Neurotoxin Injections – Edmond, OK
Smooth Your Skin, Turn Back the Clock
The idea of getting a neurotoxin injected into your body can be intimidating, but the truth is that certain neurotoxins can be very safe and help smooth your skin. Dr. Crowley is proud to offer precise, effective neurotoxin injections that have the potential to greatly reduce the appearance of movement-based wrinkles and help you turn back the clock on your appearance. If you are interested in learning more about this cosmetic treatment, contact Bluff Creek Dental in Edmond today to request a consultation.
What Are Neurotoxin Injections?
In a cosmetic setting, neurotoxin injections involve the use of diluted toxins that block nerve receptors in the facial muscles. By doing so, they limit the movement of those muscles, helping the face to relax and greatly reducing the appearance of movement-based wrinkles. The treatment is fast, and the results can last for several months at a time.
BOTOX is the most famous type of injectable neurotoxin, but there are other brands that offer similar results. Simply ask our team if you would like to learn about the specific products that we use in our office.
Who Is a Good Candidate for Neurotoxin Injections?
Neurotoxin injections might be suitable for you if:
- You want to look younger. Neurotoxin injections can greatly reduce the appearance of crow’s feet, lines around the mouth, forehead lines, lines between the eyebrows, and more. Often, patients who receive neurotoxin injections are in their late 20s or older.
- You struggle with symptoms of TMJ disorder (TMD). If you have jaw pain, persistent headaches, sore facial muscles, and other related symptoms, you might have TMD. Neurotoxins are often used to provide significant pain relief.
- You do not have any contraindications. Our team will thoroughly screen you to make sure you do not have any medical conditions that would make it inadvisable for you to receive neurotoxin injections.
Benefits of Neurotoxin Injections
Some noteworthy benefits of neurotoxin injections include:
- The results can last for months at a time, and they are more noticeable than the results you could get from even the best at-home skincare routine.
- When properly administered, neurotoxin injections involve very little risk.
- You may start to notice improvements in your appearance within just a few days of your injections.
- Neurotoxin injection treatments are fast and require no downtime
- The treatment is cost-effective when compared to surgical cosmetic options.
- When used with other TMD treatments, neurotoxin injections may provide long-lasting relief from jaw pain.
Neurotoxin Injections FAQs
Are Neurotoxin Injections Safe?
Small doses of neurotoxins are considered safe. Some researchers speculate that cosmetic applications may carry less risk than therapeutic injections, because the doses used in these applications are typically much smaller.
You are more likely to experience adverse side effects if your injections aren’t prepared according to FDA standards, or if you’re injected by an inexperienced provider such as at a med-spa or salon.
In the first 14 years after neurotoxins were approved by the FDA, only 36 adverse events were reported. In many of those cases, the incidents were related to the patient’s underlying medical condition and not the neurotoxin itself.
Are Neurotoxin Injections Permanent?
In most cases, a neurotoxin injection lasts about three months, however it can sometimes last up to six months. During those three to six months, this treatment will help you look youthful and vibrant. Once the effects wear off, you are free to repeat the treatment as many times as you’d like.
Neurotoxins are temporary because they use a protein your body breaks down over time. The duration of the effectiveness of your injection depends on a variety of factors, including your age, metabolism, activity level, and exposure to environmental toxins.
Because neurotoxin injections are temporary, this makes them safer and more effective as an anti-aging treatment because it gives you and your doctor the opportunity to monitor any new health developments and aesthetic goals.
How Can I Prolong My Neurotoxin Injections?
- Avoid sun damage – Neurotoxin injections are ineffective against wrinkles and fine lines caused by sun damage, as these are not a result of muscle movement. Sun damage also causes an inflammatory response within the cells that can break neurotoxins down faster.
- Consider low-intensity workouts – High intensity workouts raise your metabolic rate, causing your body to break down neurotoxins faster. While this doesn’t mean you should quit exercising altogether, to ensure that your neurotoxin injections last longer, try integrating more low-to-moderate training into your workout routine.
- Reduce stress levels – In addition to its psychological impact, stress can also apply pressure to the muscles that your neurotoxin injections have been targeted to relax. This can cause the effects to wear off faster, and high stress levels can even speed up the aging process regardless of whether you’ve had neurotoxin injections!
- Moisturize your skin – Using a moisturizer which contains collagen and hyaluronic acid can help keep your skin looking plump and healthy as well as reduce how fast your body breaks down your neurotoxin injections within the facial muscles.
- Don’t use nicotine – Smoking or vaping can cause the collagen in your body to break down. It also damages your skin cells and reduces the effectiveness of your neurotoxin injections. It can even cause fine lines and wrinkles around your mouth and eyes that future neurotoxin injections won’t be able to fix.
- Take a zinc supplement – A recent study in the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology found that more than 90 percent of patients who received neurotoxin injections and then took a 50-milligram zinc supplement experienced an approximately 30 percent longer duration in their results!
What Happens If I Stop Neurotoxin Injections?
Should you discontinue getting neurotoxin injections, the only effect you should experience is that your wrinkles will return, albeit slower than if you had not gotten injections in the first place. Thus, even if you stop, you will still look younger than you would have if you’d never been injected.
The wrinkles will slowly return because your facial muscles will begin to work normally. The duration of time you can retain your more-youthful appearance after stopping neurotoxin injections will depend on how long you’ve been getting treatment, as well as your status when you began. Though your wrinkles and fine lines will re-emerge, they won’t be worse than if you’d never had treatment at all.
Should you require a break from neurotoxin injections, you can do so safely and resume treatment again later without any adverse effects.