Botox and dermal fillers both can help with wrinkles and lines on your face and help you look younger or “fresh.” Each has a different mechanism of action, though.
There are two different kinds of wrinkles and lines on your face. Dynamic lines are caused by the movement of muscles on your face – crow’s feet around the eyes when you smile, the “11” lines at the brow when you frown. These lines disappear when the causing facial expressions go away. Static lines, on the other hand, are permanent. These lines are caused by repeated facial muscle action, such as chronic squinting of your eyes from sun exposure that causes permanent crow's feet around the eyes. These static wrinkles and lines also can be caused by sun damage, aging, and gravity over time.
We use Botox Cosmetic, which is an agent to be injected into the small facial muscle bundles to block them from contracting temporarily. By using strategically placed Botox Cosmetic injections into muscles that cause dynamic lines, such as crow's feet around the eyes, those lines won’t show when you smile or frown, and the skin in that area will look smooth and fresh. As you can imagine, eliminating the dynamic lines helps to prevent the permanent static lines from forming. The action of Botox Cosmetic usually lasts for three months.
Once the static lines are formed, Botox Cosmetic will not work to erase those lines anymore. That is when dermal fillers are helpful to soften those lines. Dermal fillers, commonly made of hyaluronic acid, a naturally occurring substance in the skin and tissue below, can be strategically injected with a fine needle into and beneath the skin to “fill the valley” and lift the skin up to erase the lines. The dermal fillers are absorbed by the body eventually. The effect of the fillers generally lasts from 6 months to a year.
It is beneficial at times to combine both Botox and dermal fillers to take care of lines and wrinkles, since they might be both dynamic and static in nature. The strategic placement is the key.
For more information about Botox Cosmetic and dermal fillers or to schedule an appointment, call us at 425.712.7546. Or you can visit our website!
Dr. Michael Lau
