It's a week after my Botox, and I feel I am scowling all of the time as if I can't relax. Can this be fixed? (Photo)

This exaggerated lateral lift of the brows occurs when the central forehead is injected but not out laterally enough.  Back in the early nineties, a French airline stewardess came to the office and requested I inject only into the mid forehead to avoid drooping of the lateral brows. I altered my technique to accommodate her.A few days later I got a call.  "I am zee devil, I am zee devil" she exclaimed. I told her to come right in to have it checked.  At rest she did not look abnormal, but when she attempted to lift her brows, the lateral brows went right up at 30 degrees in dramatic and alarming fashion. I crossed two fingers in the sign of the cross and said, "you are zee devil, you are zee devil!".  We need an exorcism!3 units of Botox was injected strategically into each lateral forehead following the lines of contraction. In two days zee devil was nowhere to be found. She was back off to France.  There is hope.  Go back and ask for a touch up.BTW 22 units in the 11s cannot hurt, but 10 to 12 units is enough in most patients.

Hello, and thanks for your question. Any injectable filler such as BOTOX® is usually absorbed by your body fairly quickly, so one way to “fix” the sensation you’re feeling in your forehead is to simply wait for it to fade away on its own. Otherwise, another option would be to have small injections to either side of the area in question to balance out the fillers. If you are concerned about discomfort after getting fillers, let your doctor know right away.
 
 

 

As we age our brows descend. Most do not notice this as we naturally compensate by raising them up. The hallmark of this are the horizontal creases in the forehead. These are the result of unconscious elevation of the brows due to their descent. Botox relaxes these muscles allowing the creases to recede but also allowing the brow to fall.It is likely that the treatment of your forehead has unmasked some of this brow descent. It is not permanent but may help guide future treatment. In the interim, balancing "frown" by relaxing the outer brow (Spock) can soften the effect.As always, discuss your concerns with a board certified plastic surgeon (ABPS).Donovan Rosas MD
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I am sorry to hear you are unhappy with the results of your Botox treatment. This arched brow can occur after Botox, but luckily it can be fixed quickly with well placed Botox on your lateral forehead. I encourage you to schedule another appointment with your previous injector or plan a visit to a board-certified cosmetic dermatologist to get additional treatment that will even out your results.

Dear Peaceful429, Thank you for your question. It is quite possible that you need a touch up on your botox if you are experiencing heaviness. Luckily, with a skilled injector this is an easy fix by injecting a very small amount in another area to counteract these muscles. I suggest following up with your injector. Best of luck to you!

Thank you for your question.
You may need a few more units of Botox to be injected skillfully to relieve this feeling. Please discuss this with your Plastic Surgeon / Dermatologist who should be able to solve the problem. All The Best !

Thank You for your question.  Typically when you first have the injection of botox you have the "heavy" feeling for the first two weeks. After that, normally it starts to subside.  As far as doing anything about it, unfortunately you have to wait it out.Good LuckDr. Elliot Heller

Hi there, Thanks for your question! What you are experiencing is something that we call "spocking"- this happens when the middle portion of your forehead is treated and the lateral/outer sides are either not treated at all or treated with too small of a dose. It would be best if you could follow up with your injector, touch up of a couple of units would likely solve this issue

Hello Peaceful.  It appears that your injector did not inject the lateral (outside) portion of the forehead (above the brows).  When the injections are done in this fashion, the area between the eyes and the middle of the forehead are all relaxed and smooth, but the outer portion of the forehead is still active and this is what results in the very pronounced arch in the outer eyebrow.  This appears a bit unnatural and it's likely why you feel the way you do about the outcome.  If the whole forehead is injected, the outer brow will come down some and you may not feel as if you are scowling.  The feeling of heaviness will likely remain because when you get rid of forehead lines, you often do feel a bit heavy, at least for the first few weeks.  We try to leave just the slightest bit of movement in the forehead using lower dosing so that our patients do not feel quite as heavy.  Best of luck.

Hello,Thank you for sharing your photo. There a few things that might have happened:1) too many units placed centrally in the forehead resulting in an inability to lift the medial brows and causing heaviness;2) not enough units placed laterally in the forehead which results in a hyperactive lateral browYou can easily relax the arched brows with 1-2U.Please follow up with your injector to determine whether you still have movement in the glabella (frown lines). If so, this muscle can be further relaxed to try to allow more lifting of the brow. If not, you will have to wait until the Botox wears off somewhat (can be a couple weeks to months) and the brow's will start to return to baseline.Hope this helps!

Thanks for the question and photo and I am sorry you did not get the results you wanted with your Botox injections. While forehead correction seems fairly straightforward, it is essential that the injector targets the right muscles to produce a naturally refreshed effect. If the forehead muscles are addressed alone, it can actually lead to more droop along the brow line. I encourage you to schedule an in-person assessment with a board-certified plastic surgeon that is also an expert Botox injector. Through this assessment, you can determine whether additional Botox might be needed to create the result you want.