How Many Units of Botox is Needed for Entire Eye Area?

The dosing for Botox is variable and based on the desired effect, the amount of current animation, and the strength of the muscles. For new patients, however, the exact dosing is often discovered through a trial and error process. See link below. Some rough guidelines are:Forehead: 16 unitsCrowfeet (around eyes): 8 units per sideGlabella (between eyes): 18 unitsA detailed examination will help delineate your treatment options. Consultation with a surgeon certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery would be the next best step.

AS you can see there is great variation and each person's dose needs to be adjusted with time. I intiially start with 6-12 units per side (12-24 units total) at the first session and go up or down from there depending on patient feedback.

In our practice, we usually use about 15-25 units for the crow's feet.  The dosing depends on the patient including the number of lines and strength of facial musculature.

Usually I use 7.5 units per side for a total of 15 units.  Some physicians may use 15 units per side for a total of 30 units.  It depends on the severity of the "crows feet" and the experience of the physician.

Dr. Es

When injecting Botox, I tend to be more conservative that most physicians. I find that a "frozen" look appears very unnatural. Specifically for the lateral orbicularis muscle fibers ("Crow's Feet"), I find that 6 small injections on each side works well. This amounts to about 8 units per side which is equivalent to 0.6 ml of solution. Obviously, more Botox will be needed for the glabella area and forehead.

On my website I describe my patent pending Microdroplet BOTOX method.  Typically I use 33 units of BOTOX to treat the entire eye area to effect an eyebrow lift.  However, this dose is only typical.  It is good for most women and many men.  However, some people have much bigger faces and will require a larger dose of BOTOX.  A quality office will not obscure how much BOTOX they are using.  

They will not refer to syringes or area without also telling you the total dose of BOTOX.  If they are not telling you or promising you that you can get a touch up squirt of BOTOX if your are not happy, you are probably being cheated. Honest offices are open about exactly what they are doing and generally don't give service away for free. If you are told what you need up front, then it is generally not necessary to get so-called touch up treatment. It is not an exact science but a skilled injector should have a pretty good idea of how much BOTOX is needed for your concerns.

Thank you for your question rosiegirl00. 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 without a formal exam in the office where I can view the skin in multiple angles and observe wrinkles formed with facial expression. However, I hope the information provided here is useful.The pivotal studies used 24 units of Botox (12 units per side) to address the crow’s feet. These studies demonstrated that the peak results are seen 14 days after the treatment and most people enjoy their results for 3-4 months. At that point, a maintenance treatment is recommended. While some people start to see results as early as the next day, it can take two weeks for full results so patience is important. We have our patients return two weeks after their treatment to assess their results via photographs. At that time additional units may be added if necessary. If I had a patient concerned with crow's feet lines I would like to examine her skin prior to her treatment. For most patients I recommend a standard dose of 24 units consistent with the studies and on label indication at the first treatment.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.

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!

For crow's feet, I usually would use 4-8 units per side. Total is 8-16 units. If there are lines on lower eyelids as well, I use 1- 2 units per eyelid, with a total of 2-4 units extra.

Results are excellent.

The amount of units needed depends from patient to patient - how active or strong the muscles are in that particular area, what kind of result does the patient want, does the patient want to have some movement in the area vs. virtually no movement. Having said that, on the average, for the frown lines I would use about 16-20 units, on the crow's feet area anywhere from 4-12 units, and in the forehead area, about 12-20 units. I have them know that touch up doses may be needed.

I believe having some smiling lines makes a person look more friendly and warm. Therefore, I encourage my patients to have just enough Botox to soften the lines but not totally elimiting them. Normally, I inject 3-10 units around each eyes. The number of units go down when a patients have had more than 2 years of regular Botox.