Is Botox Safe To Use In My Face If I've Had Bells Palsy?

Kate

BOTOX can be great for this situation.  However, what you need is an experienced injector with experience treating patients with Bell's Palsy.  This is not a situation where you should go down the street to the store front with the "nurse" doing treatment with no doctor around.  Oculoplastic surgeons, facial plastic surgeons, and specialized general plastic surgeons are going to be better choices for core specialists treating this situation.  You might consider looking at my Microdroplet BOTOX method which has the advantage of being adaptable to the individual and it creates lift.  Precisely what you need very much depends on your examination and how the muscles of facial expression were affected by the Bell's Palsy.

BOTOX is safe to use on a patient with a history of Bell's Palsy. However, I strongly recommend that this injection be done by someone who is very familiar with anatomy of the face and familiar with injecting patients with Bell's Palsy.

Some patients have Botox to recreate symmetry after being affected by Bell's Palsy. However, if there is a risk for you to have an unsatisfactory cosmetic result and it is within five months of your wedding, I would suggest you not have the Botox as it could take four months to have the effect fully disappear and you need time for photographs possibly before the wedding. If you have a treatment more than five months before the wedding and like the results, then you might consider having the same treatment two months before the wedding by the same doctor with the same number of units understanding that at any treatment there could be a result that will be unsatisfactory. The risk of this may not be worth it prior to the wedding! 

If you have a history of Bells Palsy and are thinking of getting botox injections for wrinkles, you should see a physician with a lot of experience with these injections.  Often times, the patient  will have excessive wrinkling and muscle movement on the unaffected side, and Botox treats this wonderfully.  If an area is drooping it may not actually lift it, but weakening of the stronger side could make you look more symmetrical.  If an area of the affected side is contracting in a spastic manner, Botox could also improve that as well.  It is a safe treatment option as Botox has been around for more than 25 years.

Botox is actually one of the mainstay treatments for patients with a history of Bell's Palsy who develop a phenomenon called "Synkinesis."  Synkinesis is an uncoordinated movement of the face that occurs when the nerve regenerates in an abnormal pattern.  The treatment for synkinsis included neuromuscular retraining as well as botox or dysport.  There are some risks with botox but overall patients get great outcome if it is done by a facial nerve expert.   If you are near the beverly hills area feel free to come to my office.