Botox treatment

Botox is a neurotoxic substance produced by the bacteria Clostridium Botulinum. This sounds scarier than it is. After all, in the cosmetic world it is administered in very small amounts. Much less, for example, as when treating certain medical conditions with botox.

So botulinum toxin is a protein that has an effect on nerve cells. Explained in simple language, botulinum toxin causes the stimulus transmission from the brain cell to the muscle to be blocked.

The signal to look angry or surprised, for example, is captured by the protein so that the signal does not reach the muscle. As a result, after a Botox treatment you will not be able to control the muscle properly for several months. The muscle is absolutely not paralyzed, the muscle is just not able to listen to the signals your brain sends.

Botulinum toxin (a powder) is mixed with NaCl, which is an aqueous substance. This allows this drug to pass perfectly through a very small needle.

The pricks with botox are vicious but because the needles are so thin they are not incredibly painful. After the injection the skin may turn a little red for a few minutes and you may see a lump in the fluid. This generally goes away before you leave the clinic.

Botulinum toxin works for an average of 4 months.

So it can work 2-3 months for one person and 4-6 months for another and everything in between. However, if you neatly repeat your botox treatment every 3 months for the first year there is a good chance it will continue to work a little longer after that.

When the muscle is not used you will see that the muscle becomes thinner. As a result, the muscle gives less counterforce so that the drug can work longer. This has been proven in scientific research but unfortunately does not give a guarantee.

In very rare cases we see immunity to botulinum toxin type A. Then you see that the drug only works for a few weeks and it is better to look for other solutions.

Read all about how long botox works and how to keep results as long as possible here

Botox is suitable for addressing small and fine lines caused by muscle tension. So for example, frown lines, forehead wrinkles (also called forehead lines) or crow’s feet.

Botox does not actually treat wrinkles but prevents the wrinkles and folds that have formed from deepening. Or if you start very early botox ensures that the wrinkles and folds do not develop.

For example, when you often look very angry or focused you push frown wrinkles into your skin, so to speak. For the first 20 years of your life, however, this will not have much effect.

But due to natural skin aging and collagen and elastin decreasing in the skin, your skin can no longer repair itself as well so the wrinkle eventually remains in the skin.

When a botox treatment stops you from looking so angry, the wrinkle won’t deepen and may even fade in time. After all, the skin renews itself daily and new wrinkles do not get a chance. Provided you always have the treatment done on time.

Botox is a drug because it has been used since the 1980s to address medical conditions. It was discovered by accident in the 1990s that it also works well to prevent or blur wrinkles.

However, only a very small amount is then needed. Over the years, so much research has been done with this drug and so many people have been treated that we now know a great deal about this treatment and this drug.

Therefore, when botox is injected properly, we see little to no side effects, and there are also no known long-term adverse effects. Incidentally, in hospitals, botox is also used in larger quantities in children with muscle spasms, for example. This also says a lot about the safety and effectiveness of botox.

It is important not to lie down immediately after treatment with botox or rub too much in the area where injected.

Botox can then move a little bit (diffuse) so that it gets into adjacent muscles which can give an unwanted effect. In addition, we often see some redness due to the injection, this often goes away within 10 minutes. In some cases a small blue spot may appear. There are many vessels in the skin that cannot be seen with the naked eye.

There is always a chance that a vessel will be punctured. In that case, we immediately close the vessel with a gauze so that it does not become very blue. Severe allergic reactions are rare or never seen. These are described in the literature, but we have not experienced them at Ivy Clinics in all the years.

A botox treatment does not last very long.

You and the doctors determine which areas to treat. Pictures are taken. The doctor cleans the skin, marks off the puncture points and injects just next to the white dots of the pencil.

Then we press the spot closed briefly with a gauze and the treatment is finished. The treatment is recorded extensively in a file so that the doctor can see exactly what you received in a previous treatment the next time.

Botox does not work immediately.

The first effect can be seen and also felt between 2-4 days. The botox starts working a little more each day and on day 14 the effect is optimal.

Thus, any follow-up checkup and post-treatment should take place between 14 and 21 days.

Read all about the effects and duration of Botox here

Botox and fillers are often mentioned in the same word(injectables) but they are really two completely different remedies.

Roughly speaking, you can say that on the upper side of the face (frown, forehead, crow’s feet) wrinkles are best treated with botox and on the lower side (corners of the mouth, nose lip crease, chin wrinkles, cheek bones) you usually opt for fillers.

To make the right choice, the cause of the wrinkle must be considered. Is it caused by muscle tension, or has a crease developed because skin aging has caused certain areas of the face to sag more?

Depending on this, a choice is made and sometimes a combination of botox and fillers is the best choice. For example, in the case of frown lines. When frown lines are deep you can gently fill them with a little filler but then it is very essential that the muscles of the frown are also treated with botox.

When you don’t do this, there remains movement in the frown and that way the filler disappears much faster and this would be a waste.

It is important not to lie down or rub the injection area directly for the first few hours.

Although the chances are small, you might in fact diffuse the product a bit by doing so, causing it to spread to other muscles. Furthermore, we recommend not exercising for the first 48 hours, and not going to a sauna or under a tanning bed for over a week.

Botox and filler treatments we offer at all locations: Amsterdam, Amstelveen, Westervoort and Den Bosch.

Ivy clinics, formerly Huisartskliniek Westervoort, was founded in 2007, and that’s how long Dr. Adamo has been working with botox.

In addition, he is certified as a cosmetic physician KNMG. All doctors working at Ivy clinics have also completed multiple training courses, both internally and externally or previous work experience.