CORRECTING BAD BOTOX, AND HOW TO AVOID IT

Even if you’ve never had Botox injections before yourself and you don’t know anyone who has, chances are good that you’ve seen “bad Botox” – the aftermath of Botox injections that look too obvious or just not right. It’s happened to celebrities and internet or reality personalities, so you’ve probably seen them or people making fun of them. It can make you hesitant to even consider the injections for yourself. But is this a common outcome? Can it be fixed? Should you really be avoiding it?

HOW DOES BAD BOTOX HAPPEN?

Generally speaking, bad Botox is what happens when you’re not happy with the look you end up with. Usually, it’s when your face ends up looking asymmetrical or overly frozen in place – although there is some debate about the “too frozen” look, because while some people consider that a mistake, others like and request it.

But keeping that in mind, typically, both the professional administering the injections and the person receiving them should agree on what the final result will look like. And if the final result doesn’t look the way that they planned, it’s bad. It happens when someone injects too much Botox or injects in a place where they shouldn’t have injected in the first place.

HOW TO AVOID THIS

Things happen, so you do want to know if and how bad Botox can be corrected if it happens. But it’s easier to avoid bad Botox in the first place, and you can seriously minimize your chances of bad Botox happening to you if you know how to avoid it.

First of all, you should be aware of the different types of injections out there. “Botox” is a brand name for botulinum toxin injections, but there are other brand names as well, including Dysport, Xeomin, and Jeuveau. One might be better than the others for your individual needs.

You’ll also want to do some research on who will be administering your Botox injections. You want a reputable provider with a good track record. Do not pick a provider just because they’re inexpensive or in your neighborhood – you’re taking a gamble if you don’t ensure that you’re choosing someone who has success stories and follows accepted procedures for these injections.

Finally, you will want to have a consultation before you go ahead with the actual injections. The provider should know more about how the injections work than you do, so it’s possible that their method won’t look the exact way that you envision. But the two of you should be able to come to an agreement on what you want and what it should look like, and what needs to be done to reach that point.

CORRECT BOTOX WITH MORE BOTOX?

Even when you try to do everything right, sometimes mistakes can happen. Can they be corrected? It depends. If your face is asymmetrical after Botox injections, it might be correctable… with more Botox. Does that sound strange?

If you’ve ever tried to cut your own hair and ended up with one side shorter than the other, you’ll know that you can’t simply grow out the shorter side immediately, so what you’ll need to do to even it up is cut the longer side a little to match. Botox is similar. If one side of your face has more than the other, it can lead to an asymmetrical look, and injecting more Botox into the side that has less may be the solution. Since beauty standards have a lot to do with symmetry, it may be worth more Botox to achieve that symmetry.

PATIENCE

Of course, it’s also important to know when to stop. Sometimes more Botox won’t help at all. An example is a frozen-faced look. While some people may like it, some don’t, and if you wind up with a frozen face that you didn’t want, that’s definitely an example of bad Botox. But there’s not much you can do about it – more Botox certainly won’t fix it.

There is good news, though. Botox is not a permanent treatment. At most, the effects will last for 10 to 12 weeks. That means that in the worst-case scenario, you still need only to wait it out for up to three months, and then your face will be back to normal. Is it easy to be patient about the idea of your face looking a way you don’t want it to for several months? Probably not… but in the long run, it’s a relatively short amount of time. It’s much less difficult than, say, having surgery on your face that doesn’t end up looking the way you want it to. You just have to have patience, and it will wear off.

MAKEUP TRICKS

Even if you just have to wait it out, that doesn’t mean that you can’t do anything in the meantime. Makeup and hairstyling can’t reverse the effects of bad Botox, but they can hide it. You might need to even your eyebrows out with brow pencils or powder, or learn how to give yourself winged eyeliner to hide a drooping eye. Even parting your hair differently can have an effect on the overall look of your face and can cover for an asymmetry.

COPPER AND ZINC

One more thing to try is treatments that contain copper. While it’s not a proven treatment, one study does suggest that copper inhibits the effects of botulinum toxin. You might try copper-containing topical treatments or even copper supplements.

While you’re at it, you should also be aware of zinc – not as a possible way to reverse bad Botox, but as something you should avoid if you have bad Botox. Zinc is believed to enhance the effects of Botox – to the extent that some providers prescribe zinc supplements to patients after a Botox treatment – so if you have a Botox treatment you want to get rid of, think about cutting out the zinc in your skin treatments and cutting down on zinc-heavy foods in your diet.

Remember that bad Botox can often be avoided and that even if it happens, it doesn’t mean that all injections you receive will be bad. You might just need a different brand or different provider.