I ordered Botox online and injected myself about a month ago. Any over the counter prescriptions for the swelling?

What you did was not only illegal, but dangerous. It is highly unlikely that you received authentic Botox if you ordered it online. Botox can only be purchased legally by licensed physicians directly from Allergan, and anything being sold online is likely a knockoff product composed of unknown materials. I cannot advise you on how to manage your swelling, as I do not know exactly what was in whatever you injected into yourself. Swelling that lasts more than a few days is not a common side effect of Botox. At this point, your best course of action is probably to visit your doctor or a dermatologist to try to assess what kind of reaction is going on and try to figure out what was injected and if it will cause serious complications down the road. In the future, please only get Botox injections from a board-certified dermatologist or plastic surgeon. It is not worth it to risk the complications that can arise from fake products sold online. I hope this helps.

BOTOX® and other
injectables have become incredibly popular and mainstream, and this may lead
some people to treat it as a non-medical procedure. Authentic BOTOX® is only
sold directly to physicians by the manufacturer, Allergan. Ordering it online
for yourself means that the product is counterfeit and likely contains
dangerous ingredients. Do not underestimate the complexity of injecting BOTOX®.
Although it may seem simple, there’s much more involved in professionally and
appropriately injecting the product. You may not like the price tag of going to
a licensed and qualified injector, but that fee goes beyond the actual cost of
the product and includes the training and expertise of the person giving the
treatment. Visit a physician immediately to be evaluated, as you could have
injected something very dangerous into your body.

Botox should only be ordered and injected by a medical professional.  You never know what you are getting when you order Botox over the internet and not from Allergan directly.  My advise to you would be to seek the advice of a doctor in person.  And bring the bottle of botox with you if you still have it.  Good luck

Thank you for your question and for sharing your story.  Unfortunately the best thing would be to see a board certified plastic surgeon or dermatologist to rule out a possible infection or complication from the produce you injected.  Real Botox is not sold online and with your swelling after a month or more is concerning.  Best wishes.

This should never be done, Allergan doesn't allow distribution over the internet and likely this was not botox.  You need a formal evaluation.  Best, Dr. Emer.

Thank you for your question. Cold compresses are the best remedy for treating swelling following an injection. Medication should not be ordered online due to the high risk of contaminated, expired or dangerous material. Even with proper packaging, which has been easily copied by counterfeiters, you do not know what you are receiving. In addition, self-injecting is quite risky. Have an expert perform your treatments for safety. Good luck.

