Welcome to S+A’s very first blog post where I’m going to talk about one of my favorite treatments– tox like Botox, Dysport, and Jeuveau! Looking for ways to keep your skin healthy? Unfortunately for us all, it takes more than just a 3-in-1 shampoo, conditioner, and body wash used all over. As we age, our skin begins losing its elasticity, making fine lines and wrinkles start showing up. Even with the most excellent skin products, your face will lose volume and get wrinkles; however, at Skin + Aesthetics, we offer several treatment options to help delay the body’s inevitable tactics to make us look older!

One treatment option that I personally love is neuromodulators, or what I like to call “tox“! Using a personalized treatment plan created by your provider, treatments with tox injections like Botox, Dysport, Xeomin, Jeuveau, or Daxxify can delay early signs of aging and keep your skin smooth, plump, and free of wrinkles. Today I want to dive into how tox can help you!

Active Signs of Aging

The area around your eyes is often one of the first locations to show signs of aging. These lines, called crow’s feet, are the little lines that spread out from your eyes and are created when you smile. You can also get deep wrinkles between your brows from frowning or squinting or forehead lines from raising your eyebrows. The older I get, the more I realize that I shouldn’t have laughed at Kim and Kanye years ago when they decided to stop showing all emotion, as they probably prevented a lot of wrinkles during that time!

Patients generally think about starting anti-aging treatments as early as their 30s, when their collagen production has already started to slow down and the skin has begun losing its youthful glow. While I am a huge advocate for using proper skincare, if you are only relying on a skincare routine to fight unwanting aging signs, you are selling yourself short! Tox (or what many patients simply call “Botox” because that particular brand has turned into the Kleenex of the tox world) is a key part of preventing aging!

How Botox and Tox Slow Down Aging

Tox is an injection made from a purified bacterium called botulinum toxin. It temporarily weakens the muscles, which is why we target it directly into the muscles that produce fine lines and wrinkles that you want rid of. Tox works by stopping nerve signals from telling muscles to tighten. Research shows that your skin begins losing its elasticity and tone in your late 20s. This means that lines and wrinkles start showing up on your face when you repeatedly use the same facial expressions, which is why my constant scowl started to turn into 11s when I was about 26. When tox is injected into the muscles, they relax and the wrinkles caused by those muscles smooth out because the muscles temporarily stop moving. As soon as I started tox injections, my 11s were gone!

Tox injections can give you results that last on average around three to four months. Our providers at Skin + Aesthetics make a treatment plan specific to the parts of your appearance that you don’t like. We pride ourselves on producing results that look natural, so you can look just like a refreshed version of yourself. Tox doesn’t just stop there though, there are even more benefits!

Lessen Acne

Tox can help if adult acne is still a part of your life. Don’t get me wrong on this; tox isn’t the solution for acne, as we have multiple treatment options to treat acne depending on your specific acne breakouts. However, tox works by blocking acetylcholine, which is linked to the skin’s oil or sebum production among other things. Because oil can turn into a breeding ground for the bacteria that causes our breakout, by reducing the oil (and therefore the bacteria), patients see some improvement in their acne and healthier, less oily skin after tox injections. Clear my skin and keep my skin from wrinkling? Yes, please, sign me up!

Say Goodbye To That Sweat

Hyperhidrosis, which is the medical term for sweating too much, can really impact patients’ quality of life and I understand this greatly, as I grew up with a family member with hyperhidrosis and saw firsthand how summers especially were absolutely miserable. In the skin, tox selectively turns off the sweat glands, which gives patients a temporary hiatus from the fear of sweat rings from simply walking across a parking lot. While tox injections in the face typically show the benefit of preventing wrinkles for 3-4 months, injecting tox for hyperhidrosis typically shows effects lasting an average of 6-12 months. This treatment boasts extremely high patient satisfaction rates of up to 98 percent, which have been documented in various clinical studies.

You may be wondering how exactly tox to the ‘pits is done and how painful it is. The good news is that the injections to this area are performed with the smallest available needle and are only skin deep. Prior to your injections, we can gladly apply a topical anesthetic to make you more comfortable during the injections. If sweaty palms are your problem area rather than the underarms, do know that the palms have thicker skin that is more difficult to numb, leading to more discomfort with injection. It is also worth noting that after treatment of the hands, some patients report a temporary weakening of their grip, lasting an average of two to three weeks.

Smooths Your Lips with Botox/Tox

Annoyed by fine lines around your mouth in addition to lines and wrinkles around your eyes, forehead, and brows? Botox and other tox brands can sometimes smooth out the small lines around your lips (sometimes called “smokers’ lines” but more frequently actually caused by straws) depending on the severity of them and can also make your lips appear bigger by weakening the muscle that runs around the mouth (the procedure that you may have heard referred to as a “lip flip”).

Botox and Tox- Safe & Effective

Botox and other tox brands can temporarily relax the muscles where it is injected. Because of this unique quality, it works well to smooth out lines and wrinkles and can be used in a number of areas, which I’ll post about soon. Tox was first approved in 1989 (although for a different indication), so while it has had more attention in recent years, it certainly isn’t new. It is a thoroughly studied treatment, so we know the risks and benefits and will go over all of those prior to your injections.

Keeping a Healthy Skincare Routine

As you know, I’ve been in dermatology for ten years, which means that I can’t end this post without mentioning that while I love tox, the greatest secret to keeping your skin healthy is to remember to practice sun safety such as applying SPF routinely, wearing sun-safe clothing and hats, and avoiding sun exposure during peak times.

If you’re interested in scheduling a Botox, Dysport, or Jeuveau treatment, the good news is that Skin + Aesthetics offers tox treatments to Cookeville and surrounding areas and you can simply click here. Otherwise, as always, if you have any questions regarding tox treatments or any other services we offer, feel free to reach out to me! I’m always here to help! Now to go get my tox treatment, which I’m long overdue for…

Until next time,

Blakelee Paige Smith, MSN, APRN, AGPCNP-BC, NP-C

Skin + Aesthetics