Botox Created New Wrinkles Under my Eyes and Gave Me Weird Chipmunk Cheeks!

Cheek ptosis and associated puffiness under the eyes absolutely sucks. Unfortunately, it seems to be the 'botox gone bad' result that lasts the longest. Happywithme and Uncool - HANG IN THERE. It has been 30 weeks for me and I still look like crap but I am crossing my fingers that it will wear off eventually. There has been some improvement in the past month but I still have the puffy eye bags, bunching, loose skin and chipmunk smile. It is so appallingly slow to improve. I just hope everyday that it keeps going (however slowly) until I look like myself again. My main concern at this point is that it will not improve and I will be stuck looking like this forever. YUCK.

Sorry that I haven't replied sooner. Thanks for the support Happywithme and Tried but Failed. This is one CRAP journey we are all going through. I am now 20 weeks post Botox and still have the same symptoms. I had a depressing birthday and Christmas and so far the new year has been miserable too, because of my Botox disaster. My son is turning five at the end of March and he wants a dinosour birthday party. I have never really given him a proper party (just family) and I've promised him that this year he is going to have an amazing party. I so hope that my face has improved by then. I have made excuses for so many functions and my friends and family are starting to wonder what is wrong with me. I just want to get on with my life and stop hiding at home. I have felt so alone during this awful time. Only my husband and sister know that I had Botox and they both feel that I did not need it and that it was self inflicted. This site has been such an amazing help to me. It's comforting to know that other people are going through the same thing as me and that I'm not alone. My doctor made me feel like a neurotic freak when I complained about my bad Botox results. He said that it is absolutely impossible for Botox to cause new wrinkles and cheek distortion. What a joke... he needs to wake up and smell the roses!!! I hope that this is only a temporary situation for us and that we will completely recover from this.

It makes me absolutely furious that doctors continue to deny that botox can cause cheek ptosis and puffiness under the eyes. Of course it can if the doctor has made a mistake! They just don't want to admit they made a mistake. If these doctors spent more time actually understanding facial muscles properly and how botox works then we would not be in this mess. Nobody should be allowed to administer botox unless they have a sufficient understanding of the reasons for bad aesthetic results and how to avoid them and/or assist us to recover. But why do they continue to get away with it? Because none of us will complain properly. Who on earth wants to be the public face of a botox disaster? Not me, that's for sure. These doctors continue to get away with their incompetence because they are very confident that none of us will expose them because we would also be exposing ourselves. There is not a lot of sympathy for the victims of bad cosmetic procedures and we all know it. This allows the complete talentless, incompetent hacks to keep ruining people's faces with botox and then hiding behind denials. I did a lot of research on botox when this happened to me because I was simply unable to get any sensible answers from the medical profession. And I found the answers! It wasn't even that hard. I am not a doctor and if I can work it out then I think it is unacceptable that these doctors can continue to hide behind denial after denial after denial. Sorry for the rant. Very bad day today.

Hi tried and failed. I'm new to this web-site but I noticed that you have very similar symptoms to me. I had botox for the first time 20 weeks ago and I am still suffering from puffy eye bags, bunching and loose skin under the eyes and a chipmunk smile. I am frightened that this will never return to normal, as I have seen very little improvement over the past 5 months. Everywhere I read botox is only supposed to last 3-4 months and then you return to 'normal'...but this hasn't happened to me and I'm panicking. I had very firm skin under my eyes and no bags before this episode. I hope this isn't permanent for both of us!!

