44 First and Last Botox Experience, Not Eye Lid Droop but Some Eye Brow Droop and Swelling! No Thanks! - Bentonville, AR

Think really hard before you get botox girls! It is not as straight forward as they would have you believe! First let me say I did my homework. I went to a very recommended dermatologist/ plastic surgeon who specializes in botox. She has been doing this for many many years. She has amazing reviews. I thought I would be safe! Boy was I wrong. I have gotten a little ahead of myself; let me tell you the whole story! I wanted to do something nice for myself as I have had some recent tragic losses in my family. I have never had botox before; It was supposed to be a "momma makevover." I am 44 and had some wrinkles on my forehead that I didn't like. I decided I would take the botox plunge. I got Botox (Only twenty units) on the 5th of April. I have deep set eyes so I spent quite a while speaking with Dr. Clifton about my concerns about brow droop. She was careful to inject me in places that would not make my brows look heavier! When I woke up the next morning both my eyes were swollen, but I thought that it would go down in just a day or so. I I was told to expect a little puffiness. I tried all the normal things for puffiness: Cold spoons, cucumber, ice packs, the usual suspects. It had no affect on the swelling. After the fourth day I was still swollen and I called the clinic. They had me come back. Dr. Clifton looked at my eyes and told me I was having an allergic reaction. I was told to take zyrtec, benadryl, and I got steroids for the reaction. 14 Days post Botox I still had swelling, the steroids and antihistamines had very little effect. My eye brow ridge was swollen as well as my eye lids on both sides. I didn't have full on eye lid droop just really heavy lids ! My whole eye sockets have been swollen on both sides. My right side was worse. It also made my upper cheeks, eyebrows, and under my eye area swell. Dr Clifton, did an ultrasound procedure to help break up the edema I was having. (Edema is water retention that causes swelling, a common allergic response.) That has helped some. I am now 20 days post botox, I still have some swelling in both lids, and heavy looking eye brows. I look a little cave man-ish. I have now spent nearly three weeks walking around looking like a freak show. I have both laughed and cried about this at this point. I am trying to keep my humor about this but going to work has been super embarrassing. I hate explaining to people what happened to me. I am almost back to the point I can wear makeup/ eye liner. I still don't look like myself, and I am having to use Instantly ageless, to keep my eyes under control enough to wear eye makeup. I am super disappointed in the way I look. Thankfully this should continue to improve as the botox wears off. I will NEVER NEVER DO THIS AGAIN! JUST BE AWARE THAT EVEN WITH A VERY QUALIFIED INJECTOR YOU CAN END UP WITH LARGE ISSUES! The clinic I went to, Premier Dermatology, has been very easy to work with. They refunded me for the botox, and have been treating me for free. The down side is, I am still living with this wretched side effects.

Its now been a full month since I had botox. This was one of the worse decisions of my life. I am still struggling with the eye lid swelling and the eye brow droop! I have also developed some asymmetry in my eye brows. My left is now higher than my right. I just don't look like myself. I have summer trips coming up and its really embarrassing ! This is definitely not something I will ever do again. I am truly wishing for my old face back. Waiting three more months for this to go away seems like more than I can tolerate. I can't tell you how much I have cried about this. It is horrible to look like crap and have to go to work/ social occasions.

As you can see in my photo with the blue hair, my right eye is so puffy the top of my eye droops over the lid. The other two photos were recent right before this. You can also see the bridge of my nose is still swollen looking , as is the area right above my eye brows. This is a month after the injection.

I am nearly three months out from Botox now. I am still having swelling and droop related to the botox. I would really encourage you to think hard about getting botox. If you don’t like the results you are stuck with them for a really long time! My wrinkles are now returning to my forehead and yet I still have some of the eye brow droop. The swelling comes and goes now, but on bad days, I still have to apply about twice as much makeup to try to hide the effects of botox! It has been a real misery. The droop has also caused some new wrinkles to form under my eyes, and I am really afraid these will be permanent. Botox has not only NOT helped me look younger, it has actively aged me. Also bother to look into botox nightmares online. When I began to study this after what happened to me I have found this is much more common then you would think. People are suffering a lot of long term , really bad side effects. Look into it!

The botox should have worn off by now, and most of my wrinkles are back. Guess what is not gone! The swelling! I still am having residual effects from this nightmare of a drug. I have days where I wake up and my eyes are super swollen. I am not talking normal under eye morning swelling. I mean the tops of my eyes. My whole eye lids swell. THIS NEVER, EVER HAPPENED TO ME BEFORE BOTOX. NOT ONCE. NEVER!!!!! I am five months out from my injection and still living with the bad results of this. I have to put instantly ageless on my eyes, just to have eye lids on some days. This experience has gone on and on in a truly awful way. The swelling has also caused wrinkles I didn't have before under my eyes. I not only don't recommend that you get botox I suggest you do more research online. Behind all the "Official sites" you will find many people with a lot of long term problems from using botox. Not only can it cause eye lid droop, you can get long term headaches, muscle spasms in your face, numbness and tingling in your face, and many more really awful things. Some people are living with this YEARS after having botox. Think long and hard about your wrinkles versus your health. Had I known what can really happen I never would have taken the chance. I finally found a study recently saying that bad botox results happen in about 10-18 percent of cases. That gives you a one and ten chance or higher of having some side affect you don't want. Think that over.

Well girls and boys. I have yet to get my old face back after my botox nightmare. I am still living with a ton of swelling. I wake up in the mornings and I look as if I have gone many rounds with a prize fighter. Both my upper and lower lids swell, any time I lay down. This never happened before botox. I have also developed a ton of fine lines underneath my eyes in the five months since I had the botox. They make deep creases under my eyes when I smile, which I absolutely detest. The wrinkles botox smoothed out in my forehead are back, but I am still living with the side effects of this toxic sludge. I really recommend that you do more research before you get botox. When you did in past the first two pages of google results there are a lot of nightmare stories out there. My cosmetic issues are minor compared to what other people experience. I also want to reiterate for you that this has actively made me look older! I have probably added ten years to myself with the side effects of botox. Don't do this.