The Dreaded DROOP. Awful 1st Time Experience.
I'm a skin specialist working within a...
I'm a skin specialist working within a physician-directed clinic and one of the perks is that I am given free botox and fillers. (I entered $500 in the cost-section as this is what I would be paying were I not an employee as well as it being a required field.)
I've always taken extremely good care of my skin and have been diligent with sun protection since childhood (thanks mom!), so fortunately, I have healthy skin with little to no sun-damage. Wrinkles on my forehead are minimal and are only present when I push my eyebrows upwards. At rest, they are not visible. I have the start of very mild lines at the corners of my eyes/crow's feet from smiling which I don't mind. So why did I decide to try Botox? Well, because I've never had it before! I thought, what the hell, let's give it a whirl and see what the fuss is about.
I did read a lot about adverse reactions, specifically drooping of the lids and brows and while it did certainly make me a bit hesitant, I was sure to ask my injector more about it and whether or not I could potentially fall victim to such a side-effect. He assured me that it is rare and that he'd be sure to keep well away from the muscles that are responsible for the dreaded "droop". I was injected in my upper and lower forehead as well as in the crow's feet area of my eyes; 40 units total. Easy peezy, couple little needle marks, no pain and I went on with my day.
By the next evening, I could not frown/scowl or lift my forhead up. I also noticed that my little wrinkles in the outer corners of my eyes were gone. I thought "Wow!" Not "Lovely!" Not "This looks beautiful!" But just "Okay....kinda neat! Kinda wierd!" I showed my hubby "Look! I can't move my forehead!" He was indifferent as most men are. :) As the next few days went on, when I looked at myself in the mirror every morning, I just felt something was...off. As each day passed I became more and more unhappy with the appearance of my face, but I couldn't pin-point what exactly it was that was bothering me. My appearance has worsened/transformed with each passing day to the point where I can barely recognize myself in the mirror.
From day 3 to about day 5, my brows became HEAVY in both appearance and sensation. It was as if I had an elephant sitting on my forehead 24/7. My eyes began to appear and feel very, very tired. By day 7, I could hardly look at myself. It was apparent that my brows had dropped resulting in my eyelids becoming heavy and slightly hooded. It's been almost 2 weeks now since my injection and I am astounded at what Botox has done to my face. I can say without exaggeration that I look about 8-10 years older than I did before I had it (I'm 29). The entire top half of my face is FROZEN. I am completely expressionless up there. When I smile, my eyes do not, resulting in, almost an ingenuine, forced-looking smile. To make matters worse my cheeks, which are full and round, are forced to "shelve" underneath my eyes whenever I smile resulting in more prominent lines around the mouth area due to my cheeks being unable to travel upwards as they naturally would when I laugh or smile.
I did go to our clinic's 2nd injector (will not be going back to the 1st) to get his opinion on what was going on with my face and he suggested that I have about 3 units injected in between the inner eyebrows which he hoped would pull things up a bit. It has worked quite nicely on my right eye, but unfortunately it has had no effect on my left. Before these injections I was quite confident about my appearance and have always taken pride in the appearance of my eyes and at present I have become increasingly self-concious and uncomfortable maintaining eye-contact with my husband, my clients and my co-workers. Very unfortunate. I've been told that I simply have to wait it out as the Botox will fade within 3-6 months. What upsets me the most is that, to celebrate my 30th which is planned to be a big one with friends and family at the beginning of July, I will most likely still look like a neanderthal and will continue to feel extremely insecure and self-concious.
If anyone has any experience with this type of a side-effect, and more specifically, how soon I could hope for it to fade, it would be much appreciated. I'm hoping that because it was my first time injecting, that it may fade sooner than 3 months since I don't hold any residual in my muscles plus my muscles are still quite strong and resistant. My advice to anyone considering botox: Appreciate an injector who is CONSERVATIVE. Go slow. If you want more, go back in and have a couple more units put in.
Where I ran into problems was that
1) My doctor over-injected and
B) I barely had any wrinkles in the first place which resulted in an over-correction. We all know that "over-doing" anything will not produce desirable effects. At this point, I don't believe I would ever dabble in Botox again. :-( Any comments/suggestions are so appreciated!!! Cheers!
Replies (4)
"Botoxissue" I'm so sorry to hear about your chin injection. I imagine you probably feel self-concious as well; not the greatest feeling, especially when you have no choice but to continue on with work and life! *sigh* The light at the end of the tunnel though, is that it IS temporary! I know that I will personally put this experience in my lesson jar. :-) Good luck
Wow. What a nightmare this has turned out to be....
What a blow to my self-esteem. I'm at a state now where I'm just ANGRY about the amount of units that were injected (40) when I had specifically stated that my goal was not to look frozen and that I wanted to keep some of the mobility in my expressions. My mother, who is into her 50's, has been getting Botox by a plastic surgeon for several years with nothing but beautiful results. She told me yesterday that she only gets 30 units per treatment. This is a 50 year old woman!! I am 29 and was given 40!!!
