The Truth About Getting Botox in Your 20’s and 30’s

Here's what happens after you do botox.
Here's what happens after you do botox.

More young women are needling their face to smooth out lines that hardly exist yet.

By Carson Griffith

Botox: It's not just for Real Housewives anymore.

Young women in their 20s make up 30 percent of Botox fans, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. And the number of teenagers springing for Botox-coined "teentox"- has risen 800 percent in the last year alone, a recent CBS report said.

Botox babies might not realize that the prickly procedure, which involves paralyzing wrinkles and lines with toxin injections, doesn't instantaneously transform your mug into a flawless dream. This was the case for Christina, 29, who first got a combination of Botox and wrinkle-filler Juvaderm at the age of 26, with the encouragement of her friends. "We got it as a package deal together," she explains. At the time, she had it injected "in between my eyebrows, throughout the majority of my forehead, and above my eyebrows," but admits: "I don't think anyone can even tell (that I got Botox) but me."

If you, like Christina, are in your twenties and entertaining the idea, consider what actually goes down after that needle pieces your skin.

Related: 25 Wacky Questions About Plastic Surgery

Minutes

Ouch! Okay, so there was a pinch. But numbing ointments and/or shots might help with the pain.

"The weirdest part of it for me is the instant 'I can't move my forehead feeling,'" Christina says. "My face feels tighter and like I have less control over it. It's annoying." Christina says a couple of blood drops are normal. She adds: "I can't see the results off the bat."

"Some people do feel a mild, headache-y feeling afterwards, so they take Advil or Tylenol," says Brian Bonanni, MD, of Gotham Skincare.

Doctors commonly offer patients ice packs to hold on areas that are injected. As for visible bruising, it's different for every patient.

Days

"Because you are injecting small amounts of liquid, you can notice some bruising or swelling, which goes away in 24 hours," says Dr. Bonanni. "The full effect of Botox takes a couple days. They normally say three to five days, and the full effects can take up to two weeks. It's different for everyone."

"No one can ever tell I've gotten it right afterwards, which really is one of the best parts of it," Christina gushed. "I've gone right back to the office afterwards, and go out that night."

Juvaderm, however, which she has had injected into her upper-lip on two separate occasions, was a different story.

"It caused swelling and some bruising that took a couple days to go away," she admits, saying the injection spots on the inside of her lips were particularly dark purple and "gruesome to look at." "The right side of my lip drooped more than the left side for about a day and a half until the Juvaderm settled, but I think I was the only one who could notice... I hope," she says.

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Weeks

"I don't have very many wrinkles so it's hard to tell when the Botox starts to fade," Christina says.

"Until that one to two week period, you don't know what the effect is really," Dr.Bonanni explains. Patients new to Botox and fillers are sometimes unaware of this. "I get people calling up three days later about not seeing it, and after that one week period they'll say 'Okay, never mind,'" he said.

Christina reports that it takes about a week for her to really see the full results. "At about five days my skin will look shiny and perfect," she says.

Still, "financially, I probably just should have waited," Christina admits. Botox that what would have cost her about $650 set her back $250 because of the special package deal. But on top of the agreed-upon fee, she ended up paying an additional cost for Juvaderm to have her upper-lift "slightly" injected. "The first time I went I think the cost was just a little over $500," she explains.

"It's so expensive... I would have been better off waiting until I was at least 30 to have tried it for the first time, like I had originally planned," she says. "It's expensive and addictive, and makes you more judgmental of yourself," she admits.


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