How to inject Botox at home

In order to lose ten years in appearance, women are ready to make great sacrifices. Masks, peelings, laser resurfacing, photorejuvenation, plasma lifting - modern cosmetology and plastic medicine offer a lot of options. The most effective, however, expensive and not entirely safe, is Botox injections.

What is Botox

Famous actresses, singers and socialites often resort to Botox to always look young. Elastic and tightened facial skin, clear lip contour, absence of wrinkles - all the benefits that magical injections promise. However, in reality everything turns out to be not so simple. There are often cases when Botox injections do not add beauty, but disfigure. What kind of remedy is this?

Botox is a drug whose active substance is a weakened botulism neurotoxin type A. It is a poison that, in its active form, causes paralysis and can lead to death. The history of the disease dates back to the end of the 18th century, when in one German city the inhabitants were suddenly struck down by paralysis. It turned out that all the sick people abused blood sausage, which was of poor quality. Botulism still occurs today; its bacillus multiplies in pickled and salted foods, fish, and meat products if they were stored or prepared incorrectly. For example, contaminated meat will have a greenish tint and smell bad, and canned food will swell. The main effect of the toxin is on the muscles, paralyzing them. Doctors and cosmetologists took advantage of this quality, using the weakened toxin to treat strabismus, hyperhidrosis and to relax the muscles that form deep expression wrinkles.

Now weakened botulinum toxin is actively used in cosmetology as injections, periodically injecting them into problem areas to relieve women of wrinkles. Botox is also used to correct the shape and volume of the lips, and tighten the skin of the neck and décolleté. The first person to give Botox injections to his patients was the world famous doctor Jean Louis Seba. And the galaxy of stars who became addicted to magical injections was discovered by Madonna. Now the doctor practices in London, Paris and even visits Moscow. Every year Seba receives up to 5 thousand clients, and Mylene Farmer, Uma Thurman, Monica Bellucci, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell were seen queuing to see the doctor.

Where is Botox injected?

Everyone has heard about Botox, but few know how it works. The drug does not fill wrinkles, does not make lips larger, and does not promote skin regeneration. It temporarily relaxes facial muscles and blocks the flow of impulses from nerve endings. The wrinkle disappears for several months. One of the main advantages of Botox over plastic surgery is its ability to prevent deep wrinkles.
The injection points depend on the muscle that needs to be relaxed to remove wrinkles. For example, are you bothered by an “angry” facial expression due to a deep wrinkle just above the bridge of your nose? Then Botox will be injected into the proud muscle, which begins on the back of the nose and connects to the frontalis muscle. The drug is often used to remove crow's feet near the outer edge of the eye, folds on the forehead, soften longitudinal wrinkles on the neck, and correct the contour of the lips.

Indications and contraindications

You can contact a cosmetologist to request Botox injections in the following cases:

  1. wrinkles on the face, especially around the eyes, on the forehead and in the glabella;
  2. with drooping upper eyelid:
  3. eyebrow asymmetry;
  4. hyperhidrosis;
  5. loss of facial skin elasticity;
  6. hypertrophy of the masticatory muscles;
  7. unclear contour of the lips and drooping corners.

With increased sweating of the armpits, palms and feet, botulinum toxin blocks the nerve endings of the sweat glands and inhibits their action.

Contraindications include:

  1. individual intolerance or hypersensitivity to botulinum toxin;
  2. exacerbation of chronic diseases;
  3. acne and herpes in the acute stage;
  4. period of pregnancy and breastfeeding;
  5. treatment with antibiotics and taking acetylsalicylic acid during the planned cosmetic procedure.

Procedure

The preparatory period includes consultation with a doctor who will inject you with Botox. Before the procedure, you need to tell about all your health problems, it is advisable to do a general blood test. The specialist examines the wrinkles that you would like to get rid of. Determines the zone and dosage of the drug.

The day before the procedure, you should not drink alcohol, sleep face down, or get a back massage.
The procedure itself takes up to half an hour, is painless and does not require anesthesia. The points where injections will be given are applied to the face, cleansed of cosmetics. The position of the needle is recorded using electromyography, which records muscle potential. You will be asked to tense the muscle, and the device will register its “painful” point, where the injection will then be given.

