Is there face cream with Botox?

Sorry, there is no Botox cream. There are creams and ointments that claim they are "better than Botox." However, they work by a different mechanism. Botox works by paralyzing the underlying muscles which relax the overlying skin. The creams work by making the area you place them become swollen. The resultant effect is to slightly smooth out wrinkles temporarily (kind of like rehydrating a wrinkled raisin back into a smooth grape).

As far a smoothing out dynamic wrinkles (wrinkles that appear with movement of the face) there is absolutely nothing better than Botox.

David Shafer, MD
Shafer Plastic Surgery
New York City

Unfortunately Botox does not come in a cream. It must be injected. Unfortunately over time the wrinkles that the Botox addresses will return. The more you get Botox injections, the longer the injections will seem to last.

Botox has to be injected. You could put Botox in a cream but it would just be very very expensive cream and it would not work any better than cream without Botox.

If you want to try to make your Botox last longer, have your doctor do a fractional resurfacing procedure with a laser about 2 weeks after your Botox treatment. The theory is that the skin that is forming new collagen due to the laser treatment will be formed in a flat sheet because the skin is not moving as much. This new flat sheet of collagen may give you the desired result for a much longer period of time.

Botulinum Toxin A (BOTOX) works by blocking the transmission of nerve signals to the muscle. The effect is generally limited to the muscles into which it is injected. This mechanism effectively causes a partial to full paralysis of the muscle. Return of this function comes when the connections between the nerve and the muscle regenerate new receptors. This process takes three to four months in most people, but can vary. So, your BOTOX injections can last longer or shorter than your friends.

Although there is no particular cream dispensed or recommended with BOTOX, Allergan (the makers of BOTOX) do distribute a topical skin treatment called Prevage MD.

Generally, it is wise to take care of your skin by keeping your body well hydrated, eating well, not smoking, not tanning, and using sunblock and moisturizer regularly.

There are no creams that work like Botox does.

Botox is a protein that relaxes the muscle that causes wrinkling by blocking the communication between the nerve and the muscle. Effectively, the nerve temporarily can't tell the muscle to contract.

There is no substitute for Botox injections. Creams cannot get into the muscle, which is where the product needs to be in order to have any effect.

Unfortunately, there is no face cream with Botox. I cannot exclude the possibility of someone developing it in the future, but even that is unlikely. Botox works at the level of muscle-nerve junction for wrinkle reduction, not at the skin level.

There are other products claiming to be Botox in the cream, like Strivectin. So far, there is some improvement of wrinkles but not even close to the results of Botox injections. The aftercare is to use sunblock, have a basic skin regimen and continue to use Botox.

After several sessions of Botox treatments many patients find that they do not have to do Botox as often. Also, the results are better if Botox is used with filler agent, like Restylane, Juvederm and so on.

There are not face creams with Botox, but there are many out there that claim to be as effective as Botox.

After your Botox treatment the best way to protect your investment is by avoiding sun damage, wearing sun block, and using a good facial cleanser, moisturizer, and exfoliant.