Hi Chipmunk Face - I accidentally replied as a comment not a reply. My reply to your comment is below. Cheers

Thank you Tried but Failed for responding so quickly to me. It is really devasting that we are both going through such a hideous time. I went to a friends GP to have botox for the first time for a few minor crows feet, not really thinking that there could be any long term consequences. I don't know how much he injected into my face, but when he placed the injections into the top of my cheek bones I could feel an ice cold trickling of fluid falling down the insides of my cheeks towards my jaw bone. He also did lots of injections around my eyes and at the side of my temples too, as well as above my nose. Immediately after the injections I noticed my eyes were very prickly and dry and I had a massive headache and a fast heart rate for 3 days. I wasn't told of any of these side effects (apart from a droopy eyelid), and if I had any idea this could have happened I would never have even contemplated risking having botox. I used to love smiling, but know I look like a demented chipmunk when I smile. It seems to me that the fat/collagen has been disolved by the botox under my eyes and at the sides of my face. Both sides are awful still with chipmunk cheeks and a large loose fold of under eye skin running horizontal above the top of my cheek bone when I smile. Worst of all I didn't tell my husband that I'd had it done, and he (along with numerous other people) keep commenting on how tired I look, and I am too ashamed to let them know why. I had a close up picture of me smiling, taken two weeks before my botox injections, and my face is round high on the cheeks, the skin under my eyes looks very firm with a few minor crows feet in the corners. How I wish I could turn back the clock!! We mustn't give up hope though Tried but Failed, as I feel there must be some solution to our problem. I am starting to do facial exercises, but it is early days yet to see any effects. Love, hope and blessings xx

Hi Chipunk face. I know exactly how awful you are feeling because I am going through the same thing and I also wish that I could rewind this whole episode and go back to my old face. I feel like I'm living in a never ending nightmare. I also had Botox 20 weeks ago, and my outcome is very similar to yours except that I don't have swelling or hollows under my eyes, just new wrinkles. I also have cheeks that are now flat on the side and look like chipmunks cheeks when I smile. They make balls when I smile as if I'm storing an entire winter's stock of nuts. My facial proportions have changed and not for the better. My cheeks bunch up under my eyes when I smile and create new lines and I was also hoping that I would have seen an improvement by now. I do have a theory as to what causes this effect after doing a bit of research. I don't think that the collagen/ fat in your cheeks have dissolved. A muscle called the Orbicularis Olaris forms a ring around the eye. All the muscles in our face are like elastic sheets stretching in layers and overlapping one another. Fat cells are attached to the top of the muscles in our face. If Botox is injected into the Orbicularis muscle it effects the movement of the cheeks muscles called the Zugomatic Minor & Major, and the Levator Labii. These muscles lie directly under the Orbicularis and if the Orbicularis muscle is paralysed, the adjacent muscles (which overlap) are unable to move up in a normal way when we smile and the fat above the muscle is pushed away from the orbicularis because it is not moving and bunches up above the cheek muscles creating cheek ptosis (Chipmunk look). If Botox is injected directly under the eye in the Orbicularis Olar muscle, the muscle shrinks and lies flat and the overlying fat above the muscle gives an appearance of swelling and the rest of the eye looks hollow. The muscle is no longer supporting the fat and skin and creating a filled out look under the eye. If fillers are injected in combination with Botox under the eye, the effects are exaggerated (as in Tried but Failed's case) because there is no muscle to support the fat, filler and skin. I had Botox in the outer, upper eyelid and because it was injected into my ring muscles around my eyes, I have the awful chipmunk effect. I developed flu like symptoms, dry eyes, fatigue, anxiety and I felt breathless for a couple of weeks afer receiving the injections. These are all documented symptoms caused by Botox and it can also travel away from the injected site and effect other muscles. There are even reported deaths due to this occurence. The best way to reverse the negative effects is by doing facial muscle exercises that specifically target the Orbicularis Olar muscle. Once this muscle is worked and strengthened again, your symptoms should hopefully return to normal. Botox does not take 3-4 months to wear off completely. It is a marketing ploy!!! It is more realistic to expect a 6-9 month time frame. Botox is very dangerous and should be banned. I wish I knew all the true facts and info about it before I went to have this poison injected into my face. I would have run a mile and never looked back. Take care and good luck. xx

