Botox Alternative Confession

 

Filling out paperwork post treatment

A girlfriend and I recently went in to see my go-to Plastic Surgeon for Injectables, Dr. Michael Pickart, to see what could be done about the line/wrinkle we both have between our brows. This furrow has bothered me for awhile now, and I notice it even when I'm relaxed, which is REALLY annoying. I don't want to look stressed or angry when I am not, but I have noticed that I do have that look because of this line.

 I have tried Botox before (when I was 23), but my line wasn't that bothersome back then so I didn't notice that big of a difference. At that time I only needed $50 worth of Botox which equaled about 5 units. Now that I am older and have more of an issue in this area, I knew I would need alot more than 5 units of anything to completely freeze my forehead. Unwilling to pay $10 a unit for Botox, I decided to research the new alternative, Dysport. I had already seen results first-hand from my sister who I took to see Dr. Pickart last Spring to address the line between her brows before her wedding. She was really happy with the results as well as the price... so Dysport was already forefront in my mind when it came to muscle freezing injectables. 

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Dysport was offering a special through April and May of $75 cash rebate as well as $75 credit towards your next Dysport appointment, AND Dr. Pickart was also taking $50 off the treatment. With savings like that can a girl really say no? I think not!

Dr. Pickart was on vacation during the time that we wanted to have our visit, so we agreed to allow his RN who is trained and licenced to do injecables perform our treatments. She was very nice and informative and totally fine with our picture snapping for my blog... which was super nice of her!

First she started by assessing the severity of our wrinkles and then prepped the skin with alcohol to kill bacteria on the skin and remove makeup.

Then came the marking of the injection sites which was done with a lip-liner type of pencil. She did this marking while I furrowed my brows as hard as I could so that she could see the muscles that worked to push my brows together.

Next came the numbing post injection which was done with a frozen encased cube of ice. It actually felt good, and took only about 30 seconds to numb the area.

Then came the anticipated needle, which I must note is extremely small. The point is actually so fine that it is dulled rather quickly just from puncturing the skin several times, so the nurse changed needles twice during my treatment to insure that there was no discomfort as a result of a dull-tipped needle.

The pain really was minor and the whole treatment was over so quickly that I wondered if there was even enough injected to do the trick! I was assured by the RN that 50 units were injected into 6 different points above and between my brows and that in about 12 days I would see the full results.

After the injections were finished there was a momentary "bubble" at the injection site between my brows. This disappeared within about 2 minutes as did the slight redness. The total cost after the discount and rebate was $100.00.

The next morning I woke up with a huge headache, but I don't know if the Dysport is to blame for that or the martinis that I consumed following my appointment! My girlfriend that also had the treatment with me said that she had read that headaches can be a side affect immediately following the treatment, so who knows, maybe it was the Dysport, maybe it was the martinis!

Over the next few days following the treatment I noticed that I was still able to push my brows together forming that dreaded line/wrinkle... but there was a little "heavy" feeling in that area when I tried do do it, as though I was pushing against something.

Now, 13 days later I am happy to report that any "pushing" of the brows together is completely impossible! There is NO wrinkle or line there whatsoever and my brows look as though I have had a slight brow-lift. They are higher and seem more arched and my forehead is incredibly smooth. I love it and am totally hooked!

My girlfriend on the other hand is slightly less thrilled. She likes that her line is less noticeable and that she can't make it deeper by furrowing her brows together, but she seems to think that more than 50 units of Dysport are needed and will probably get more on her next visit as to completely keep the muscles unmovable. She also isn't too keen on the slightly more arched brows and says that next time she will ask for that portion of the treatment to be skipped.

Another thing that she notes is that while moving her brows together is not easy, she is noticing that the effort to do that creates wrinkles in other areas that she never noticed before. This does make sense to me in a strange way, because the "frozen muscles" now cause other muscles to come into action which makes little lines in places that weren't affected before. I don't have this problem, but then again, I don't use my forehead in expression when talking nearly as much as my girlfriend does. She thinks that the solution to this would be to have more of the muscles injected with Dysport as to not have any functioning muscles in the forehead (now this is a VERY anti-injection friend that I have, so doing the whole forehead numbing thing probably isn't something she will ever do, and she states that she will only do Dysport "one more time").

Overall, my experience with Dysport was fantastic and I highly recommend it for anyone wanting to rid their forehead of lines or created a bit of a lift effect to their brows.

If you are considering getting Dysport, do it this month so that you can get the fabulous savings they are offering through the end of May.