All about fillers, Botox® and injectables: here’s what you need to know
Are you thinking about having your wrinkles filled, or your lips painted up? Want to know what Botox® is? Many questions exist about the world of fillers and injectables. It is also good to familiarize yourself with the matter before you start. Everyone knows the terrible pictures we all envision when it comes to fillers and injectables. The duck-face, the terribly puffy lips and women who can no longer smile or frown because of Botox®. You probably have a picture of it. But is this also the truth? Or are some cases somewhat magnified by the media? In this blog, we’d like to explain more about fillers, Botox® and injectables. After all, it’s the same with fillers as it is with everything else in the world. A little is fine, but it’s also easy to overdo it.
What types of injectables are there?
First, it is good to know that there are different types of injectables. Basically, there are two types:
- Muscle relaxants
- Fillers (fillers)
Muscle relaxants
Botulinum toxin is the active ingredient in the injectable that causes a muscle to become paralyzed, or slack. There are several brands of injectables containing the substance Botulinum toxin. You’ve probably heard of the most famous brand: Botox®. Besides Botox®, there are other brands with botulinum toxin, for example, Bocouture or Dysport. All of these are different types of the Botulimtoxin and work slightly differently, but basically the mechanism of action is always the same. At MOOI Clinic in Maastricht, we use both Botox® and Bocouture. These two products have been on the market for a long time and are also of high quality. Each person reacts differently to the different brands, and the doctor decides which muscle relaxant to use based on his knowledge and experience.
Nice to know is that botulinum toxin is produced by a bacterium named Clostrudium botulinum. By chance, it was discovered that botulinum toxin was a drug to reduce wrinkles. As a result, over a period of time, the overlying skin smooths out and wrinkles disappear. The stuff is now purified by pharmaceutical companies and then applied medically and/or cosmetically.
Fillers (fillers)
Fillers work differently than injectables with botulinum toxin. As the name suggests, this product is used to fill in lines, wrinkles or lips. Most fillers consist of the substance hyaluronic acid. This is a substance native to the body and is also broken down slowly for these reasons. Fillers with hyaluronic acid are most commonly used in cosmetic surgery, and the effect of the filler also disappears after several months.
With hyaluronic acid, pay close attention to the quality and price of the filler. Making quality fillers in a complicated process involving a number of steps to purify the substance. A good filler is purified over many steps and because of this, the price of the product is also higher. Many cheap fillers are not sanitized well enough and therefore bring known problems.
For this reason, we at MOOI Clinic also only use fillers of the highest quality with a temporary effect. After all, we don’t want you walking around with red streaks on your face for weeks after filler treatment. So always check with the attending physician, what type of fillers she/he works with and what the costs are. If the price is much cheaper than usual, it should ring a bell.
What is the difference between Botox® and fillers?
The goal for both injectables is the same – to make wrinkles disappear or diminish. But one of the most important differences between Botox® and fillers is the mechanism of action. Botox® paralyzes part of the muscles in the face in order to relax the skin that lies over them. Because the skin is then no longer moved as much, it begins to shrink and contract. As a result, wrinkles disappear. This does take some time. The effects of botulinum toxin are usually visible after one to two weeks.
Fillers, on the other hand, fill defects, causing wrinkles to pull away immediately. After injecting the filler, you can immediately see the results.
You can’t use Botox® everywhere you use fillers and vice versa. Botox® is most commonly used for forehead and frown lines. It can also treat crow’s feet and small wrinkles around the eyes very well. Opposed to this are fillers, which mainly fill in wrinkles. For example, this product is also very good to use for the lip or at the edge of lower eyelids. The folds between the nose and lips are also regularly filled with fillers.
Use fillers to enlarge or soften?
You can use fillers in different ways. For example, you can use fillers to make the lips a little bigger. Especially in old age, the jaw shrinks and therefore our lips become proportionally narrower. Fillers can compensate for volume loss in this regard. More and more young people are also opting for lip fillers when they want beautiful full lips. Of course, you can also go too far in this, but the desired result is always consulted with the patient. No one in a good clinic is ever going to make you the “duck-face,” if you don’t want to. With us, for example, you always get to hold a mirror to check what we’ve done.
In addition to enlarging lips, fillers are also used to soften wrinkles. By injecting fillers into the skin or just below it, you achieve that small wrinkles become significantly less visible. That doesn’t mean your countenance changes. Only that your wrinkles become less visible. And that makes you look fresher and rested.
What areas of the face can you treat?
Basically, you can treat the entire face with fillers and Botox®. The frown, the forehead, the crow’s feet and also the creases at the lips. These are the most common complaints:
- Crow’s feet
- Forehead wrinkles
- Frown lines
- Smoker’s lines around the mouth
- Laughter lines
- Collapsed cheeks
- Marionette lines (drooping corners of the mouth)
- Nose – lip crease
- Bags under the eyes
In addition, you can also achieve a tighter jawline with fillers and treat excessive cellulite with Botox®. There is the right treatment for everything. So if you are considering softening your wrinkles, make
an appointment at MOOI
and we will explain to you what the right choice is for you.
Can I still smile after the treatment?
At MOOI Clinic, we believe that no one on the street should be able to tell that you have had fillers or Botox® injected. We would like to bring back your natural beauty and not be asked which clinic you were at for fillers.
If you are looking for a clinic in Maastricht that will very easily spray up your lips into a duck-face, then you have not come to the right place! MOOI clinic wants to make you more beautiful and not more conspicuous.
How often and when to treat?
In general, it is true that you can treat wrinkles more easily when they are not so deep yet. And easier also means fewer treatments. In general, you can say that fillers are repeated every 6 to 8 months and Botulinum toxin every 3 to 6 months. With that said, it is important to note that in the beginning you usually come more often before the wrinkles are well reduced. This will also allow you to extend the time between repeat injections a bit.
Unfortunately, there are also wrinkles that are so deep that treatment with injectables does not make sense. Then a more invasive procedure such as a facelift is often needed. You may now be thinking, “So isn’t a Liquid Facelift also a facelift?!”
To clarify, it is suggested by some doctors, that through fillers you can also achieve the effect of a facelift – “as long as you get enough injected. This is absolutely not true! Fillers can only fill, but they cannot elevator! This is also why we do not offer a “Liquid Facelift.
Safety and aftercare
At MOOI Clinic, quality and safety are paramount. That means all of our fillers and injectables are of the highest quality. We also give everyone a booklet, which states which filler and the amount we used, so that – even if you go to another place – you always know what was injected into your body.
We also always ask our patients how satisfied they were with the treatment. If there is a problem, we are always available and, of course, always see our patients back at the surgery at no extra charge.
