Never Again - Michigan

Lynelle , I do have one question, it seemed that the other side of my lip went up more when the side that was most effected was drooping, do you have any info concerning that, I have not had any clear answers about that.... Thanks for any information you can give me... Lilly

Simply put , the other side was compensating for the lack of movement on the affected side. Those muscles were trying to do all the work. For example that is why the lateral brow pops up when the middle of the forehead is injected. The lateral portion of the frontalis will try to do the work of the entire muscle or overcompensate for the lack of movement in the middle.

Don't ever do the face below the eyes! The skin is thinner and the muscles are different...I am so sorry you had a bad experience. Just do your eyes!!! Do mouth/ face with rejuvederm or restalyne only...and you can move your hand...only YOU see the crooked smile ( I always worry about droolng- why I didn't do my face!)

What doctors in their right mind would do this? seriously? around the MOUTH? what are they thinking? totally crazy.

I had botox injected into my chin area too. What a nightmare! It traveled to under my chin and into my neck muscles! It felt weird to swallow and I was at one point convinced it would keep migrating to other areas and I would surely die a slow death over stupid Botox! I am now stable on day 8 but am left with some swallowing issues. The ugliest issue of all is my completely distorted smile! I wish I looked as good on Lily's worse day as I look right now. It's awful like I had a stroke and now after reading this thread, I wonder if some Botox from my eye area migrated to my smile as well. Its very lopsided and I don't want to leave the house but I have kids so I have to go out and make small talk with people. I HATE it and can't wait for it to slowly get better. How are you doing with your chin area?

I am happy to say my smile has completely returned to normal! It has been about 13-14 weeks since I had those stupid injections. I think it really started getting better around week 10. It is amazing how changing so few muscles can really distort your looks. I felt self conscious and told several people I was having dental work done. No one would ever have guessed I'd have done something as foolish as having botox placed in this area of my face. Stay heartened... reading these posts is quite scary and frankly has caused me to seriously reconsider doing anything to my face again. Some of these facial procedures can be terrific... unless YOU are the person that has the rare, horrible reaction. Then you are left saying "hold on, I liked how I looked, I just wanted to look rested, or a little younger... I DID NOT want to look different, or in some cases made to look ugly!" I thanked God it was only botox that will eventually wear off and not some surgical procedure that may have been permanent. I know how you are feeling and the frightening prospect of not looking like yourself again... but you will be back to normal in about 3 months (isn't that horrible that it will take that long; I thought the weeks, especially in the beginning, would never pass... but they do). I know the botox is gone because those small aging lines on my chin, that caused me to get the botox in the first place are back. And guess what... I like them a whole lot better than my stupid, embarrassing muppet mouth that even caused a lisp! Please let me know how you progress. I promise, you will look like yourself again. Take care.

Glad to hear you are back to normal. I am counting each day and 3 months can't get here fast enough. Thank you for the reply. I am living through my computer right now and it's comforting to read other's stories of recovery and talk to others as I am too embarrassed to share with my local friends what I have done.

I was embarrassed as well and avoided certain people for several weeks. My daughter and sister and 2 close friends knew IMMEDIATELY that I had done something to my mouth because my smile was gone, my lips were thinned and I could not have a full belly laugh without my top teeth protruding (causing them to look like buck teeth). My husband and son did NOT notice until I pointed it out to them; but I did feel some people I saw somewhat irregularly looked at me quite strangely. Ugggg... what a horror. And there was no way in hell I was going to admit to most people my stupid, vain decision. Seriously, who knew something so minor could distort your looks so much. Imagine... your doctor injects botox and if the "look" comes out bad, it remains FROZEN on your face for 3 months! What a nightmare! But it is NOT permanent, and now that I am on THIS side, I have much more appreciation to letting myself age normally. I feel like this was a "warning" of what could go permanently wrong (like you read on these boards). Can you say you had dental work or Bell's Palsy (something i googled to see if i could use that excuse)? It's not a permanent virus and can be explained away.

Ok that was my first real belly laugh in 10.5 days on reading about the buck teeth and the "men" in the house not noticing. I needed that. No men here have noticed either! I have the opposite issue with my laugh....my bottom lip just hangs down when I laugh and WAY more drooping on one side. I have like the "My Name Is Earl" brother's character slack jaw thing going on. Very attractice. I do have braces right now so I am going to blame it on that I think. I hope to get them off in a few months and hope that helps. I have a reunion in a few months so my hope is it will be gone by then and hope is better by end of May for a trip. Thank god I am not working and can hide at home most the time. The swallowing sensation is awful though so I hope that starts to get better soon too. The plastic surgeon said I am at the worse point right now and it will only get better from here. I have been seeing them every few days just to be safe. UGGG! What a mess.

I am glad to hear you went back to "normal." I just had forehead and glabella area injected and my eyebrows are SO heavy that my eyelids are dropping completely onto the tops of my eyes. I look tired all the time when I've never felt better. The lines on my forehead are a lot smoother as well as glabella, but not totally gone. I would give anything to have them back, plus my $425 and have my eyes be able to open up again. I HATE this paralyzed feeling and I will never ever do this again. I just really hope it wears off sooner than later. Yuck. I'm going to do facelift exercises from now on to look more youthful. I would never recommend botox to anyone.

Hi , Thank you so much for the information...It seems like the botox is pretty much worn off, but my left top lip still seems to be going up more when I smile... I had filler around my mouth at the same time I had botox, do you think the filler is making my lip go up??? I had the filler on the corner of my mouth and marrianette lines, do you think this could be the cause and not the botox.... Anyway any info would be appreciated... Thanks again!!!

no not yet but getting there I hope!!! I will keep you posted!!!

