Can Botox cause wrinkles if I get too many injections?

Jennifer, this a good question. The short answer: Botox does not cause more wrinkles. It sounds like your Botox provider has had to give you additional Botox “touch-ups” after your primary treatment. I normally recheck patients 10 days after Botox treatment and photograph them to see the extent of their improvement. Occasionally, patients will require more Botox than expected. This can occur when muscles of expression are particularly strong. If this is the case, I’ll inform my patient that they’ll require larger amounts of Botox in future treatments. For these future treatments, a larger Botox dose every 3 months normally ends the need for “touch-ups” later in the month. Keep in mind that we lose elasticity of our skin over time, and this contributes a lot to deeper lines as time goes on. We start out only with “lines in motion” when we express ourselves. Over time, these lines get etched in, and we see “lines at rest” as well. Regular Botox treatments may slow down formation of “lines at rest”. But we can’t “freeze the hands of time” and stop these lines from happening forever - eventually, we all get “lines at rest”. You’re most likely to see more lines occur due to normal aging, and not due to the Botox injections themselves. Hey- It’s Your Face! For Botox treatments, talk to an experienced medical doctor who treats patients him- or herself. This maximizes your chances of great results.

Botox does not cause wrinkles.  However, Botox does reduce muscle activity where it is injected.  Sometimes this reduction in muscle activity will cause other areas that are not injected with Botox to move a little bit more.  This may cause the appearance of increased wrinkles in the areas that are not treated.  Some areas on the face, such as the area directly above the lateral eyebrow, should not be treated with Botox because of the potential for side effects, such as a drooping eyebrow.  Because this area does not generally get any Botox, the area above the level eyebrow may look somewhat more wrinkled after Botox treatment than it did before Botox treatment. Although Botox does help reduce the appearance of dynamic wrinkles (wrinkles that appear with motion), it does very little for static wrinkles (wrinkles that are present at rest). When the dynamic wrinkles are reduced the static wrinkles may appear worse.  Furthermore, continued exposure to skin damaging things, such as ultraviolet light and cigarette smoke, will continue to cause wrinkles despite Botox.  That is why good skincare is important whether or not you are receiving Botox treatments.

Botox works by blocking signals between nerves and muscles.  This stops muscles from contracting. Different people may require more Botox to get the result that they desire.  For this reason most doctors will recommend touch ups at about 7-10 days.  As wrinkles start to smooth out on one part of your face, you might start to notice wrinkles on other parts that weren't treated.  This sometimes creates the illusion that you now have more wrinkles!