After the required dose of the drug has been administered, you remain in the clinic for another half hour so that the doctor can monitor the body’s reaction to the administration of botulinum toxin.

When you get home, you won't see any changes at first. The action will begin on the second day, after a couple of weeks the desired effect will be fully achieved. Botulinum toxin does not work constantly once it enters the body. It comes out. The muscle begins to function as before after 6-12 months, depending on the depth of the wrinkle. Therefore, Botox injections are done regularly over several months if they want to prevent wrinkles from appearing, lips not losing their contour, and hyperhidrosis not making itself felt by stains on clothes.

Before and after injection

In the video you can hear a review of Botox injections and see the result of the procedure:

Consequences

Botox, administered in the correct dosage, poses less danger to the body than an inactivated vaccine when vaccinating children. After the procedure, you can lead a normal lifestyle; you only need to avoid visiting the sauna and solarium for 2-3 weeks, and avoid facial cleansing and other cosmetic procedures.

Botulinum toxin is excreted from the body, does not accumulate and does not poison it. But negative consequences still occur:

  1. slight rise in temperature, headache and nausea immediately after the procedure;
  2. swelling and redness in the area where the drug was administered;
  3. impaired sensitivity of the lips;
  4. excessive relaxation of muscles.

If the dosage of the drug was chosen incorrectly, or the specialist made a mistake with the point of injection of botulinum toxin, then you risk ending up in an uncomfortable position. Such cases have even happened to famous personalities who, after unsuccessful injections, appeared in public with a strange facial expression, twisted lips and half-closed eyes. This goes away as botulinum toxin is removed from the body.

Restrictions after injections

After Botox injections, you should adhere to the following rules:

  1. During the first hours, do not sleep or be in a head-down position.
  2. On the first day, do not drink alcoholic beverages, do not take drugs that affect the rate of blood clotting (for example, aspirin) and tetracycline antibiotics.
  3. For two days you cannot attend sports training, wash floors, or vacuum clean.
  4. Try not to touch the injection sites.
  5. To prevent swelling after injections, limit your intake of liquids, spicy and salty foods for the first days.
  6. Going to the sauna, solarium, and blow-drying hair are prohibited on the first day after injections.
  7. For several months, it is not advisable to do facial massage, deep peeling, myostimulation procedures and microcurrent therapy. Only light masks and scrubs are acceptable.

Alcohol, antibiotics, aspirin, garlic, ginger and vitamin E affect the condition of blood vessels and can cause severe intoxication of the body and the occurrence of hematomas after injections.

Botox prices

Prices for one unit of Botox vary depending on the manufacturer and beauty salon. Thus, work on the forehead area is estimated at 1750-10500 rubles, glabella - 5250-10500 rubles, lip contour - 1400-5600 rubles.

Botox injections are an effective, painless method that has almost no contraindications and will help get rid of wrinkles and other cosmetic imperfections. With proper storage of the drug, accurate dosage calculation and precise injection into the muscle, the risk of getting an unnatural facial expression is minimal.

Botox (also known as botulinum toxin type A) is a brand name of the pharmaceutical company Allergan, Inc. This toxin is produced by the Clostr bacterium >

What is Botox used for?

In the last decade, this revolutionary drug has been used in the beauty industry to smooth the skin mainly on the face and neck. Typically, Botox injections are carried out in a course that allows you to fix the facial muscles for an average of 3-6 months. This effect is achieved thanks to a poison of organic origin - botulinum toxin, which inhibits the vital activity of cells responsible for the functioning of facial wrinkles.

By relaxing the muscles, Botox creates the desired shape, helping to overcome the signs of aging that appear on the skin in the form of various wrinkles, grooves, depressions or folds.

This toxin is used in a fairly small amount, in which, according to its manufacturers, it is not capable of harming the body as a whole.

Video: what is Botox

How can you replace Botox at home?