Are you at all improved? I have a problem from overweakening my masseter muscles and now when I smile one side looks like chipmunk cheek. I don't even let myself smile anymore. It's been 4 months...I can't tell if it's improving. I can't believe I did this to myself.

Thank you that is very kind, it is true we are way to harsh on ourselves... You bring up a good point we tell ourselves we do this stuff for other people , but in all reality we do them for ourselves, we are so critical ... Thank you for your comments , I will try that photo thing, it sounds interesting!!! Thanks

Thank you for your comments, it is much better now, but like you said it took 2 months and then when I wasn't really thinking about it , I took a pic and it looked better, so everyday after that I took a pic (thank goodness for digital cameras lol) and now it seems a little better each day!!! I am gonna wait about a week before I take a pic and see if it goes completely away... So keep the faith yours will go away too, but it makes it harder because the people that inject us won't fess up that it could be from how they might have gone to deep with the injections... She had the nerve to tell me I probably have bells palsy or a slight stroke and I should see my doctor, I told her, you put a paralyzing injection into my muscles of my face and now one side is drooping, what a strech lol... I would have been so much more relieved with the truth, so I could better understand that it would go back to normal with time... But anyway good luck and keep the faith!!! Lilly
p.s I have been chewing a lot of gum , not sure if it helped but it is worth a try...

Hey that is actually a really good excuse because Bells Palsy actually goes away after a bit with medical treatment!  Very creative but I am sorry that you both have experienced that.  It sounds to me like the wrong muscle was paralyzed.  I would prefer to have the doctor do my injections, the clinician has no board certification correct?  

 

Honestly Lilly, it doesn't look that bad but if I were you I would be just as frustrated.  Fortunately you have beautiful features and I'm sure no one will even notice. 

What an complete crock you have posted ranellyn. I have over 20 years in medical research and a PhD in biochemistry. Read up on the basics of how botox works before you shoot your mouth off. Since I have had these negative side effects from listening to a practitioner with your level of knowledge, I have looked into the physiology of how botox works at the neuromuscular junction. To provide you with some basics that you might understand and which, I might add, you could have looked up for yourself on the internet, the botox that freezes the muscle action never does break down. It permanently binds to acetylcholine receptors at the interface between the nerve and the inactivated muscle. Acetycholine is the neurotransmitter responsible for passing the 'activation' message between the nerve ending and the muscle. Before the muscle can be reactivated by the nerve, new acetycholine receptor sites have to be generated. It is well recognised in the scientific literature that this process can take 3 to 6 month or more. Furthermore, once a nerve/muscle connection has been reestablished, the down-regulated biochemical pathways within the dormant muscle tissue can take some time get back to full capacity. If you had even a BASIC understanding of facial muscle anatomy you would know that all of the side effects posted by people on this website are possible, and in the case of incorrect placement of the injection, or too much botox, are quite probable. The effects are well recognised by professionals who are well researched in their field of expertise, as is evidenced by some (but not all) doctors' responses to questions on this site. The problem is that many 'professionals' are not proactive in making sure they understand the basic biology of what they do and consequently they can be ignorant of the potential side effects. Such 'professionals' listen to the hype pumped out by people (or should i say sheep) like yourself. Just because it is successful for most, doesnt mean it is without risk of side effects. And if you think differently, well, you are seriously naive.

And before I leave this post, it doesn't take an Einstein to work out that most of the people who post on this site do so to get much needed support and to inform others about what has happened, so that someone else who is considering the treatment may be able to make a more informed choice about the risks involved. It is only you who has the 'conspiracy theory' that it is for law suits. Why do have a need to think so negatively. Does it make you feel better about yourself. Maybe you need to see a psychologist about that? Just a suggestion.

"applause".

Bravo Regrets, spot on with your post.

Excellent information!!! Couldn't of said it better myself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yayyyyyyyyyyyyy Regrets!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey lilly and melty.

My pleasure! I had seen comments from you both over the last 4 months since I had my own negative experience -and couldn't believe when I came across ranellyn's disgraceful attack.

During the course of my job as a researcher, I have had much experience with people who are trained in the medical profession and have come to know all too well that the spectrum is broad when it comes to the level of understanding that each individual has for their profession.

Medical practitioners are trained to ‘practice’ or clinically apply medical techniques that in most cases, but not all, have been identified and developed by teams of medical researchers who are trained in the physiology of what they are developing.

In some cases, medical practitioners are also avid researchers who recognise the importance of understanding the physiology of the techniques they apply. But the unfortunate reality is that to do the job they do, medical practitioners do not have to have a deep understanding of the underlying science. They just need to know enough to clinically apply the medical knowledge.

While it is often assumed that medical practitioners have a solid theoretical understanding of their work (because they have the title ‘Doctor’) this is often not the case. In fact, I have worked with medical practitioners whose understanding is so woeful, it has been embarrassing.

So when I see someone with obviously limited training like ranellyn take a moral and intellectual high ground, I find it intensely irritating.

One thing a good researcher knows is that there is always more to learn. The fact that the negative symptoms people report following botox are so consistent should prompt an interest to understand more. The fact that it hasn’t done this for ranellyn says everything about her intellectual ability.

I am glad things are looking better for you lilly. I have had some improvements over the last month (I am 17 weeks post-botox) and am starting to see my old eyes again. I still have the under eye wrinkles and the lump under my left eye from the herniated fat pad. I am hoping that the lump and wrinkles will eventually go away and that I don’t have any permanent changes. One can only hope. I will keep you posted on how i am going and will be checking for updates on how you are going.

Take care :-. Thank you for sharing with us all.

Wow...what a rude be-atch. The bedside manner is sorely lacking, Doc. Just got Botox, ..once before in June 2005. I am gonna love it..will post pics when it settles. I thought your photos looked fine...couldn't see the droopy smile or anything....had my glasses on, too.