But too much and too quickly will age you. If it's something promising for maintaining a youthful aesthetic, preventive toxin injections can, ironically, have the opposite effect. An early start and a clumsy approach can make a face look frozen over time. While most people will start to notice lines on their faces starting in their 20s, Engelman says there's no magic number to determine the age at which you should start applying Botox as a preventive measure; you'll need to evaluate your skin before making that decision.
In other words, your skin won't develop lines overnight to make up for lost time. You'll continue to look years younger in relation to your age, depending on how long you've been on a Botox regimen. This isn't common, but Wexler says that patients who start using Botox too soon, i.e. when they're in their early 20s, may be at risk of this side effect.
When Botox is used for an extended period of time, lack of muscle use causes muscle atrophy, causing the muscle to shrink and sag as it would anywhere else in the body. In his opinion, “preventive Botox actually accelerates the aging process of muscles and skin. If you decide not to continue, muscles that remain out of use while Botox is active can slow the aging process; it reduces movement when injected and slows the formation of wrinkles, Farber explains. Effects on the immune system have been seen in both patients who have received high and low doses of Botox.
Botox also increases skin wrinkles in neighboring areas of the face, since when one area of the face is paralyzed, the other areas of the face work harder to make an expression. Therefore, it can be deduced from the above that injecting Botox into the skin will cause bone loss in the area over time, causing a degradation of the skeletal structure and causing an aged appearance. When using Botox, the muscles near the injection site are paralyzed for about 6 months, preventing facial movement in the affected area. Although the FDA has approved the use of Botox for aesthetic purposes since the 1980s, more and more people are curious about the neurotoxin as the taboo against these injections decreases.
When women in their twenties first think about using botulinum toxin, prevention is often the main factor, as the first signs of aging begin to appear, such as crow's feet, forehead wrinkles and fine lines. When a person's face stops moving in a disturbing way, except for the mouth, when speaking, this is indicative of excessive correction caused by Botox. Wexler says that some patients complain of visible skin thinning after many years of using Botox. And for skin care, skincare products can't lift the skin, so skin that is very saggy and damaged by Botox won't be repaired with skincare serums or scrubs.