So far, no arguments have been found that would unambiguously prove the harm of this drug to human health. At the same time, there is no convincing evidence indicating its safety. Therefore, the issue of finding a replacement for Botox at home is becoming increasingly urgent. And there are already contenders trying to oust him, for example:

  1. Argireline – a Japanese drug based on an aqueous solution of Hexapeptide, which relaxes muscles and prevents wrinkles and folds from forming again.
  2. Xeomin - a German analogue, also based on botulinum toxin, but in a lower dose. Thanks to a slightly different composition, it helps to rejuvenate in cases where Botox has not produced any results.
  3. Frotox – freezes the muscles (or rather the facial nerves) with cold. This English drug from MyoScience Inc is still undergoing final clinical trials and has not yet been released to the general public. It is assumed that the drug will eclipse even Botox in popularity, as it will have an instant and rather long-lasting effect.
  4. Creams with Botox effect. Another alternative to Botox at home. Lysedia mesolifting allows you to give a more youthful appearance to the face without the use of injections, increasing the tone of the face and modeling its oval. At the same time, the product is devoid of side effects, like those from Botox injections: bruises, pain, and various complications. French emulsions with Botufix also have a rejuvenating effect, but much less pronounced when compared with Botox
  5. Reloxin – a new variation of botulinum toxin, which has a reduced risk of side effects.
  6. Hyaluronic acid injections. It is of completely natural origin, but its effect is less radical than Botox and is effective only for shallow expression wrinkles. But this analogue of Botox is not used at home.

It is obvious that despite the emergence of an increasingly wide range of analogue products, none of them has yet gained such worldwide recognition as Botox and has not been able to shake its authority.

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How to make Botox at home

Recently, among women who persistently strive to preserve their youth, but do not want to spend a lot of money on it, an opinion has emerged that it is possible to carry out a Botox procedure for the face at home without harm to health and beauty. Let's find out if this is really the case.

Tools and preparations for Botox at home

For injections you need:

  1. Insulin syringes with very thin needles (23-25 ​​G).
  2. A professional gel containing a local anesthetic to numb the process of drug administration.
  3. A special non-toxic dye (thin permanent marker) or an easily washable cosmetic pencil, the color of which will be clearly visible on the skin.
  4. Sterile medical gloves.
  5. A bottle with Botox and a solvent for preparing a solution for administration.
  6. Paper towels and sterile wet wipes.
  7. Disinfectant (such as hydrogen peroxide).

The injection solution is diluted on the work surface by piercing the bottle cap with a sterile needle and slowly introducing the required amount of solvent (sodium chloride) into it. Due to the reaction of the substances, the bottle must be drawn inward from the created vacuum; if this does not happen, the solution cannot be used. If everything is in order, then the contents of the bottle are carefully drawn into the syringe. After dilution, the composition can be stored in the refrigerator for a maximum of 24 hours (-2 to -8°C).

Where and how to inject Botox

To eliminate various types of facial wrinkles, botulinum toxin is injected subcutaneously (for shallow ones) or intramuscularly (for the most pronounced imperfections, for example, in the cheek area). Depending on the location of specific problem areas, injection sites are marked with dye or a professional marker: these should be the areas with the greatest muscle tension, which need to be relaxed. The marks are 1-1.5 cm in diameter, which will become the site of Botox diffusion and injections cannot be placed closer than this distance in relation to each other.

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Disinfection and healing

After administering the required number of injections, the remaining solution and auxiliary instruments are disposed of, and the skin is disinfected to prevent germs from entering through fresh punctures.

You also need to know rules that will help you avoid serious side effects from Botox at home :

  1. You must remain in an upright position for 5 hours after the procedure.
  2. About an hour after the injections you need to tense the facial muscles of the face.
  3. Under no circumstances should you touch the injection sites, put pressure on them or rub them.
  4. It is forbidden to wet the skin at the puncture sites on the first day.
  5. You should not apply makeup for at least a few days, and in the first 2-3 days you should not bend over in order to avoid improper spreading of the substance.
  6. Avoid taking hot baths or showers for at least a week, avoid drinking alcohol and, if possible, smoking.
  7. The effect occurs on average 2-5 days after the session, and with good results lasts from 4 to 8 months.

