Botox
Muscles relax, wrinkles disappear
The information on this page is medically approved by
Drs. Hugo Ammerlaan
Drs. Hugo Ammerlaan
About botox
Botulinum toxin is a natural protein used to temporarily paralyse muscles. It is administered with the use of an injection needle. Common brands used in the Netherlands are: Azzalure, Dysport and Botox®. At The Body Clinic, Azzalure is the preferred brand for our Botox treatments. Botulinum toxin effectively blocks signals from the nerves to the muscles, preventing small muscles in the skin from partially or fully contracting.
About botox
Botulinum toxin is a natural protein used to temporarily paralyse muscles. It is administered with the use of an injection needle. Common brands used in the Netherlands are: Azzalure, Dysport and Botox®. At The Body Clinic, Azzalure is the preferred brand for our Botox treatments. Botulinum toxin effectively blocks signals from the nerves to the muscles, preventing small muscles in the skin from partially or fully contracting.
The standard applications of botulinum toxin are
Botulinum toxin effectively blocks the transmission of stimuli from the nerves to the muscles, diminishing or inhibiting muscle activity. Botulinum toxin is a protein. It can be injected in tiny quantities in strongly diluted form into the muscles responsible for lines and wrinkles formed by natural mimicry, such as frowns, crow’s feet or brow lines. An added advantage of botulinum toxin is that it temporarily inhibits the ageing process. In short, botulinum toxin helps prevent the formation of wrinkles by minimizing muscle exertion.
Botulinum toxin as an anti-perspiration treatment: Botulinum toxin inhibits the transmission of neural signals that trigger the glands to produce perspiration, e.g. in the armpits.
Botulinum toxin for bruxism (teeth grinding/clenching): Not only does grinding your teeth in your sleep wreak havoc on your teeth, it may have the same effect on your romantic relationships. Botulinum toxin blocks the neural activity that results in the stimulation of your jaw muscles. By injecting botulinum toxin into the muscle tissue, your jaws can relax more while you are asleep.
Botulinum toxin for chronic migraine or tension headache: Much is still unknown about migraine, its triggers, causes and cures. However, one possible cause may be unintentional contraction of facial musculature. Injecting botulinum toxin into the forehead or frown may relieve much of the tension, reducing the sensation of pressure in the skull or behind the eyes.
What you need to know about your Botox treatment
Botox blocks your nerve system. Botulinum Toxin inhibits what may be considered the ‘contraction signal’ from the subdermal nerves to the tiny muscles under the skin. As a result these muscles are temporarily blocked and prevented from (fully) flexing. It takes about 1 – 2 weeks on average for a Botox treatment to reach its maximum effect.
After this, the muscles begin to slowly regain their flexing potential as nerve-endings regenerate to replace old, blocked ones. This is why – initially – Botox treatment needs to be repeated every 3 months.
This period, however, increases over time to approximately 4 – 9 months. Some people, however, feel reluctant to try Botox. They think Botox will make them look like robots – they will lose their own face, so to say. There is absolutely no risk of this happening when treatment is limited to just the 3 indication areas: forehead wrinkles, frown lines and crow’s feet. On the contrary, Botox can actually help people look more themselves! For instance, people who frown often may end up looking grumpy or angry all the time, regardless of how they feel.
Such a constant expression can even become etched into the skin. Botox treatment prevents this, may correct a frown and help a person look the way they feel. Of course we swear by good quality products for all our treatments. For Botox we use Azzalure-brand fillers.
Please note that prices advertised in our videos might differ from current prices.
A natural look
Botox owes its shady reputation as a beautifier to years of excessively botoxed faces as pictured in the media. As a result, the idea of botox still makes some people’s skin crawl. But botox can actually give perfectly natural results. To avoid the dreaded vacant face, you should always get treatment from an experienced aesthetic physician. At The Body Clinic our doctors take both your wishes and your natural looks into account when deciding on the right course of action. When in doubt, our doctors treat a single area only, so you can get used to the effect gradually. At The Body Clinic we believe that where beauty treatments are concerned, less is always more. In this Q&A video, by Maaike Dorsteen from Furrow.nl, Bart Biermans from The Body Clinic answers questions relating botulinum toxin treatment.
Safety botox
Botulinum toxin is an exceptionally safe product. Because this product is regulated by pharmaceutical legislation, years have been spent researching its effectiveness, side effects and complications before distribution was allowed. Botulinum toxin has now been used in the medical world for over forty years, including in children and adults with muscle spasms. To date, no harmful long-term effects have ever been observed.
