I’ve got an interesting post for you today on how I get the best Botox treatment results in crow’s feet, without looking unnatural.
It is a common issue I see with a lot of people who’ve had Botox. And maybe you’ve experienced it too.
Often, I walk down the street and notice people who have had Botox in their crow’s feet. I can tell right away that they’ve had Botox because it doesn’t look natural.
Unfortunately, if you get Botox but it doesn’t improve your attractiveness, then you might as well not have it done at all.
Sure Botox can get rid of wrinkles but if it’s not done properly, it’s better to go just natural rather than have it done poorly.
ADDRESSING CROW’S FEET WITH BOTOX INJECTIONS
Orbiculais Oculi
Crow’s feet are a very common concern. When people smile they don’t like the lines that radiate from the corner of the eye outwards.
Botox can be used to treat and relax the orbicularis oculi muscle… which is the muscle that contracts and creates the lines out from the corner of the eye.
Quick note.. you can’t really treat under eye wrinkles with Botox. That tends to be more of an issue of skin laxity but certainly you can easily treat crow’s feet with Botox.
Remember, crow’s feet – are really – a positive expression, so it’s okay to have a few crow’s feet.
Young people have crow’s feet and they still look young. So crow’s feet is something you may want to moderate or reduce but certainly it’s not something you want to get rid of completely.
Unlike say, the frown, which there’s no real upside to frown lines.
SIGNS OF POORLY INJECTED BOTOX
So what are the signs of poorly done Botox around the eye area?
- it doesn’t balance with the rest of the face and
- it doesn’t balance with the under eye area
Before moving into how to correctly address these concerns, lets first begin by setting the right expectations for treatment.
REFRAMING CROW’S FEET TREATMENT EXPECTATIONS
Most patients will come in and want to completely obliterate any sign of crow’s feet… and that’s always a mistake.
It’s important for me to advise that getting rid of crow’s feet altogether is not necessarily a good thing.
On the contrary, it’s important to leave some crow’s feet to have some normal contraction. The better solution is to get a moderate dose of Botox around the crow’s feet.
If you inject too much Botox, it literally holds your eyes a bit open and you get a very sort of wrinkle-less look on the sides of the eyes that looks irregular when you smile.
That happens because your face doesn’t contract naturally.
UNDERSTANDING NATURAL FACIAL EXPRESSION
Zygomaticus major
When you smile there are two main muscles that create crow’s feet.
First, it’s the zygomaticus muscle which goes from the corner mouth up to the temple and pulls upwards, elevates the cheek and pulls the corner of the mouth up.
We can’t inject Botox into this muscle because, if we did it, would look like you had a stroke. So this muscle which contributes to the formation of the crow’s feet will go untreated.
That leaves us with the orbicularis oculi muscle as the treatable muscle and if we overt treat this muscle the whole expression of that area changes.
As a result, the Zygomaticus muscle continues to pull up but the orbicularis muscle which has been overtreated with Botox is frozen.
So you get this elevation of the cheek and no movement around the eyes which makes the whole expression incorrect and unnatural looking.
The specific placement of Botox around the eyes is really important and too often I see incorrect placement of Botox around the eyes which again leads to a very unnatural appearance.
There are two main issues I see…
Injecting Botox too close to the eyes, or too close to the orbital rim of the eye socket. The problem with this approach is you prevent the contraction of the wrinkles completely.
The most effective way to address this, is to inject Botox further away from the orbital rim on the eyes so that you get to have a little bit of wrinkles while avoiding the lines to extend out.
Another big issue I see with Botox, which is a dead giveaway, is that if someone can tell you’ve had Botox… it’s not good Botox.
Botox should be done in such a way it cannot be detected. In fact that’s the best results with all cosmetic treatments.
You don’t want someone to look at you and notice that you’ve had something done, right?!
That’s a bad treatment basically.
Another problem I notice, is Botox being injected in the bottom corner of the eye. Either too big a dose or local placement that is too close to the eye.
Doing so causes unnatural elevation of the cheeks.
When you smile the cheeks elevate, but if you over-Botox this point or inject too close up to the eye, what happens is the skin below the eye doesn’t move when you smile.
And the orbicularis oculi muscle can no longer elevate the cheek normally.
It causes what looks like a shelf or ledge when you smile.
So that looks awful and again a dead giveaway that you’ve had Botox.
One of the areas many patients want to address are wrinkles under the eye.
But it is very important to understand that you must have a little bit of natural movement and wrinkling there, otherwise it will look unnatural.
TREATING CROW’S FEET TAKES EXPERIENCE
In conclusion, Botox around the eyes requires experience and precision in order to get natural looking results.
It has to be done with a lot of care, the right dose, the right placement so that you don’t look unnatural and overdone.
You should look like yourself, but refreshed!
If you are looking to try Botox near Modesto, Ca, call our office to schedule a Botox Consultation to find out if Botox is the right treatment for you.
Until next time, stay beautiful!
