Botox for Reducing Masseter Muscle Made Me Look Jowly - Vancouver, BC

Gosh, I'm really sorry to hear that! What did your doc say about it? Could one of the Trueself docs chime in with some info? I'm assuming that, when the botox wears off, I'll regain the volume lost in the masseter area and all will be normal again--am I wrong?

Would you mind letting me know if your cheeks recovered? Hoping they have for you! I had botox in masseters 3 months ago and cheeks have dropped. Thanks

Brit--it's actually not an allergic reaction. Truetotype and I are suffering these symptoms because our doctors either incorrectly determined the injection site (my doctor injected my buccinator muscle by accident, though this is as much my fault as his. I didn't realise my masseters were still so weak from my first treatment in september '10 because of my body dysmorphia. I didnt realise my face was already too thin. Inexperienced doctors are told to ask the patient to bite down and then inject whichever bulging points in the jaw are visible. Obviously this is extremely inaccurate and had my doctor had a solid understanding of facial anatomy/the decency to refuse to treat me [aka take my money] because of my somewhat obvious obsession with my face/the fact that my masseters were still so weak, this would not have happened. My masseters were so weak that they could not move, therefore couldn't flex and bulge. Only my buccinator muscle could. So, he injected that instead) or the botox may have been correctly placed in truetotype's case, but it spread into and affected her buccinator muscles. The buccinator and masseter hold in the Buccal fat pad. Normally, as we age, our muscles waste and the Buccal fat pad descends from it's youthful position into what we call "peri-oral mounds" and later, jowls. Since I'm only 19 my fat pad luckily only descended into the peri-oral mound area (this is the area on either side of the corners of our lips--peri-oral mounds are very noticeable when talking or smiling, but almost undetectable when relaxed. Since I'm only affected on one side, my smile is crooked and half my face lacks the definition it used to have). This complication is referred to as a "pseudoherniation of the Buccal fat pad." You may have heard of victims of "pseudoherniation of the peri-orbital fat pad." This frequently occurs when botox is incorrectly placed or spreads around the eye, thus paralysing the delicate muscles that hold that fat pad in. I've scanned these message boards for those patients' stories, and most of their complications seem to have resolved after 9-12 months, so this gives me great hope. The only problem is that the muscles found in the jaw are composed differently than those found in the eye, and seem to be much more reactive to Botox treatment. This is why they atrophy within weeks and why the eye muscles never reduce in size (at least to a noticeable degree). So, we two patients will are truly experiencing an entirely unknown and unfortunate undocumented complication of Botox treatment.

I've included so much information here because I've done 4 months of intense research and I want truetotype to understand exactly what is happening because I dont want her to seek any sort of surgical treatment for her new jowls. This may resolve on it's own and if so, she will look over-corrected. I do NOT want to I instill the same obsession I have with this complication in her. My obsession is unhealthy to the point of debilitating. I feel really embarrassed and sorry that I included so many of my raw emotions in my last post. It's just that I have so many happy things in my life and yet all I can ever think about is this. If this does resolve, I will be so grateful for the natural beauty I possess and will never again take that for granted. I can only hope that my obsessive research can help you and others. I just want to help.

Thank you so much for this! I've had the same experience and thought it was just normal. Didn't realise it was due to the doctor administering.

*patients, not parents.

By the way I never asked you...are the jowls on both sides? My complication is unilateral. Also, how many units did you get in each side at each time?