Free intake
Prior to the treatment of your choice, we at The Body Clinic offer you a free, no obligation, initial consultation with one of our physicians. During this consultation we consider possible medical objections to the treatment, map out problem areas and give you personal, tailor-made advice.
Seven steps to natural beauty
- Free intake
Your free, no obligation intake provides you with the opportunity to meet the physician responsible for carrying out the procedure. Your wishes and expectations, the condition of your skin, the state of your health and more will be assessed to arrive at a well-balanced, informed and personalised decision. Additionally, costs and possible alternatives will be discussed. - Photos and forms
Before the treatment may begin, we always take photographs. You will receive two digital forms: Health attestation. This contains a number of questions regarding your health and is meant to verify that this type of treatment is suited to your needs. And a treatment agreement . This is a form in which you will find all the information that you need regarding your Botulinum toxin treatment, including its side-effects and possible complications. The doctors at The Body Clinic will inform you to the best of their abilities, so that you can make an informed decision. - Anaesthetic
It is not necessary to arrive earlier than your time of appointment to receive any numbing creams. - Start of treatment
If desired, you can be treated straight away. You can also choose to schedule a follow-up appointment. If you wish to be treated immediately, please indicate this during your intake, so that we can take this into account during the planning. - The treatment itself
A Botox treatment will not take a long time. Depending on the number of areas that need to be treated, your doctor will need somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes. If the procedure concerns your forehead, it is important the doctor marks a few spots on your face during the first treatment, so that he can make a personalized treatment plan. - Post-treatment
Botox is a lunchtime treatment and you will be able to head straight back to work after your procedure. You are not allowed to touch the treated area on the first day, nor should you exercise – this includes yoga – or wear a helmet. Please do not lie down for three full hours after treatment. It can take anywhere between two days and two weeks before the Botox has fully settled in. - Check-up appointment
You are expected back at the clinic two weeks after your treatment, so that your doctor can evaluate the treated area and answer any possible questions. Pictures will be taken, and compared to those taken before the procedure. If results are less than satisfactory, we offer a free touch-up treatment, within reason.
FAQ
Once the Botulinum toxin has stopped working, won't I have more wrinkles than before?
On the contrary. Because the area treated with Botox has not been active for several months, the skin has had time to recover beautifully. What’s more, the wrinkles you had before treatment have not deepened in the meantime, because you weren’t able to use the muscles. You may even have partially lost the habit of using the muscles, so you’ll contract them less in the future. A frown is a good example of this. If you haven’t frowned for a while, you’ll frown less in the future.
Won't Botox make my face expressionless, giving me that frozen look I know from some celebrities?
Some celebs use too much Botulinum toxin, in particular around the mouth and on the forehead. If you freeze some of the muscles we normally use in conversation, you’ll get a poker face. You’ll look like a mannequin doll – devoid of expression and character. Too much filler can result in an empty and expressionless face as well.
Botulinum toxin is a toxin - how can this ever be good for you?
Botox is only toxic in extremely high concentrations. You may compare it to other medications that we use all the time and which are also poisonous when taken in extreme doses, such as paracetamol and Ibuprofen. In the low concentrations used for anti-wrinkle and anti-perspiration procedures Botox is not toxic and quite safe to use.
If I go through with the treatment, when can I get back to work?
There is no recovery period with a Botulinum’s toxin treatment. This is why it is known as a lunchtime treatment. Besides a slight redness, which will disappear within half an hour, and the occasional small bruise, which you can easily hide with a little make-up, no one can tell if you’ve had a Botox treatment.
Do I get guaranteed results?
At The Body Clinic we offer a free, no obligation intake consultation and if necessary an after-treatment at your follow-up consultation. We will look for a solution or improvement that will satisfy you. This is what we guarantee. On very rare occasions the body breaks down the Botox. If this is the case, we will increase the concentration slightly. If this doesn’t do the trick, we may have to conclude that Botox unfortunately is not suitable for you. We cannot give you guaranteed results, but our physicians at The Body Clinic will give you a free after-treatment if required and look for solutions to satisfy you.
Is it okay to have injectables when pregnant or breastfeeding?
No, it’s not. We don’t perform these procedures on pregnant or breastfeeding women.
Are there medications that don't go together with this treatment?