I agree botox is dangerous. If not banned, at the very least there should be way more regulation about who can administer it and way more reglation about the warnings that should be given before it is administered. The warnings should include an proper explanation of all the possible bad aesthetic results and how long these horrible faces really can last. I also think it is improper to say 'there will be no permanent changes' after it wears off because this is completely false and misleading. In fact, most of the marketing about botox is false and misleading. Even if botox typically wears off in 4-6 months that has definitely NOT been my experience and we should at least be told that it CAN last for a very long time If I knew half of what I know now, I could definitely have said NO WAY. You ladies take care too. I will post with any developments. K x

Hi Uncool, I've just come accross your reply this morning. Thank you for the information, it is very useful. It will be 22 weeks for me tomorrow and I am still looking like a chipmunk, with flattened side of my cheeks (my worse side has big dent where my cheek bone use to be), and my cheeks are as you described when I smile. I have noticed a very slight improvement when I do the squinting up exercises to strenghthen the under eye area, but I forgot to do it for a couple of days and they are nearly back to as they were a couple of weeks ago. So I will to keep doing this twice a day. One eye has improved more than the other, in that the horizontal fold is much smaller than the other and looks like a big wrinkle now. The other side (with the dented cheek bone( still looks the same when I smile, a big fold of loose skin at the top of my cheek when I smile (not very pretty!!). I did botox after peer pressure from my friends (who all seem to have had good outcomes). I've never done any type of cosmetic procedures before and I will never do any again either!! It has been a long and dark road to walk and I thank you and TBF for your friendship and support. Please keep me updated on your progress. I really hope we all recover from this dreadful experience. xx

Hi Tried but Failed, I was wondering how you are doing? Have there been any improvements over the last month? I am still unfortunately suffering from a botox induced chipmunk face and it is nearly 24 weeks. There has been a small improvement, but it is still not back to normal by any means. I fear that I may have been given a bad batch of botox or something, in addition to too much of the stuff in the wrong place. I too am starting to worry that I may suffer permanent facial damage. Chipmunk face xx

I am so pleased to hear that you are improving! I actually think my face has improved a bit too. Am hoping it is not just my imagination. Thank you too for your friendship and support during this horrible, horrible experience. I could not have made it this far without RealSelf and the help from all the excellent people on here. Fingers crossed for improvement, ladies. K x

Hiya Chipmunk Face - it is very unlikely that it is a bad batch of botox. It was just poor injecting technique and/or too much used. Week 34 and I am not back to normal so hang in there. You still have lots of improving left to go!! I do think I will have some residual damage but I don't think it is possible to work out what that will be until about a year after the botox. I am looking at a lower blepharoplasty and possibly a cheek lift but I am taking it slowly and I will make no firm decision until July this year. Keep us updated on your progress! I didn't really notice any positive change until about week 26 so maybe yours will start to massively improve right about now. Good luck, K x

Hiya Tried but Failed, thank you so much for your support. It does sound that there is still room for improvement, but I have to be more patient. I really hope that you don't have to have a lower blepharaplasty and cheek lift. I recently read somewhere that it can take up to a year to 18 months for the effects of botox to completely wear off in some people (particulary if it is repeated). That is an awfully long time, but I think it is probably worth waiting 18 months (rather than a year) before you embark on any surgery. I really hope we, and all the other real self members who've had botox disasters, come through this awful experience with no permanent damage. I think there should be much stricter regulations on who administers botox, as in the wrong hands it can have disasterous cosmetic side effects. Please keep me updated on how you are doing. xx

