I think I really was onto something with the preventive botox, even more than I suspected. Yes, I’ve had my consultation…and my treatment! And I’m already looking prettier and feeling sooooo much better.
I went to a top clinic in the Greater Los Angeles area, one that specialized in injectables. How did I select this place, out of the dizzying legion of practices you can get cosmetic procedures around here? Well, first of all I look at the website and see how well-put-together and pretty-looking it is; then I look at the interior decor in the actual practice, and see how aesthetically pleasing it is; and lastly, I look at the people who work in there and how pretty they are, specifically how well done the treatments it looks like they got are.
That approach served me well, because it turns out that my injector (who was a PA) takes botox herself! She even demonstrated the effects on her own forehead by moving it around and expressing etc at one point when answering my questions about the whole procedure. Actually pretty cool. She was one skilled injector too; compared to the filler I got at the practice I patronized before it was painless and virtually free of side effects. Just pinpricks that resolved very quickly, and a dull ache where the stuff was injected that’s gradually going away.
In stark contrast to the last place I went to before I moved here, my PA here was all for preventive botox and seemed to have ample experience with it. I outlined my issues with my appearance and the earliest signs of aging: in particular, my forehead lines and “11”s getting deeper when I’m under stress than they used to, and them not reverting to my usual smooth self as quickly as it did when I was younger. She agreed that that made me an ideal candidate for preventive botox for anti-aging purposes.
And anti-aging wasn’t the only benefit I desired from it: when my forehead gets those lines and scrunches under stress it directly leads to headaches, which are bad enough at this point that I get them when I’m stressed by so much as full exposure to sunlight…which in Southern California you get a lot of. It’s sunny the vast majority of the time here, and the comfortable weather and pleasant scenery invites a person to spend a lot more time outside. So feeling bad under such conditions just won’t do for my new lifestyle.
She took all that into account and recommended dysport in my case. It’s literally the same stuff as brand-name botox — botulinum toxin — just a slightly different formulation with slightly different effects. She told me I’m frankly a great candidate for any of the wrinkle relaxer products on the shelf, so if I wanted to get brand-name botox for whatever reason I could, but I have no particular love for Botox, I just wanted to get whatever would work best, so we proceeded with her recommendation.
The dose I got was 50 units of dysport injected into my forehead lines, and another 50 units injected into my “11”s, 100 units total. She told me at the time that it’s roughly equivalent to 50 units of Botox…which I later found out when I looked it up is considered a pretty high dose for prevention, though perhaps not so high if you’re also treating headaches. In any case she asked me to scrunch and express multiple times as much as I could so she could evaluate the lines, how deep they were, where they were, et cetera so I assume she knows what she’s doing.
The results so far vindicate that assumption: she warned me that dysport takes 10-14 days to reach peak effect, with a gradual fading of the effect until it wears off in about three months. The dose was actually tailored so it would be a bit too much at peak effect, but that’s necessary so it’s about right most of the time in the fade-out period.
I’m wondering how great the effects will be, because less than 24 hours I’m already noticing an immense difference. I’m feeling a lot better with my headaches: I can be in full sun now without my forehead tensing up at all. Moreover, I can look at sunlit environments without squinting…which apparently, without realizing it, I was having to do before. This has even improved my vision; I can notice and see more things. My visual acuity might actually be a bit better now! And from botox? Holy smoke…
I’m frankly a bit disturbed at that happening to me and not noticing how bad off I was, but it wouldn’t be the first time in the family: my father had the exact same problem with headaches when looking at bright environments and light sources, but he never even considered botox. Reports of it being useful for headaches didn’t even trickle in until the late 1990s, with treatment off-label starting in progressive clinics in New York and Los Angeles in the early 2000s (FDA approved it for that purpose in 2010), perhaps even extending into the Washington area soon afterward (which is where we were).
Especially galling because my aunt got preventive botox decades earlier than that as soon as the substance became available where she lived, before the term was even in common usage! Granted, she was older than me, but still in her thirties…and probably would have gotten it at 30 if it was available then. But again, not even she had heard about headache relief effects (nor did she need any, as far as I know). One wonders, what if…
Aside from headaches and even my vision (!), another salutary effect has been on my mood. After I got that treatment I’m finding that I’m not as prone to getting really frustrated and mad all the time about everything all day.
My physical appearance? Smoother in the head; more youthful, supple, and beautiful. My expression? More serene, placid, even inviting. I’ve been loving that effect. With each passing hour those awful folds that turn my forehead into a disaster area every time I think hard or am subjected to some negative stimulus become less and less pronounced, like they’re just dissolving away.
Good riddance, I say; that’s a preview of how my natural self will look when I get older, but now I don’t have to worry about it anymore. I don’t have to live with it; it seriously feels like the closest thing to sorcery I’ve ever experienced: if you don’t like wrinkles, you can just dissolve them away with little more than a wave of the mage’s hand.
Just like when I got the filler in my face, where it turned out that old age was literally pressing down upon my expression and making me look worse and as a consequence feel worse, it turns out my forehead becoming scrunchier with age (even at just 30!) was directly affecting my mood on an everyday basis, pretty much constantly. Now, my forehead just doesn’t move as much when I express myself or when I’m worried, I’m mad, or negatively aroused in some way. Thinking too hard was almost literally painful before, but now that I’m not even feeling it anymore (because I have so little movement now!) I just feel good the whole time.
So now, I not only look more serene, I am more serene! Yay me!
And also like the filler, it’s not lost on me that the botox is lending me a look that’s suspiciously similar to the quality you see of all those people on television, in movies, and on Instagram and so forth. The selfsame people who are so effortlessly photogenic no matter what. Again, a lot of that “look” that regular people (who don’t invest thousands of dollars in cosmetic medicine to look their best) covet but can’t quite ever figure out how to get is dermal filler. That’s how these people look so good on camera. Well, here’s another secret: get botox. Yes, even if you’re in your twenties (or teens): if you want that subtle telegenic quality that elevates your station in life, that’s a big piece of the puzzle.
It seems to look particularly good on me, which surprises me, since I never particularly wanted to inhibit my forehead expression or movement. I’ll probably even like the subtle brow life effect; my nurse said it is a side effect of the treatment, and it’ll be all of two millimeters’ worth, so barely perceptible, but nevertheless my brows sit pretty low so it should make my face look better, as the eye area opens up and becomes a bit brighter-looking.
For a brand new me who’s tan, blonde, and fun it seems botox was just the right thing to get: when you’re not having ugly forehead movements that make you mad at everything, it’s much easier to have fun, be fun, and look fun.
I have nothing but glowing praise, but I’m noticing even this morning that my movements (and the lines…) are continuing to diminish. The PA said that I could go for a lower dose, prioritizing natural expression, or a higher dose, prioritizing attacking the lines and headaches; I was frankly unsure about which option I wanted to try for my first treatment so we decided to split the difference and give me a moderate dose. The stuff has to be redone every few months anyway, so if I want or need more I can always change it in the next go-round (indeed, at the two-week mark I’ll be coming back in for a follow-up visit, so I can top up right then and there if I need or want to, hehehe).
Given the marked effects so far that seem to be progressing, I wouldn’t exclude the possibility of 100 units proving to be too much for my taste. But then again, just like my aunt did around the same age, I seem to have a really good reaction to the stuff. It’s even possible that if I progress to a full freeze of my forehead expression at the two-week mark that I’ll actually like that look and want a larger dose! We’ll see about that, but no matter if I go higher, lower, or somewhere in between, I think I’ll be back for more in a few months’ time. 😀