Before treatment you will be asked to fill out a health form with your physician. The physician will decide if you qualify for treatment. There are, however, no known interactions between fillers and prescription medication.
Are there any restrictions to using Botox?
There are very few known restrictions to the use of Botox. We don’t perform treatment on pregnant or breastfeeding women, however. Neither do we recommend treatment in rare cases of muscle disease. In addition not all wrinkles are best treated with Botox. The decision regarding treatment lies with your physician.
I've read somewhere that Botox may result in drooping eyebrows.
Drooping eyebrows can be a possible side effect if the forehead is treated with Botox. For several weeks the area above the eye will feel heavy. However, this side effect may be avoided in most cases by injecting a low concentration of Botox at the top of the forehead first. In addition, working from experience, our physicians at The Body Clinic may exclude certain individuals from treatment with Botox in the forehead, e.g. if a person’s eyebrows are already naturally low or sagging. And finally, our physicians often choose a combination of forehead and frown treatments. This reduces the risk even further. This is because the frown muscles are pulling the eyebrow down. By relaxing these muscles, the brow will lift a little by itself, usually sufficiently compensating for the forehead sagging.
What is an eyebrow lift?
Applying two small Botox injections to the end of each eyebrow relaxes the muscles that usually pull down the eyebrow. This lifts the eyebrow very subtly, 1 to 2 millimetres. A double eyebrow lift is achieved by additionally injecting Botox at the base of the frown muscle. This muscle too is usually involved in pulling the eyebrow down slightly. By relaxing these muscles the eyebrow will lift a little.
Am I not too young for Botox treatment?
New wrinkles can be treated perfectly with Botulinum toxin. The advantage of treating a new wrinkle is that often it will vanish completely with treatment. If the wrinkle is already much deeper, a combination of Botox and filler may be more effective. A main advantage of Botulinum toxin is that this treatment is preventive too. So if you start early, wrinkles will not deepen, and you may never need fillers or treatments for these areas. Although we prefer to wait until our clients are over 21 for any procedure, you’re welcome if over 18. If our physicians get the impression that your expectations are unrealistic, we will discuss this with you.
What specifies an area?
An area is a part of the face treated with Botulinum toxin. This could be ‘the eye’ (crow’s feet) or ‘forehead’ or ‘frown’, etc. In the US they often use volumes or units to specify. In Europe we work with areas.
Are there any pre-treatment rules?
If you’d like to further reduce the small risk that you’ll bruise, we recommend that, if possible, you stop using medication that thins the blood such as Ibuprofen, Ascal and Naproxen several days before treatment. Please consult your doctor before you stop taking any medication.
Also, refrain from using fish oil and other supplements. You may want to take some (homeopathic) Arnica. Start five days before treatment with the highest dose recommended on the packet.
What will happen if Botulinum toxin is not injected correctly?
If Botulinum toxin is not injected correctly or if the dose is not right, side effects may occur. For instance: a poker face, a drooping eye or mouth, or irregular movements. Although these are temporary side effects and will not cause long-term damage, we advise you to not take any unnecessary risks and choose your clinic wisely.
Does it hurt to have Botulinum toxin treatment?
Our physicians use the finest needles, minimizing discomfort. We don’t apply an anaesthetic cream for Botox treatment, because the most uncomfortable part of the procedure is not the prick of the needle but the injection of the fluid. People who are afraid of needles consider the procedure more uncomfortable even if the pain itself is in general considered very mild.
Do the results of Botulinum toxin last?
The substance stops working after 3 – 6 months. But the treatment does have a permanently improving effect on the treated area, in particular if you have had Botulinum toxin treatment for several years. This is because the area will not have moved for that long a time. The lesions in the skin will not have deepened and the skin has had the opportunity to heal. It’s a bit like stopping the hands of time. You may have broken the habit of using the muscle, so you’ll be frowning less than before. This has a lasting improvement on the skin in that area. Some studies reveal that for the reasons mentioned above, it’s possible after several years to stop using Botulinum toxin for a year.
Is this treatment at The Body Clinic always carried out by a qualified physician?
Yes, it is. Only physicians are qualified to carry out this procedure. Our physicians at The Body Clinic receive top rates at kliniekervaringen.nl
Where can I get a Botulinum toxin treatment?
The Body Clinic has two locations, one in Amsterdam and one in Duiven (close to Arnhem). Please schedule a free, no obligation appointment for more information on Botox or schedule a treatment at one of our locations.
