Can Botox Be Damaged by Massage?

Since it's been so many days after your treatment, the Botox was already absorbed adequately into the correct muscles. 

Massage 5 days after the injections should not have an effect on the distribution of the botulinum toxin results. This is only of concern in the immediate post-injection period.

Hi 98104.  The after care instructions we give for Botox injections to not go past the first day, so anything that happens on the 5th day after Botox injections should not affect your results.

When we inject Botox into the tissue it has an area of diffusion from the injected site of about 2cm during the first few hours after injection. Hence, we instruct our patients not to massage the area where injections have been placed. After five days you should have nothing to worry about as all the Botox has been taken up in the nerve endings and is no longer available to spread.

No, I think you will be fine...I have my patients who receive Botox, exercise the muscles I treat (the glabellar or "11" lines, the forehead, the crow's feet,etc.) fairly aggressively for the first 2 hours after the treatment. It is this initial couple of hours that the neurotoxin is incorporated into the nerve and moving the muscle maximizes the absorbance. I think 5 days after your injection, the dye has been cast.

Good luck!

Dr. C

johnconnorsmd.com

After five days you should be OK.  I instruct my patients not to message the area, not to wear tight hats, and not to put their face in the round cradle when getting a back message for a day or two.  In your case the medicine should be taking effect and the risk of spread is low.

5 days after your injection, there is very little risk of any untoward consequences from a massage. I advise patients to avoid manipulation of the injected area for 12-24 hours after injection. After this time frame, the risks of spreading the Botox are minimal.

After a full day, the botox injections should have taken hold and no massage thereafter can affect its performance.

Hi Sleepless in Seattle,

Your manicurist could not mess up your Botox treatment by giving you a facial massage 5 days after your injections.  Hopefully you like your nails.  Good luck and be well.

Dr. P

Massage to the forehead, immediately after receiving Botox or Dysport, should only be done by the doctor administering the medication. The risk is that the neurotoxin can be moved outside the are where the effect is desired. For the forehead, the most common undesirable displacement is down to the eyelids.

Even correctly placed Botox/Dysport can exacerbate brow drooping and heavy upper eyelids. The risk is allowing the Botox/Dysport to hinder the eyelid muscle. This results in the inability to fully open the eye, and the eyelid skin can block the pupil, interfering with sight.

Most patient see results from Botox/Dysport in a few days. By then the drug has been taken up by the cells it is meant to block (via endocytosis of the nerve's axon). At five days it is unlikely that any toxin is still freely available, so it is unlikely that a massage at five days will cause you any harm. Even a forehead massage that was "strange and annoying".