Will Botox Between the Brows Cause Bunny Lines?

Some patients find that by treating the glabellar region, or “11”, other muscles start to compensate for the diminished movement in that area, for example, the bunny lines region. 

The muscles in the area may be recruited to move the face.  More likely, the lines were always there, but are now more noticeable.  Botox can treat bunny lines when placed properly.  Best to seek out an experienced and well trained injector.   

Bunny lines are natural in some people. But they can also occur after a Botox injection for frown lines. There are different muscles involved in forming frown lines- the corrugator, proceris muscles between the brows. And when some people frown, the nasalis muscles are active.  In most treatment sessions for frown line, the muscles between the brows are targeted. The nasalis muscles then become more visually prominent with the appearance of the bunny lines.

If you are thinking about undergoing a Botox treatment for frown lines, a board certified specialist can let you know if you are likely to have bunny lines or not. 

Some people have bunny lines naturally and botox can help smoothen these out, while some patients only seem to get bunny lines after the glabellar muscles are injected with Botox.  The overcompensation does seem to be a reason and this can happen in the lower eyelid muscles when the crows' feet are injected, as is shown in this photograph too.

This is a terrible treatment:  Classic frozen forehead.  The goal of forehead treatment is not paralysis but brow shaping.  This is best done with the Microdroplet BOTOX method that I developed.  You can study my website for more information on this method (lidlift dot com).

Following a Botox or Dysport treatment, bunny lines can exist for one of two reasons – either they were not treated, or they have resulted from compensated/recruited muscle activity.

Bunny lines result from contraction of the nasalis muscle. Frown lines occur from contraction of the corrugator and procerus muscles, and this produces the vertical lines (the “11s”) between the eyebrows and the horizontal crease across the upper nose. When many people frown they also contract the nasalis muscle. Since the focus is usually on the “11s”, patients may not notice their bunny lines.

If the corrugator and procerus muscles are treated, but the nasalis muscle is left untreated, the bunny lines will persist (will be unmasked, in some sense) and these are then noticed by the patient. So if the bunny lines are significant then it is best to include these with the initial treatment.

If you ask some patients who have had just their frown lines treated, to “frown” …the lack of feedback as a result of this muscle paralysis often causes them to contort their faces and recruit surrounding muscle groups (usually the nasalis and orbicularis oculi muscles) in an attempt to move those muscles which are paralyzed. This attempt to compensate results in the appearance of bunny lines and crow’s feet. I do not mean to suggest that this is a common problem, but it is possible that some patients are subconsciously moving these muscles more because they no longer sense the movement of the frown. If this problem does arise, it is easy to treat the offending muscles.

A skilled injector should evaluate each patient individually, at rest and during animation, and then make treatment recommendations based upon the patient’s goals.

Best wishes, Ken Dembny

Thank you for your question MackenzieR. Botox is a purified protein used to address wrinkles on the face associated with facial expression. Botox will relax the muscle so when the expression is attempted the muscle does not contract and the overlying wrinkles are not seen. Sometimes when a muscle is relaxed with Botox and a person attempts to make an expression other nearby muscles are recruited to compensate for this. This is sometimes seen when bunny lines appear after the frown lines between the brows have been relaxed. A small amount of Botox in the bunny lines can be used to correct the bunny lines. Please consult with a doctor for specific recommendations. Good luck!

Muscles forming Bunny Lines are different action than ones causing the 11 between brows so should injection of one should not cause the others to form.  One can precisely inject small quantity of Botox/Dysport into the bunny lines to reduce the wrinkles. 

Many people are unaware of their bunny lines until they have a smooth forehead and smooth crows feet.The botox did not cause the problem, but rather it did such a good job fixing some lines that those that remain are more noticeable.

Botox may not increase the incidence of bunny lines but when the muscles that cause these bunny lines are the only ones functioning they become more obvious.  They too can be treated with appropriately placed injections of Botox.  Consult a board certified plastic surgeon who specializes in facial injections and can address all of your concerns.