It is fortunate that most of the side effects are uncommon, mild and transient.

The most common side effects are:

headache
a flu-like syndrome
pain, swelling or bruising at the site of injections

The side effect that is of most concern for the patient and the practitioner of botox injections is the effect on the muscles.  This comes on when there is too much botox, too little botox, or botox effect on other than the intended muscles.

Too much botox for the treatment of face wrinkles results in near paralysis of the target muscle, resulting in the production of a mask-like face which does not wrinkle no matter how much the patient tries.  Although this may be a desired effect on some western societies, especially in the area of film-making, this is not so in eastern societies, who prefer a minimization of wrinkles rather than complete absence of movement.

Too little botox obviously produces little or no effect on the target muscle, and the face wrinkle is only lessened slightly, needing further injections.

Wrong muscles: this results from either the wrong muscles being injected accidentally, or the unintended diffusion of the botox into adjacent muscles.  Thus we can see occasional double vision that results from diffusion of botox into the muscles of movement of the eyeball.

As said before, even these side effects wear off with time, and the patient is back to normal within 4 – 6 months.  Apparently recovery is speeded up by regular exercise of the affected muscles or the application of hot compresses which are supposed to increased the speed of breakdown of the injected botox.

Frown Lines Before and After Botax

The face wrinkle that is commonly deemed to be the most unpleasant is the frown line.  Imagine the eyebrows knotted together, as one would when one is facing the sun, but this time even when there is no sun. Imagine the frown lines present all the time whenever you are facing people. It gives people the impression that you are displeased with something or other. Ultimately people start avoiding you as they do not want to be the object of your displeasure or unhappiness.

In the beginning these frown lines are easily treated by the usage of botox injections. Also commonly referred to as Botax injections, these are purified toxins of a bacteria known as Clostridium botulinum type A. Injected into the muscles of frowning, they weaken or paralyze these muscles so the area of skin in between the eyebrows remains smooth as you talk to people, a most pleasant experience. A total of anywhere between 12 to 24 units of Botax is injected for an effect that lasts between 4 to 6 months.

Sometimes the frown lines have been in existence for too long, and the lines become permanent static wrinkles.  In this case the lines do not vanish completely even with Botax injection, and a face filler is needed to smoothen out the defect.