Aesthetic Medicine London

Botulinum Toxin

One of the best, if not the best, treatment options for the prevention and treatment of wrinkles produced by the combined effect of sun-damage and the normal ageing process, is Botulinum Toxin (or "BTX" as many people might call it avoiding a conflict with a brand of a certain company, because there is copyright on the use of the name).

Wrinkles are created along time by the repetition of a movement on the skin by some muscles of the face, as for example happens when frowning, if the movement is repeated frequently. So the way of preventing it is to avoid moving the skin, or in other words, to avoid moving the muscles that will move the skin, and BTX will do that.

It works by blocking the transmission between the nerves and the muscles, and as a consequence of that effect, the muscles will not be able to move for a certain period of time. It is a reversible effect.

The blocking effect will last around 4 to 6 months usually, but in some cases it might last for a bit longer. There are no fixed rules on this, as personal variations will intervene.

The treatment is just a number of minimal injections on the area to be treated, and in the right hands, this procedure is almost painless.

Prevention

Without doubt, the main reason to have the treatment done with BTX is to prevent the wrinkles, either to appear at all, or to go further.

In the best case, the aim will be to prevent or avoid the wrinkles to appear, but if the wrinkles are already visible, then the aim will be to avoid those wrinkles to be more visible and prominent (avoid them going deeper into the skin), and eventually to make the wrinkles less noticeable.