Frequently asked questions

Are you interested in a little wrinkle relaxation but wondering what it will feel like on your bank balance? Well, I can give you some generalities, however we pride ourselves on individualizing every patient’s treatment to their own muscle activity so final determination is made at the time of your visit. There are currently 4 neurotoxins on the market (as of 5/1/2022) with another coming this fall. They have lots of similarities, but are not equivalent...so it isn't easy to compare one to the other, especially when their "unit" is a measure of personality and you have your own variables to take into account. Below is a snapshot of basic concepts for newbies. But even veterans should keep in mind every visit is a new session, and may require adjustment from the last. Men tend to have stronger muscle groups so should expect to need more than the ladies--up to twice as much! Sure, their dry cleaning is less expensive, but their tox budget is more! The area between your eyebrows, you know, the “angry 11’s” is a very strong muscle group which includes 3 – 5 muscles in total all wanting to pull down. I talk of this group as the “driver” for the muscle activity of the face—hitting it is priority 1! On average ladies receive 20 units as the sweet spot here, sometimes less, sometimes more. The forehead is generally a thin sheet of muscle that covers a lot of real-estate. Dosing here is tricky. The forehead’s job is to hold up the eyebrows, so putting too much in here has the risk of dropping it. Contrary to what you may think, there is no way to put toxin in the forehead to get your brows to go up. It is not physiologically possible. Usual dosing here is 8-16 units, most of it goes high near the hairline, a tiny amount can go lower—but too much low may drop your brows so living with that little rainbow wrinkle might be something you have to acclimate to. Crow’s feet, or professionally known as lateral canthus lines, are frustrating for some but others like to let their eyes smile. If the sphincter muscle around your eye is naturally pulling the corner of your brow down, sometimes we can get a bit of lift—but for some it has little effect. Treating the crow’s feet is typically 6 units on each side for a little softening, or 12 u each side for “closer to gone”. Of course, this is just a ballpark. There are other “off label” areas that we can treat with neurotoxin like bunny lines on the nose (6-10u), gummy smile reduction (2-4u), lip flip, chin dimpling (6-10u), and frown face around the mouth (6-10u). So how much you’ll need, really depends on your muscle and which areas you’d like to enhance! How much filler you’ll need is an entirely different question…