Wrinkle Smoothing Injections

Able to be done in your work lunch break, these injections are relatively painless, require no recovery time and offer fast results. It’s the number 1 non-surgical cosmetic procedure performed in Australia.

If you've had wrinkle smoothing injections before, you've probably noticed your face restored to a youthful appearance. These injections work by temporarily “relaxing” the contraction of muscles such as the ones that form "crow's feet" around the eyes, wrinkle lines on the forehead and frown lines between the eyebrows

What causes wrinkles?

Wrinkles form in both the epidermis and the dermis -- and their appearance varies depending on the layer in which they form. As you age, your epidermis loses its ability to hold on to moisture, which leads to fine lines in the skin's surface. Deeper in the skin, collagen and elastin break down, which weakens the skin's support structure. At the same time, fat starts to disappear from the skin's deepest layers, which leads to sagging. Together, these effects create deeper wrinkles, like frown lines and furrows.

Everyone gets wrinkles as they age, but those who get too much sun will get more wrinkles sooner. In fact, 90 percent of the skin wrinkles are from excessive exposure to the sun, not from the normal process of aging.

Air pollution, smog and toxins in the air can also wreak havoc on your skin by breaking down vitamin E, a necessary vitamin for your skin's health. Your parents also influence how you age, since genetics play a role in when you'll begin seeing crow's feet around your eyes and laugh lines around your mouth.

What can these injections treat?

Wrinkle Smoothing injections can treat a number of different wrinkles and areas of the face but they are best effective on wrinkles known as dynamic wrinkles. These result from the contraction, or squeezing, of our facial muscles. The wrinkles they typically respond well are the between the eyebrows (frown lines), the sides of the eyes (Crow’s feet), and across the forehead.

Crow’s feet

Frown lines

Other areas that can be treated are the dimpled or creased chin, “smoker’s lines” around the mouth and also problems with eye brow asymmetry, in fact these injections can cause a desirable slight elevation of the corner of the eye brow for a younger look.

Smoker’slines

Dimpled chin

Eye brow assymetry

For the static wrinkles or deep furrows the injections will improve them slightly. However treatment can prevent them from becoming worse. Case selection is very important for success of aesthetic treatments and at FaceSpa we really take our time during our examination process so we can recommend the most appropriate treatment for each condition.

What should I expect from this treatment?

Wrinkle smoothing injections have been around for a while now and are considered safe and efficacious. Prices are calculated according to the number of “units” used for different areas of the face. A typical treatment amount for the area between the eyebrows is about 20-30 units, for the forehead about 30- 40 units and for the Crow’s feet about 10-20 units on each side. In general, women require fewer units than men who have much thicker and stronger muscles.

After a facial injection it takes 5 to 7 days for the treatment to begin taking effect and around 10 days to see the full effect. Treatment effects can last up to 6 months. Follow up treatments are required at the first signs of returning wrinkles although they tend to take longer to appear after subsequent injections as the muscles can atrophy or shrink as a consequence of continuous treatment.

The most common complication from this treatment is bruising due to the needle stick in an area rich with veins and arteries. Bruising typically resolves in days, and can be easily covered with make-up if it occurs. A more rare complication is asymmetry from one side of the face to the other but usually resolves once the effect of the injections starts to dissipate.

Even though the anatomy of each individual can vary slightly at FaceSpa we are extremely careful to avoid these complications.

What if I have deep and static wrinkles?

Static or deep wrinkles are the wrinkles and folds that are present at rest or when we are not forming facial expressions. These are usually a result of the breakdown of natural substances such as collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid that provide the skin with structure and volume decrease with age. The loss of skin structure and volume means that the skin is less able to spring back to its initial position after facial expression.

For these wrinkles, muscle relaxant injections will help them from getting worse due to reduced muscle activity but we need to combine them with other treatments such as dermal fillers, chemical peels, skin needling and our revolutionary “Titan” Skin Tightening treatment which stimulates the production of new collagen and may help reduce those lines. Click the Titan logo to find out more about this treatment.

It’s important to understand that non-surgical treatments will improve the appearance of the face, however depending on the severity of the problem only surgical procedures will be able to resolve it and we’ll let you know if that’s the case.