It's not what you think. I’m not going to guilt or shame you into believing Botox is wrong or dangerous or shameful.

In fact, I am pro-Botox when used to treat headaches, extreme sweating, and even dramatic facial expression lines.

You know, the kind of lines you see on someone's face when they have an extremely furrowed brow from worrying too much?

I can imagine what it feels like to wake up every morning, only to look in the mirror and see signs of extreme worry on your face. To think to yourself, "I don't feel worried, so why do I look like I am?".

To those who wake up and feel conflicted about the what they see on the outside contradicting what they feel on the inside, I understand.

Growing up, you had a chronic facial expression habit and now, just like Mother warned, it's stuck that way. 

So is Botox A Good Idea?

According to Medical News Today, Hannah Nichols writes:

"Botox is a drug made from a neurotoxin produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum called botulinum toxin. It is used medically to treat certain muscular conditions and cosmetically remove wrinkles by temporarily paralyzing muscles.

Botulinum toxin can be injected into humans in tiny concentrations and works by preventing signals from the nerve cells reaching muscles, leaving the muscles without instructions to contract, therefore paralyzing them.

For muscles to contract, nerves release a chemical messenger, acetylcholine (a neurotransmitter), at the junction where the nerve endings meet muscle cells. The acetylcholine attaches to receptors on the muscle cells and causes the muscle cells to contract or shorten. Injected botulinum toxin prevents the release of acetylcholine, preventing contraction of the muscle cells."

Essentially, botox acts like a microscopic dam, blocking off the pathway between your nerves and your muscles before the “contract muscles” command reaches it’s final destination.

Scientists call this temporary paralysis. 

Botox is also a completely natural substance, not a man-made chemical compound.

Nichols continues,

“Clostridium botulinum like most drugs has an entirely natural origin. [It is] found in the inactive form in the natural environment, including in the forest and cultivated soils, and in the sediment of lakes, streams, coastal and untreated waters. Such naturally occurring instances of Clostridium botulinum bacteria and spores are typically relatively harmless. Problems only usually arise when the spores transform into vegetative cells, and the cell population increases to the point where the bacteria begin producing botulinum toxin, the deadly neurotoxin responsible for botulism.

'Only the dose makes a remedy poisonous.'”

The science is safe, and the drug is safe. (As long as it isn't black market or used for off-label purposes.)

So, why am I swearing it off?

It makes me look old. Yes, you read that right, I think it makes me look old. I've been developing a theory that Botox is one of the most aging things you can do to your face [with the exception of those who have a chronic facial expression habit that needs correcting.]

“Botox face” is becoming the look of women that are 35- 75, and it is a dead giveaway that you are afraid of aging. Botox face looks like a  forehead that is smooth, tight and shiny. Botox face is having eyebrows, arched so high that you look perpetually surprised, or hanging lower on your face, pushing your eyelid skin down. What causes these differing effects? It's all about where it's injected, and even a millimeter too high or low will you give you these effects. 

This look is becoming an unconscious cue of age. Now this smooth, tight look is associated with aging women.

Look at women that are 28-33. Check out their smiling faces. They have movement, they have eye crinkles, they have an energy of joy when they smile. That is what youth looks like.

What happens when you freeze the muscles of your forehead when you smile? The muscles around your eyes contract instead. What happens when you freeze the muscles around your eyes too? The muscles in your upper cheeks contract and squeeze the skin under your eyes (causing more wrinkles). Then you freeze your upper cheek muscles, and so, on and so on. It's not a strategy for looking beautiful. To me, it's a slippery slope of perpetually being dissatisfied with the way we look. 

When we get used to seeing our faces artificially smooth, we lose touch with what needs attention. If you keep chasing the muscles around your  face trying to freeze them all  you end up distorting your face and losing touch with the naturally beautiful planes and curves of the human  face! 

Some women get trapped in this vicious spiral and even consider undergoing surgery to fix the non-paralyzed portions of their faces that look like sagging cheeks or eyelids. At this point, if you visit a surgeon to see if you are a candidate for blepharoplasty (eyelid surgery), don’t be surprised when the doctor says yes.  

This is actually my story.

It happened to me. 

I was in the surgeon's office hoping she would tell me it was all in my mind, that I didn’t need surgery to make my eyelids less droopy.

Instead,. she said, yes, I had excessive eyelid skin and she would be happy to fix that for me. 

I went home devastated. This happened at a time when I was struggling personally and professionally and coming to terms with my middle-agedness. After carefully considering what she said and what I was intuiting, I came to realize  that it wasn’t my middle-agedness taking a toll on my face. It was the few years I spent having my brows artificially depressed by Botox making my eyelids appear saggy!

I decided to scrap the injections and practice what I preach with skin care products, increased facial massage, and an extra big dose of Self-Love.

AND IT WORKED! My eyelids are no longer the tiniest bit saggy.

Think about it: The only exercise our face gets is from our emotions.

Picture an upper arm that hasn't been exercising. It's crepey and saggy. 

Now, imagine the arm of someone who moves their body often-- that arm has blood pumping, muscles moving and cells that are oxygenated. Yep, the same is true of our faces.

I feel like I stumbled on the fountain of youth with this revelation.

Could it really be this simple? Yes! 

Now, if you are picturing complicated face yoga, don't worry, I wouldn't do that to you. My facial exercises are like CrossFit for the face. Maximum efficacy for minimal time investment. I take that back; it's not like CrossFit because you won't be exerting yourself at all!

The first shift occurs when you start touching your face with intention. 

Feel your face. Feel how your fingers find the hollows and curves. Now press in. Feel around. That's it! 

Now, back to Botox. When is it okay?

If you've gone too long without loving up your face, you may look in the mirror to find a permanent scowl, even when you don't feel scowly. This could be the time to use some Botox to help re-train that chronic facial expression. But you can’t rely on Botox alone.

You are the missing ingredient. Spend some time noticing when you making these facial movements, and commit to training yourself to stop that habitual action. Spend some time contemplating the emotions you feel when you make this face. Is this emotion serving you? 

If this idea resonates with you, the Botox can help jumpstart the process.

I recommend a few rounds of it and when you see some improvement, take a break and see where you are.

Alternatively, you can take the road less traveled and use energy and your self-image to completely change the way you relate to your face.

Either way...

You are beautiful.

Love, Amy

P.S I wrote this article in 2017 and since then I have a more critical view of injections.