Would Like to Understand Why Botox Brow Lift Went Wrong? (photo)

If your injector injected into the frontalis, rather than the lateral obicularis, you wouldn't get a "lift," but a slight droop, especially with too much product. It's not difficult to obtain (the lift) if the injection sites are precise.

Hi Sunny,

The lifting muscles (frontalis) and depressing muscles (corrugators, procerus, and orbicularis) oppose each other at rest.  To lift the lateral brow, the depressing muscles should be weakened with neuro-modulators Botox, Dysport, Xeomin (including the orbicularis), leaving the lateral frontal is alone, except for a very small dose to avoid the "Joker" arched eyebrow.  I am sure that you will let your physician injector know what happened, and it should be avoided in the future.  Good luck and be well.

Dr. P

Dr. P

You are correct about the anatomy.  The idea of a "Botox browlift" is to weaken the  muscles that pull the brow down.  These include the corrugators, the procerus, and the orbicularis.  The frontalis muscle moves the brow upward.  Any injections into the frontalis can potentially make the brow drop or feel heavy.  From your diagram, the injections placed over the eyebrows on the sides are clearly in the frontalis muscle, causing the effect you describe.  The injections on the sides need to be very close to the brow, or sometimes in or lateral to the brow, to affect only the orbicularis and not the frontalis.  It's also important that the injections between the brows be into the brow depressors only (staying low near the brow), to avoid affecting the frontalis.  You probably know more about the anatomy than many Botox injectors...

Hello,

This is a very good question. Botox works by temporarily weakening overactive muscles. When injected into the area between the eyebrows, two muscles which pull the brow downward are targeted, the procerus and corrugator muscles. Weakening muscles that pull the brow down helps produce a brow lift.

Botox injected ABOVE the lateral brow would affect the frontalis muscle, which pulls the brow upward. Weakening this muscle would produce the opposite effect, leading to a lower brow position.

To produce a lift of the brow, Botox should have been injected UNDER the lateral brow, weakening a portion of the orbicularis muscle, which pulls the brow downward. This injection site tends to produce a (mild) elevation of the outer brow.

Most so-called brow lift treatments are more designed to avoid causing eyelid ptosis and less concerned with brow lifting.  The orbicularis oculi at the eye brow and below the eyebrow functions as the eyebrow depressor.  Most so-called brow lift treatments actually avoids treating this muscle because it is widely thought it will risk dropping the eyelid.  I had the insight that these muscles insert into the skin.  By placing very small quantities of micro droplet botulinum toxin in very small quantities between the skin and these muscles, it is possible to trap the agent and limit diffusion, thereby avoiding upper eyelid ptosis.  I call this method micro droplet botulinum toxin treatment.  The insight was original and I have a US patent on the method.  This treatment is profoundly different than the method you have been getting.