At Priority You MD in Clearwater, FL, we offer Botox, a minimally invasive treatment that targets fine lines and wrinkles that form on the upper half of the face. The treatment is quick, virtually painless, and you won’t have to plan around any downtime. However, there are some things you should avoid those first 24 to 48 hours following your initial treatment. Following these directions carefully will ensure that your results are uninterrupted and produce your desired outcome.
What Should You Avoid After Botox?
Avoid Strenuous Exercise
One of the number one rules after receiving Botox is to avoid any form of strenuous exercise. If you have to get in a workout, make sure you do it before your appointment. Doing so will help you avoid interrupting your results and ending up with a less-than-perfect outcome.
Why You Should Avoid It
Exercising after a Botox appointment is never a good idea. It can negatively affect your injection site since exercise increases blood flow. This can result in the diffusion of the injectable’s ingredients. Performing various exercises puts pressure on your face since you typically move into different positions while exercising. Facial pressure and increased blood flow to your treatment sites are two things you want to avoid after your appointment.
What To Do Instead
If you want to move your body, you should wait at least 24 hours before resuming your normal workout schedule. However, mild activity like walking is the best way to get your steps in for the day while avoiding interrupting your results.
Avoid Heat
After your appointment, you should also avoid any situation that increases your body temperature. You’re typically advised to avoid tanning beds, saunas, hot tubs, and steam rooms, but not everyone frequents these settings regularly. What’s more important is that you avoid excessive heat, which can be as simple as cooking over a hot stove while boiling water. You should avoid any type of condition that puts your face or body in excessive heat.
Why You Should Avoid It
Subjecting yourself and your body to excessive heat after your injections can increase your risk of bruising. Not only should you avoid saunas and hot tubs and other hot environments, but you should also refrain from taking a hot shower or bath for at least 24 hours after your appointment. Opt instead for a lukewarm shower to avoid increasing the risk of interrupting your results.
What To Do Instead
If you aren’t a fan of cold showers, exercise before your appointment and then shower immediately after so that you can wait a day before subjecting yourself to hot water again. Don’t plan on making any dinners that will require that you stand in front of a hot stove, especially over boiling water with a lot of steam.
Avoid Lying Down
Once you undergo this treatment, you will want to remain on your feet. One of the most important aftercare instructions regarding this particular injectable is that you keep your head elevated to avoid the migration of the injectable ingredients. Once Botox is injected into your muscles, you want it to stay put.
Why You Should Avoid It
Lying down after an injection appointment can increase the chance of disrupting the ingredients and altering their effectiveness. Additionally, lying down any sooner than four hours after your treatment can put pressure on your treatment sites, which is something else that you want to avoid.
What To Do Instead
To give yourself enough time in an upright position, schedule your injection appointment early in the day. This will ensure that you have four hours to remain upright to ensure that the ingredients in this injectable stay put. Plan on activities that will keep you upright after your appointment, like shopping, lunch with a friend, or returning to work for the second half of the day. Typically, this is not a difficult directive to follow, and most patients have no problem staying upright.
Don’t Schedule Any Facial Treatments
If you are in the habit of undergoing regular facials or facial treatments, schedule them around your Botox appointment. You should avoid scheduling any type of cosmetic treatment within two weeks of your injection. Once those two weeks have passed, you can move forward and resume your normal beauty routine.
Limit Caffeine and Avoid Alcohol
It’s important that once you undergo this treatment, you avoid alcohol for at least 24 hours. Additionally, you should limit your caffeine consumption and try to avoid your morning cup of coffee or drink it well before your scheduled injection appointment. Doing so will ensure that you get the best results. Both caffeine and alcohol can dilate the blood vessels beneath the skin, which is counterintuitive to your results.
Schedule your appointment around events that will serve alcohol, like work functions or happy hour. Doing so will ensure that you get your anti-aging fix, and you won’t have to miss out on a social or work event.
Don’t Touch Your Face
Keeping your skin free from bacteria and excess oil and debris is one reason not to touch your face, but when you receive Botox injections, it’s even more important that you avoid touching in the treatment area. This helps keep it sanitary and keeps any dirt or bacteria from entering your treatment sites.
Avoid Stomach Sleeping
Sleeping on your stomach can be catastrophic to your results because it will put pressure on the treatment sites. If you’re not a back sleeper, you will need to be for at least one night after your appointment. Knowing that your results are at stake will motivate you to take every measure possible and avoid sleeping on your face.
Botox FAQs
How Long Will It Take To See My Results?
Most patients experience their final results within two weeks of their initial appointment. Unlike dermal filler appointments, you will not walk out with an immediate improvement in your lines and wrinkles, but you will see results. Your results may take a little longer to appear as the ingredients effectively relax the muscles treated, but you will see results, and you will love them.
How Long Does Botox Last?
Most patients experience results that last for three to six months. Your body determines how long your results last, but there are some steps that you can take to ensure the most long-lasting results possible. Avoiding excessive exercise will help your body not metabolize the ingredients as quickly.
Additionally, you can add a zinc supplement to your morning vitamin routine since studies show a positive correlation between long-lasting results from this injectable and high zinc levels in the body.
Can I Treat Multiple Areas of My Face at One Appointment?
Yes, you can treat multiple areas during one appointment. We can use this injectable to treat the neck and create a smoother appearance, free of lines, bands, and wrinkles. We can also use it to sculpt the face, contour the jawline, and reduce the appearance of frown lines, forehead lines, and crow’s feet.
Additionally, if you have experienced excessive underarm sweating, we can help resolve it with this injectable. This treatment can help reduce your total sweat output for anywhere from one to one and a half years total when injected into the armpit.
The Liquid Facelift
We can use both Botox and dermal fillers to help deliver the most comprehensive treatment. This treatment combines two injectables and is called the Liquid Facelift, which helps address expression lines and volume loss to sculpt your face, address the signs of aging, and help you feel like the best version of yourself.
Am I a Candidate?
If you are not happy with your appearance and the aging process has begun to leave its mark on your skin, you may be a good candidate for this injectable. An initial consultation with one of our expert injectors is the best way to determine your candidacy for this treatment. We will review your health history to ensure that you’re not allergic to the injectable and create your treatment plan.
Address Aging the Easy Way
Aging happens to everyone, but you have a say in how it affects your face. Thanks to this popular and effective cosmetic injectable, we can help reverse the signs of aging and help you feel like the best version of yourself. Contact us today at Priority You MD in Clearwater, FL to schedule your initial consultation to find out more about this injectable.