Thank you for your question julie420. I understand your concern. Botox is a purified protein used to address wrinkles associated with facial expression. When injected into the skin Botox will relax the muscles and smoothen out the overlying wrinkles. The most common areas of treatment are in the upper face. These include the horizontal lines seen on the upper forehead when one raises the brows, the vertical lines seen between the brows when one frowns (frown lines), and the crow's feet seen around the eyes when one smiles.It is difficult to make an assessment in the absence of consistent photographs before and after in the same lighting and angles for comparison. However, I hope the information provided here is useful.Botox is a prescription strength medication that is injected into the skin or other areas. Therefore, it is important that the treatment is performed by a trained medical professional. This can be a physician, physician’s assistant, nurse practitioner, or nurse. Laws vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction on who is allowed to provide the treatment. In California, for example, any of these aforementioned medical professional is permitted to provide a treatment. With the recent explosion of cosmetic medicine, there are more and more people offering such services. This includes core physicians such as plastic surgeons and dermatologists as well as other physicians who are trained in cosmetic treatments such as general physicians, gynecologists, or other specialists. It is important to understand that just because a doctor is a plastic surgeon or dermatologist does not necessarily make them an expert on Botox. General doctors who routinely perform Botox treatments multiple times per day likely have more experience and expertise than a plastic surgeon who spends most of his time performing surgeries and performs perhaps only a single Botox treatment per month. Similarly, there are many outstanding nurse injectors who spend their entire days performing cosmetic treatments, as they are often delegated to nurses. Their experience can at times be great than that of many doctors.I recommend against purchasing Botox online because much of it is counterfeit, especially those that can be found for discounted prices. Further, as described above, it should be administered by a trained professional to avoid side effects.The safety record of Botox is well established. The product has been used for over 20 years for a variety of treatments with minimal side effects. Botox is amongst the safest treatments for treating facial wrinkles.While Botox is one of the safest treatments offered, there are some situations where it is not appropriate. These include anyone who has an allergy to any of the inactive ingredients or who has had an allergic reaction to any botulinum product including Botox, Dysport, Xeomin, or Myobloc. The safety and efficacy of Botox has not been established in women who are pregnant, trying to become pregnant, or breast feeding. Therefore, women in these categories are advised to wait until breast feeding is completed prior to having a Botox treatment. Botox should not be placed in the skin on the site of an infection. Those who are taking an aminoglycoside antibiotic, an anesthetic, D-penicillamine, antimalarials, or immunosuppressants should not be treated, nor should those who have undergone chemotherapy within the previous six months. It is important to avoid blood thinners before and after a treatment. These include both prescription and non-prescription medications such as warfarin (coumadin), aspirin, ibuprofen, alcohol, fish oil, vitamin E, and ginko biloba. Those with conditions that affect muscles and nerves such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease), myasthenia gravis, or Lambert-Eaton syndrome should not undergo Botox treatments.With any injection, there are risks such as pain, bleeding, bruising, redness, swelling, tenderness, and infection. We take special precautions to minimize these risks such as using a painless technique. We also treat bruises with a laser as early as the next day. Bruises usually resolve within two weeks if untreated. After a laser treatment bruises usually resolve in 1-3 days, but may still take two weeks for full resolution. In addition to these risks, with Botox there is also a risk that the product spreads or diffuses to nearby structures. Spread to nearby muscles can lead to side effects such as the temporary appearance of droopy eyelids or a temporary asymmetric smile.
If I had a patient with the symptoms described above I would recommend that she visit an urgent care clinic immediately for evaluation and treatment.
After a Botox treatment, I recommend that my patients avoid heat exposure, alcohol consumption, and strenuous exercise for 24 hours and not lie down flat for four hours. This is because all of these activities may possibly lead to the movement of the product and consequent side effects such as droopy eyelids. Although there have been no definitive studies shown that these actually occur and some physicians do not provide such aftercare instructions, in the absence of data I err on the side of caution and recommend that my patients avoid such activities.

Please consult with a doctor for specific recommendations. Good luck!

Botox is made by Allergan, Inc. pharmaceutical company. In the US, only licensed physicians can order it and only trained physicians or nurse injectors, working under the direct supervision of a physician, should be injecting Botox. If you are in the US and ordered Botox online, there is a really good chance you did not get Botox and that there may be things in the product that may be totally inert or very harmful to your skin. If you are having swelling as a result of the injections you did, the odds are you are having a reaction to whatever the foreign substance they put in there and this may be extremely difficult to get rid of. Make an appointment with a board-certified dermatologist or plastic surgeon and see what is going on, what the treatment options, if any, are, and stop trying to beat a system when it involves your own body. By trying to save money, you probably will end up spending much more trying to fix a problem that is totally preventable by going to a derm or plastic and having the procedure done right the first time.

"Online Botox" is not safe! It's scary!Botox is a produced by one company, Allergan. They send the medication directly to physicians. Most pharmacies don't carry it in stock. And it needs to be kept a controlled temperature. "Botox" from any other source is fake or damaged. Even more frightening is the guessing game of the ingredients in the fake "Botox" bottle. Even plain water is dangerous to inject directly in the skin. The problems after injecting an unknown substance are scary: allergic reaction, tissue death, or blindness. A big part of the cost of injectables are the safety controls performed by your doctor. Safe product and safe technique lead to safe outcomes. Please see a trained professional who gets their product direct from the manufacturer. If you've had a questionable injection, you should get the bottle and any other information you can get before seeking a trained professional. Safety comes first! 

This is not wise move. I doubt that what you got in the mail was handled properly, let alone if it was actually true Botox. I can't advice you properly because I don't know what was injected. Swelling doesn't usually occur with Botox. How did you know where to inject, from videos on the internet? I highly recommend that you don't do this anymore. Botox is a prescription drug that needs a physician to authorize its use.