My son who's 9 asks me numerous times throughout the evenings (when the brow droop is at its worst) "What's wrong?" "Why do you look angry?" I'm becoming depressed and I wish that I could just hide out alone until my face is back to normal. I cry a lot which only makes my eyes look worse.
The scary thing is, I've been reading a lot about nerve damage and the sometimes irreversible effects of Botox. That's very worrisome for me.
I will have to chalk today up to a particularly bad day for me.
Replies (19)
You appear to have lost the arch of your eyebrows. Your botox has been placed too low or too laterally. You should only have had three injections in the forehead fairly centrally and well above the eyebrows.Good news is you still look great and it will wear off. Would suggest always seeing a physician for first time treatment though.
I am so sorry to hear you are having a particularly rough day today. :( Keep reminding yourself that Botox does not last forever, and that with anything there will be extreme cases (such as nerve damage) and although a reality the likelihood is very small, so please don't stress yourself out with thoughts of "What if this is forever". At least give yourself 4-6 solid months to see how your body reacts. I'm sure that seems like a lifetime away right now, but it will pass by and hopefully the symptoms will lessen as it works through your system.
I know you mentioned getting upper & lower forehead, and crows feet treated. When you say lower forehead do you mean between your eyebrows? 2 weeks ago I had all 3 areas treated and was given 29 units. However I'm going back for a touch-up today & will probably need just a dab more in my forehead, so that number will be a bit higher soon. If you did get all 3 areas treated from what I understand 40 units isn't all that high of a dose, so unfortunately it could have more to do with the technique than the amount.
Here is a Q&A that talks about quantity used:
Botox Actually Make a Difference After a Certain Point, or is It Just Wasted Product?
Sending you a huge hug & hoping you start to feel better as the day goes on.
Also, your after pictures honestly aren't as horrible as you seem to feel they are. You look a little more tired/puffy than the bright-eyed, no-makeup look... but you still appear very youthful and normal, to say the least. Often our fears are heightened in our heads.
Overall, you're very pretty both before and after, and shouldn't stress about your appearance so much!!! Not to lecture you, or make you feel worse/guilty rather, but there are people in this world with serious physical disabilities who have the most amazing attitudes. Don't obsess over perfection or be too hard on yourself, you look great!
I am happy to report that I am almost 8 weeks out and seeing a lot of improvement. I have movement in my forehead, my eyes are back to their wide bright selves. I do still have the new wrinkles under my eyes (even when I don't smile) but I can live with them I suppose. I am 42, btw. At 29 you will bounce right back. You are a lovely girl and don't need botox! 40 units it far too much for a first timer with hardly any wrinkles.
This has taught me to appreciate my face and to not mess with it anymore. I'd rather age gracefully and be able to smile and laugh freely and feel like myself. You will improve, but it does take time and I completely understand how horrible it feels. Soon it will be in the past and I am sure you will be back to normal by July. In the meantime, take care of yourself. Drink tons of water and exercise (sweat that botox out!). Vent here, we understand :)
You're absolutely right; this experience has taught me a) if it aint really broke, don't fix it
and b) be appreciative and accepting of what you have. As stated in my initial posting, I'd never tried Botox prior to this and I didn't have any one aesthetic goal in mind, I simply wanted to try it. I admit, I was a tad dramatic and panicking over the first 2 weeks but I really didn't know what to think! I was devestated that I had done permanent damage to myself! I'm at a point now where I can chuckle at myself a little.
What I AM still dealing with (and I had left this detail out of my thread because I didn't realize how it was factoring into the puffy and odd appearance of my under-eye area) is the tiny bit of Juvederm that the same injector had put underneath my eyes to fill out some very mild hollowness.
During the consultation for the botox he asked me if I had any concerns with the rest of my appearnce and I'd mentioned my eyes but that I wasn't entirely sure that I wanted to put any filler there due to the mostly negative reviews on Realself. He said "well I'll just put a little, if you don't like it we can simply dissolve it." Turns out that he did a VERY superficial injection resulting in a medium-sized kidney bean-shaped puff-pad under each eye! Unbelievable! Needless to say, I will not be seeing this injector again. I have an appointment with our medical director tomorrow to have the filler diddolved. Fingers crossed that it goes well. I'll try to post some pics of the undereye filler hwever I'm doubtful that I can capture the severity of it in photo.
I am so sorry to hear what you are having to deal with.
Thank you so much for posting this review and letting us know that your injections were done by an injector that was not the physician that runs the clinic. That is really helpful information for other community members considering trying Botox.
From everything I have heard you will just have to wait it out. You might want to consider going to a board certified plastic surgeon or dermatologist to get a second opinion from them if you think that adding more might be able to help.
Some community members have mentioned that exercise, drinking lots of water, green tea, and cleanses have helped Botox move through there system more quickly.
Here is some info you might find interesting/helpful:
Is There Any Way to Make Botox Wear off Faster?
Botox does wear off faster if you exercise
Why Does Exercise Cause Botox to Wear Off Faster?
Did you get droopy eyes after Botox?
Botox - How Long Before Numbness and Drooping Wears Off?