It’s never too early to start fighting wrinkles. Does that mean you need Botox right away? Maybe. At any age, you need a good skin care regimen with the daily application of sunscreen and retinol. However, you may need to add Botox or Dysport to your skin care plan earlier than you thought.
When Should You Start Botox?
As soon as you notice your glabella crease (the “eleven” between your eyebrows), you need to lessen the strength of the muscle. Some people in their 20s, especially grad students, start to feel heaviness between their eyebrows. They may start to get headaches from looking at their computers all day. Those are the people who benefit the most from starting Botox early.
When you start to feel the heaviness, you’ve started the habit of creasing that muscle. If we break that habit with Botox now, then hopefully, we can prevent deep forehead wrinkles at the age of 50.
As these facial wrinkles develop, a little Botox can stop them before they deepen. You want to stop the damage before it happens, and Botox works preemptively to keeps those wrinkles at bay. It can also raise your eyebrows if you’re looking for that benefit.
How Do Facial Wrinkles Form?
The more you smile and show expression, the more lines and wrinkles you form. And for those with forehead wrinkles, creams won’t make much difference. Remember, these lines come from repeated creasing. As your skin folds repeatedly, you’ll find that the lines start to deepen. Think of your skin like paper. If you bend it a little, it has flexibility. However, if you crease it over and over, a line forms.
To compound the problem, we lose volume in our faces with age. The less fat there is to cushion the movement, the more susceptible your skin becomes to wrinkles. Fillers work alongside Botox or Dysport to keep your skin cushioned when it does crease.
What Are the Long-Term Results of Starting Botox Early?
If you deal with the wrinkles before or as they start to form, you’ll save yourself money and end up with smoother skin.
Many people come to us at 60 wanting a miracle to get rid of their forehead wrinkles. At that point, a cream won’t fix the problem. Even one Botox treatment can’t erase the lines. It takes much more work to smooth out the skin once it’s been creased that long.
At that point, you need to relax the muscle for about 2 years to make the wrinkle disappear. It takes regular Botox treatments every 3-4 months plus the use of retinol to help you shed the top layer of skin. When the muscles start to atrophy, you can space out treatments.
Once the body has absorbed that line, it’s difficult to correct. Yet, if you’ve started preventative Botox treatments young, you never develop the line at all.
There’s no miracle cream to erase lines. They’ll get rid of the top layer of skin so that the indent is not as noticeable. But unless you do something that corrects the problem by working with the muscle, then you really won’t see any true change.
If you want visibly smoother skin, you want Botox or Dysport! Contact us here to schedule a Botox consultation.
Dr. R. Todd Plott is a board-certified dermatologist in Coppell, Keller, and Saginaw, TX. His specialization and professional interests include treating patients suffering with acne, identifying and solving complex skin conditions such as psoriasis, rosacea, atopic dermatitis, and identifying and treating all types of skin cancers. In his spare time, Dr. Plott enjoys cycling, traveling with his wife, and spending time with his children and new grandson.
Learn more about Dr. Plott.