Thanks CF! I agree that the industry is not regulated enough and something needs to be done about the deficiency. Something also needs to be done about the misrepresentation that it only lasts 3-4 months when we all know this is crap. If my appalling aesthetic result had only lasted 3-4 months, then I still would have hated it but it would have been tolerable. This has been a 9-month nightmare seemingly without end. It is 34 weeks since the botox disaster for me and there has been some improvement but there's still a long way to go. Waiting for a bad botox result to wear off is like watching grass grow; it seems to take forever. And the detrimental impact it has had on my life - socially, professionally, personally - has been enormous. Good advice on exercising caution with the blepharoplasty and cheek lift. Thank you. I agree. The very last thing I want to do is rush into something and just make it worse. I can't see how a lower blepharoplasty could turn out properly if the muscles in the area are still affected by Botox. Surely that is just asking for another disaster? I have waited this long so I can wait a bit longer to get it right. I too was thinking 12 months might not be long enough. I think I will wait until I see no change whatsoever for six weeks in a row and then consider surgery. I don't even want to see any surgeons before then because they would not be looking at my 'real' face until the Botox is out. Then, by the time I find a surgeon and organise everything, it will be a few more months after that which should ensure that I have waited a sufficient amount of time. My birthday is in December. I was very hopeful last year that my face would have come good by my birthday (only to be bitterly disappointed) so I think it is realistic for me to aim for everything to be over, including any surgery, by December this year. Thank you for your support, advice and encouragement. I look forward to hearing about your progress too. K x

I am also very thankful for all the wonderful support and help I have received on Realself and without all of you guys, I think that I would have lost it long ago. This has been the hardest journey I have ever faced and all you amazing friends have managed to keep me sane and help me through some of my toughest days. I am hear for all of you and happy to support you in any way I can. Thanks Realself for such an amazing site! :)

Hi Uncool, I'm so pleased that you have improved so much over the last few weeks. Wonderful news!!

Thanks Chipmunk Face, I still have a bit of a way to go before I look completely like my old self, but I am looking MUCH better. My under eye area still has some faint lines that weren't there before and my upper eyelids droop slightly (from Botox), but I am seeing improvement all the time and my awful cheek bunching and facial distortion has gone...what a relief! I can face the world again without feeling all complexed. I hope that things start to improve with you too. It could be a good idea for you to do some facial muscle exercises to speed up the process and strengthen the muscles again. They have really helped me enormously. Please keep me updated on your progress. Thanks for all the support and good luck. :) xx

Hi Uncool, it is really encouraging for me to hear that you have improved so much in the past month. It gives me hope that my facial distortion will improve too. I am improving, but it is very slow. One side of my face has improved significantly more than the other side. The cheekbone area has plumped up on one side and the undereye bags are nearly gone (leaving only horizontal creases now, which I think will go in time), which is good news. However the improvement on one side has highlighted the lack of improvement on the other side of my face, giving the appearance that I've had a type of mini stroke. I was wondering what facial exercises you have been doing? I have been doing the squinting up exercies for under the eyes and I think it is helping, but I am not sure which exercises I can do to lift the cheek area. Thank you for your friendship and support xx

Hi CF, I have been doing Carolyn's Facial Exercises. I came across her on the net and did some research and found out that she works with many famous actors and celebrities and is very well known in America and rated one of the best in her field. She offers resistance exercises which are far more effective than normal ones. I purchased her DVD in December and I haven't looked back since. The results have been quite amazing. She has been very helpful and has offered me so much personal advice with all the concerns I've had - via e-mail. Her exercise programme covers the entire face and neck area which is very important because it offers an overall workout which therefore strengthens the adjacent muscles that have also been effected by Botox. I have also been using a light called the Bioptron which I think has contributed to my improved results. I sincerely hope that you soon see improvement please keep me updated on your progress. Take care and BIG hug! :)

Hi Uncool, thank you for the advice. Is it Carolyn Maggio? I looked her up on the web and she has had brilliant reviews and looks amazing too. I will send off for her DVD. I haven't heard of Bioptron, but I will also look into this too. Thank you so much for your help and kindness. Hugs xx

After more than 35 weeks I can see some improvement in the botox chipmunk face. Hang in there and don't give up. I am still waiting to receive my Carolyn's facial exercises pack but it should be any day now...

