Does Botox cause eyelids to be more heavy if you've received it in your forehead? If so, how can this be avoided?

Depending on your anatomy, especially your brow location, dictates how much your eyelids change. If you lift your eyebrows up by pulling up your forehead skin, you will see less skin on your eyelids. When you paralyze your forehead muscle (frontalis) the brow drops down adding more skin to the lids, giving them that " heavy" appearance.injecting less neurotoxin in the brow area , or placing it up higher might help.

Yes, incorrect placement of Botox in the forehead or placing too many units may cause the eyebrows to drop and feel heavy.  This leads to a heavy feeling of the eyelids as well. This does make you feel tired and look sleepy. I would recommend less units in the forehead and placement higher in the forehead on your next Botox injection session. In the meantime, I would return to your injector since there are specific Botox injection sites that may alleviate some of the heavy feeling. Best wishes.

I would suggest the next time you have your Botox placed by your physician that you have them place the Botox a little further above your brow than they have been placing it.  The frontalis muscle, the muscle which is responsible for maintaining the elevated position of your brows, is being weakened too close to the brow by your Botox.  Your brow may also be predisposed to falling and it is not likely your eyelids are falling but your now weakened forehead musculature is unable to elevate your brow comfortably and this effectively makes your upper eyelids feel heavy.

Botox can contribute to heavy eyelids when injected into the forehead. The key to neuromodulator injections into the forehead is to be conservative. The muscle that causes wrinkles in the forehead is called the frontalis muscle, which is the only eyebrow elevator. Overly aggressive forehead injections definitely treat the forehead creases at the potential tradeoff to get a saggy eyebrow with a subsequent potential droopy eyelid through the heavy eyebrow. Many women notice even subtle heavy eyebrows/eyelids through difficulty applying eyeshadow. The key to forehead injections is to inject mainly in the upper half of the forehead. The most important thing, though, is to have an experienced and well trained injector. Someone who understands facial anatomy, especially plastic surgeons and facial plastic surgeons who operate in the face including the forehead and eyelids on a regular basis, are familiar with the intricate anatomy and function of facial structures. Complications and unwanted results from neuromodulator injections (Botox, Dysport, and Xeomin) can hence be minimized if not prevented altogether. I would caution patients to generally stay away from Medispas and other discount places. The idiom "you get what you pay for" certainly applies to neuromodulator injections. The good news is that neuromodulators wear off after 3-4 months; the bad news is it will take that long for the heavy eyebrows and eyelids to resolve. Best wishes!

This is very common in patients who need the forehead muscle to hold up the brows and lids.  This can only be determined with a proper in person evaluation.  If this happens but you still want botox, then you need baby doses and have them more frequently than larger doses less often.  Also i would try dysport over botox as it seems to be a little "softer" at the edge of injection area.  Best, Dr. Emer. 

Yes, placing Botox too low on the forehead or placing too
much Botox in the forehead can cause the eyebrows and eyelid to droop. It
can be avoided by placing the injections above the middle of the
forehead. If the eyebrows do droop, it can be somewhat corrected by
placing botox underneath the brow and crow’s feet area.

What you have described is a known problem with forehead botox. When you consider that the forehead muscle that causes the horizontal lines also acts to raise the eyebrows, then over-treating it with botox will cause the brows to drop lower. This will cause the appearance of excess skin on the upper eyelid , particularly if you already have some present.In order to avoid this problem you need to try and preserve the muscle activity just above the eyebrows by not injecting in this area, and you need a conservative dosage to the rest of the muscle. The obvious problem, of course, is that it may not totally eradicate all of your forehead lines. This is one of the reasons that it is important to see someone who is experienced so that they can achieve the right balance.

I like to explain how Botox work as a tug or war to my patients. If you inject the frontalis muscle (forehead) you can bring the brow down. If you inject the corrugator (frowning) muscle and the crows feet area you will get elevation of the brows. Botox injections is a delicate balance of injecting these groups of muscles in order to get the desired effect.Dr. Gus DiazDouble Bpard Certified in Facial Plastic Surgery

We use a microdroplet technique that minimizes brow droop while still improving dynamic wrinkles. I have this done in my own forehead and love the fact that my lines improve, but my brows don't drop, and I have plenty of expression. Because the muscles in the forehead actually have a "tug-of-war"...3 muscles pulling eyebrows down and one muscle pulling the eyebrows up, it's important to get a customized pattern of Botox so that the lifting muscle is in charge, and the pull down muscle is in time out. The dose in your forehead needs to be titrated to your face.

If the forehead dose of Botox is not properly done, the eyebrows will have difficulty lifting.  This is because the only lifter of the brows is the frontalis muscle. Some people need this muscle at its full capacity because they have borderline heavy brows to start with. If this is the case, very little or no Botox should be injected in the forehead. There are ways to lift the brow by weakening the muscles that pull the brow down. Many "amateur" injectors see deep creases in the forehead and attack those with Botox, only to get an unhappy patient who has no forehead wrinkles but lowered brows.