As can be seen from the above, to obtain such a good result and high-quality implementation of the procedure, skill, proven technique and scrupulous knowledge of the anatomy of the facial muscles are required. Even the knowledge of a professional cosmetologist may not be enough and it is better if an experienced plastic surgeon gives beauty injections.

At home, you can only make safe masks with Botox at home, and only a high-level specialist can administer the drug to the right points with pinpoint precision, taking into account all possible side effects.

After all, if you make just one inaccurate movement, you can disfigure your face for at least six months so much that they can only help with surgery in a plastic surgery clinic. In such cases, the pursuit of saved rubles will forever leave terrible marks not only on your face, but also in your memory, when you realize that playing with fire, because of your own mistake, you have become a home-grown “victim of Botox.”

Botox is a preparation of botulinum toxin, a natural protein, that helps smooth out facial wrinkles by relaxing muscles.

In the article you will find instructions for using Botox (botulinum toxin), learn how to use the drug, namely how to dilute 100 units (units) of the product with saline, how much to inject and whether one unit is enough, and also read how the procedure goes: where to inject (at what points on the face) and how to do it correctly according to the administration scheme.

The importance of correct input

Facial muscles are attached on one side to the bone tissue, and the other to the skin; when they contract, under the influence of nerve impulses, wrinkles remain on the skin.

The active substance botox penetrates muscle tissue, nerve fibers and blocks the transmission of nerve impulses, muscles relax and stop stretching the skin - wrinkles are smoothed out. That's why it is important to know how to give injections with the drug correctly.

If you inject the drug into the wrong muscles, almost irreversible consequences will arise: from a distorted, irregular face to muscle paralysis - you will not be able to show emotions, because the muscles will not be able to transmit the nerve impulse.

Usage diagram

Cosmetologists have developed a standard list of muscles and a scheme where Botox can be injected, including on the face, in order to achieve certain results or solve standard problems.

For eyebrows

Problem: forehead wrinkles, raised eyebrows.

Administration scheme: There are many different techniques for Botoxing the forehead muscles, but the most popular one is the V-shape, which usually requires 12-20 units of Botox, which units we will describe a little later.

Read about Botox for eyebrows here.

For the face – maintaining shape

Problem: Deformed face and chin, uneven skin.

Administration scheme: Enter 4-6 units. Botox into two symmetrically located skins on the chin intramuscularly, as well as into the cheekbones to maintain shape. To get rid of wrinkles on the entire face, Botox is injected into 20-25 points - near the mouth, eyes, forehead and nose, chin.

You can find out more about Botox for the face here.

For the eyes – getting rid of expression wrinkles

Problem: "crow's feet".

Administration scheme: At the outer corner of the eye, 6-10 units of Botox can be injected both subcutaneously and intradermally - these two methods will be discussed later.

In the lower eyelid area, injections are carried out only intradermally, using a minimal amount of injected Botox - the skin there is delicate and requires maximum attention.

To raise the eyebrows, 6-10 units of Botox are injected above the eyebrow line, closer to the inner edge of the eye.

About Botox for the eye area is written in our material.

For nose and mouth

Problem: Tight muscles of the nose and around the mouth.

Administration scheme: The nasal muscle is blocked by injecting 1-2 units of botulinum toxin into 1-2 points. Perioral muscles - administration of 1 unit. Botox in 4 points above the upper lip and two points under the lower lip.

We wrote in detail about Botox in the nasolabial folds here, and here you can learn about Botox on the lips.

Neck area

Problem: unnatural neck contours, “turkey cords”.

Administration scheme: Enter 2 units. Botox on both sides of the muscle cord at a distance of 2 cm between the injection sites.

It is divided into two stages - in the first, a minimum dose of the drug is administered, the rest - two weeks later.

You will find more details about neck Botox in a separate article.

