to high standards. While we see multiple hundreds of patients each year, we also realize that a cosmetic treatment is not necessarily routine to you. You have only 1 face, so we give you our full attention and the weight of our combined experience and talents for your treatment session
Save Money, Join Allē
Become a member to earn points and redeem rewards on your favorite Allergan brands such as BOTOX®, JUVÉDERM®, and more.
BOTOX® Cosmetic & Dysport® Before and After Gallery
View real results from real patients below.
Recovery and Beyond
Put simply, BOTOX is considered a safe treatment, with millions of injections administered to great success each year. BOTOX gained worldwide recognition for its cosmetic applications, but before that, the injectable had long been used as a safe and effective solution to a variety of medical problems. Its health-based applications include treatment for chronic migraines, overactive bladders, muscle spasms, and more. As a cosmetic treatment, BOTOX has been rigorously studied as the subject of clinical trials and years of worldwide use. Reported side effects included eyelid drooping in just 3 percent of the patients who participated in frown line studies and eyelid swelling in 1 percent of the patients who participated in crow’s feet studies.
BOTOX® Cosmetic & Dysport® FAQs
We have dedicated our entire practice to the rejuvenation of the face and neck. Our focus is only on the face, which we believe gives us a unique advantage and understanding that helps us achieve the results we achieve. BOTOX can be a safe, easy and effective way to reduce facial wrinkles and create a more youthful appearance. An experienced professional you trust should perform the treatment. If you are concerned about BOTOX pricing, we have several payment options. In addition, we offer our patients financing through CareCredit®, the nation’s leading payment program for aesthetic services.
If patients report side effects in relation to BOTOX, they are typically minimal and temporary and include dry mouth or eyes, injection site pain or discomfort, headaches, or blurred or double vision. Talk to our team at your consultation to learn more about safety and what to watch for in the days after your treatment to ensure that everything is working as it should. Your injector can answer your questions and explain any details.
Dynamic Wrinkles
BOTOX and other neurotoxins work on what are known as “dynamic wrinkles,” which appear over time on the face due to repeated muscle use. Years of raised eyebrows or a constantly furrowed forehead create increasingly visible and long-lasting lines that are made more obvious with every new contraction. If the muscles that create these wrinkles can’t move, the lines lose their pronounced power.
While the main benefit of BOTOX is in temporarily preventing wrinkles from showing, it can also improve the appearance of facial lines long term, since less muscle use means fewer opportunities for the grooves to more deeply etch into your skin. Some people opt for preventative BOTOX treatments before significant forehead lines develop. Injections can keep muscle activity low and the related skin smooth and unlined for as long as possible.
Static Wrinkles
What are known as “static wrinkles” develop as the skin loses valuable proteins and carbohydrates to the natural aging process and environmental damage, such as UV radiation from the sun. Muscle contractions do not impact these in the same way as dynamic wrinkles, so other treatments are available to address them.
BOTOX is a favorite among Bay Area patients seeking a temporary way to look refreshed and younger. Ultherapy® offers another option for those who want to focus their cosmetic treatments on the brow, tightening and lifting the forehead area with ultrasound energy.
As noted above, dermal fillers can add volume to areas of the face where it has been lost, leading to sagging and hollows. They can also address certain wrinkles, with results that last for months to years, depending on the specific product used and area treated.
More involved methods to achieve facial rejuvenation are available. A brow lift and eyelid surgery both address signs of aging on the uppermost portion of the face. They are frequently combined to raise descended eyebrows, smooth out deep forehead wrinkles and frown lines, and lift drooping lids that can give a face a tired or angry appearance.
BOTOX can also complement a variety of procedures, and patients who see a younger-looking self in the mirror after an injection session are frequently inspired to make further changes, such as a facelift. This surgery addresses tissues lower on the face, not to correct wrinkles, but with an intent to produce more youthful and defined contours.
Our team approaches each treatment not as a distinct injection or surgery, but as one element of a comprehensive effort to give you the best look possible. The approach depends on the patient, and each procedure or combination of procedures is tailored to the person.
Commonly treated areas include the following:
- Frowning wrinkles: the wrinkles and creases between the eyebrows (glabella) are often referred to as frown lines and may make a person look “angry”; treatment can soften their appearance
- Forehead lines and wrinkles: if injected correctly, BOTOX can soften horizontal lines and wrinkles in the forehead and even lift the sides of the eyebrows, (“BOTOX Brow Lift”) rejuvenating the appearance of the eyes; softly arched brows make the eyes look larger and more beautiful
- Eyes: injections can soften “crow’s feet,” the fine lines around the eyes, and can open the eyes to make them look larger and more youthful
- Mouth: lines and wrinkling around the mouth due to muscle activity from smiling or smoking can be softened with appropriate BOTOX® Cosmetic injections; many people may also require dermal filler injections (such as Juvéderm® or Restylane®) to restore volume in this area
- Platysmal cords or bands in the neck area
- Facial slimming: BOTOX can be injected into the chewing muscles to slim a wide/square face
- Sweaty palms or excessive underarm perspiration
- Migraine headaches
Dysport is a newer alternative to BOTOX and is used in a similar way to treat wrinkles in the face. Both products are neurotoxins and contain the same active ingredient: botulinum toxin type A. The notable differences are:
- Dysport was shown in studies to take effect in 1 to 2 days versus the 3 to 7 days for BOTOX.
- Dysport can last longer in some patients.
- Dysport can spread farther from the injection site than BOTOX, which can reduce the number of injection points but also may reduce the accuracy of placement.
- Dysport can be a more economical choice for some patients.
During your consultation, you may wish to discuss the benefits of dermal fillers such as JUVÉDERM® or Restylane®. We will examine your face in detail and use pictures to formulate a personalized treatment plan. We aim to combine an artistic eye with our knowledge of facial anatomy to help each of our patients.
BOTOX and fillers are often combined with the goal of making powerful yet subtle enhancements to your face and have been referred to as a “liquid facelift.” BOTOX can improve wrinkles caused by the movement of the facial muscles, while dermal fillers can enhance a wider variety of areas of the face by increasing volume and thereby reducing wrinkles, shadows, creases, and depressions of the face. Dermal fillers are also helpful for minimizing nasolabial folds, smile lines, and lip lines, and they can add volume to the cheek, lips, and under-eye area.