Hi TBF, I am so pleased that you have seen some improvement recently in the botox chipmunk face after so many months of psychological torment in not knowing whether there has been permanent damage or not. It does give me a lot hope that mine will improve in time too. My crows feet have returned in the past couple of weeks, but I am still waiting for my chipmunk smile and severely dented cheek (and one sided facial droop) to diminish in severity. I will also send off for Carolyn's facial exercise pack, as it will give me something constructive to do. I wish I could afford the light therapy gadget that uncool has had great success with, but it is beyond my budget at the moment. Please keep me updated on your progress xx

Thanks Chipmunk face - I think this horrible effect takes a really long time to go away. I agree that (if nothing else) the exercises will make me feel that I am doing something positive. It will be 36 weeks since botox tomorrow and there has definitely been some improvement in recent weeks but I still look like crap and would love to speed up the process! Please keep me updated on your progress too. K x

Has anyone's marriage/relationship, and or social life suffered from this? I feel like my self esteem and the fact that its not improving is taking a huge toll on my emotional and mental health...don't know what to do..even when I avoid mirrors my upper lids burn underneath and have this horrible heaviness which makes me feel it and is a constant reminder how horrendous my eyes look. Can someone whose gotten better please post a success story?

Thank you Uncool, I think I got her mixed up with Carol Maggio. Carolyn does look amazing for 64! It must really work. Perhaps these facial exercises will help us to look even better than we did prior to the botox. Wouldn't that be wonderful. Wishing you a full recovery soon xx

Hi CF, I do beleive that the exercises will make us look better than we did before we had Botox. I can already see a huge difference in my face. My skin tone has also improved tremendously. It's important to do them every day and not become lazy and start skipping days. Thanks for your kind wishes and I too hope that you fully recover very soon. xx

Hi eyeschicago, so sorry to hear that you are also going through an awful Botox experience. I know just how hard it is to face each day feeling unattractive and being self concious about your face. In which areas on your face did you have the injections? At 2+ months, you still have a bit of a way to go. Botox can take between 5-7 months to wear off and in some cases even longer, but stay positive and focus on the fact that it will wear off. Wishing you a speedy recovery and hang in there.

Hi, "Uncool." I was dealt the fatal blow in the crowsfeet, plus all over my forehead and between my brows, but I suspect it was the crowsfeet Botox shots that did me in. Also, I had Restylane on the same day. NEVER AGAIN for either of these treatments. I'd had them previously several times before (although the botox to the crowsfeet, my doc's idea, was only a second for me). Then I had hyaluronidase to dissolve it because it looked terrible, but then it looked even worse so a plastic surgeon refilled the Restylane almost immediately. Same story as tried but failed ... minus the antibiotics, I guess. Actually she thinks we look quite similar from our photos. I just hope the festoon goes away. I would even live with the black eye if I could just get rid of this bulging eye fat. I needed a bleph in the first place, but oh, no, my derm insisted that I could get away with filler ... obviously not. I went into meno in my 20s and I think at 41 now my muscle tone or orbital septum is weaker than it should be ... everything's weaker despite being on HRT all this time.

Hi eyeschicago, I've read your review and it really drives me crazy when I hear how doctors cover up for their incompetencies...sigh. If your doc admitted in the first place that the festoon was caused from the Botox injections done in the crows feet area (which was definitely the case), you would not have had the hyaluronidase injections and would have saved yourself alot of heartache. :( I suppose that all you can do now is wait for the Botox to wear off and for the filler to be fully absorbed. Only then will you be able to see if the hyaluronidase caused permanent tissue damage. If it has, you could always consider a fat transfer to fill out the area. If it's done by the right person, it is a very effective, permanent procedure. I think that you should wait at least a year before considering going for a bleph. Rather be safe than sorry. It's a really crap journey and I know that at times it is unbearable to face each day...feeling regretful and scared that it may never come right, but hang in there...I send you positive vibes and wish you all the best. Take care, Mwaah!

I wish you all lived closer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Same here!!!!!!!!!

Hi tried but failed. I know it's been almost a year but can you please update me as to whether your bad Botox symptoms eventually went away? It's been amost two months for me and there's been no improvement..

Hi tried but failed. May I ask what antibiotic you were on?

Hi there...I was botoxed mid face...(absolutely wrong place! )I was given Ciprofloxacin to ease the swelling..(wrong antibiotic) and it resulted in the symptoms strengthening. Antibiotics and Botox should never be used in close proximity of time.