We invite you to watch a video about botulinum toxin injection techniques:

Consequences of incorrect choice of points

Unprofessional administration of Botox, deviation or failure to hit the desired muscle, an overdose of the drug can lead to the formation of a mask-like face, the inability to swallow, and blinking. There may be difficulties with eating, salivating, speaking, and showing emotions. It is also possible to cause tissue infection during the procedure, so It is very important to have the procedure done by a professional.

Step-by-step instructions for use

Types of drugs

Now there is a large selection of drugs with botulinum toxin on the market, but there are several that are most popular among cosmetologists.

  1. Botox — all drugs containing botulinum toxin are commonly called by its name, this drug is produced in the USA, the bottle contains 50-100 units (units) for dilution.
  2. Dysport, produced by Ipsen Biopharm, UK. Sold in bottles containing 300 and 500 units of botulinum toxin.
  3. Xeomin, made in Germany, containing 100 units of active ingredient per bottle.

Dosage

Botox is measured not in milliliters, but in units of action or simply in units. The price of one injection is determined based on the units injected into a particular area.

Based on the thickness of the skin in a certain area, fewer or more units of Botox are needed.

To eliminate horizontal lip folds, 14 to 24 units are required, for the upper lip, as we wrote above in the diagram - 2-4 units, the eyebrow fold requires 24-30 units - since it is deep. Based on the number of units, you can determine the price for the procedurewhich is required.

We suggest watching a video about the correct dosage of the drug:

How and with what?

Botox is diluted with sodium chlorine emulsion for injection, concentration 0.9%, the stopper with sodium chlorine is pierced with a needle, after treating it with alcohol, the required amount is injected into the container with Botox. The amount of saline solution is calculated based on the desired concentration of Botox (depending on the location of the procedure).

We invite you to watch a video about the principle of diluting botulinum toxin:

Needling procedure

Botox is administered subcutaneously or intradermally, depending on the injection site. The difference between these two methods is described by their names − Botox is injected either into the skin or into the muscle that lies under the skin.. The needles used are not large, often insulin, because of this the puncture is practically not felt.

We invite you to watch a video about how the botulinum toxin injection procedure takes place:

Errors during

What errors can there be and how to fix them? Even if you contact a professional cosmetologist, mistakes and problems with the administration of Botox may arise - this is a very special drug, the administration of which depends not only on the area, but also on the type of skin, its condition, let's look at three typical problems, do not be afraid - most often everything goes well, but you need to be prepared for anything.

Hypertonicity – a problem can arise if the drug is incorrectly diluted or administered into the desired muscle. We have already mentioned this problem above - when the face becomes like a mask - facial expressions are completely blocked, you cannot smile, and if the cosmetologist overdosed the dose of the drug, the patient may experience difficulties in eating food and swallowing saliva.

Solution: Even such a complex, at first glance, problem has its own solution - you need to speed up the absorption of the drug in the problem area. After Botox, there are certain contraindications, for example, thermal effects, but in this situation it will be beneficial - massage, physiotherapy, thermal effects will help reduce the concentration of Botox and restore the problem area.
Edema – they occur after Botox for everyone, they can be short-term (1-2 days), but sometimes they do not go away even in a week, it happens that swelling and swelling does not go away for up to six months, the effect of the procedure is lost, the face looks unhealthy.

Solution: Manual and hardware massage, thermal masks and microinjections of special medications into problem areas will help quickly remove Botox, stimulate activity and restore muscle mobility.
Asymmetry and ptosis – ptosis is a drooping of the upper eyelid, we talked about this above – it is very dangerous if the cosmetologist is not fully professional and is not familiar with the anatomy of the facial muscles. Botox has the specificity of “migration”, a specialist should also be familiar with this and take this into account when injecting.

Solution: In addition to the measures mentioned above to remove facial paralysis, doctors can inject Botox into another part to get a harmonious effect.

Conclusion

Botox is a life-saving remedy for facial wrinkles; there is a certain danger with injections, but you should contact a good specialist, and then all dangers will be avoided. The article describes step-by-step instructions for using Botox so that you can decide whether you want to do this procedure for beauty and how much it will cost specifically for your problem area. Now you have learned how to do this procedure for the face, where else it is injected and why.