Glabellar lines are one of the first, and most prominent, signs of aging. These lines are deep horizontal lines that run across your forehead and are often confused for frown lines, the vertical lines that form between your eyes. The appropriate treatment method for glabellar lines depends on their cause, but one of the most common treatments is Dysport at Radiant Divine Medical Spa in Avon, OH. Here’s what you need to know.
How Dysport Can Help You Reduce Glabellar Lines
Dysport helps to reduce glabellar lines in individuals who have glabellar lines caused by hyperactive glabellar muscles. When people without hyperactive muscles make facial expressions, like smiling, laughing, looking surprised and looking concerned, their glabellar muscles move the skin between the eyebrows and above the nose. However, the skin only wrinkles while the expressions are being conveyed.
In people with hyperactive forehead muscles, the glabellar muscles are virtually always active, so the forehead is furrowed permanently. Dysport works by relaxing the hyperactive muscles to the point that they are no longer hyperactive. This means that you don’t have to worry about your face looking frozen and fake. Your muscles will still move when you want them to, and you will have a full range of expressions that you can make.
How This Injectable Relaxes Hyperactive Muscles
This injectable medication is a neurotoxic protein derived from certain bacteria species, like Clostridium botulinum and others. When this neurotoxic protein is injected into your muscles, the electrical signals sent from your brain to some of the nerve endings in your muscles are blocked. In other words, your brain can’t tell your muscles to move as often as it used to.
Unfortunately, your body recognizes this neurotoxic protein as a toxin and will work to rid itself of the toxin. Therefore, the results of treatment are not permanent. As your body eliminates the toxin over time, you will notice your glabellar lines returning as your brain is able to send more and more unneeded signals to your muscles.
How Long the Results of Treatment Last
How long the results of your treatment last depends on how efficiently your body can eliminate the toxin. When you get injected with the medication the first time, your results may last approximately four months. At that point, you may start to see mild lines and feel the need for a follow-up treatment. Alternatively, you may not care about mild lines and want to wait two or three more months until your glabellar lines are moderate.
After your second round of injections, you may notice mild lines start to appear after three months. This may occur if your body becomes more efficient at eliminating the injected toxin because it recognizes the toxin and knows how to fight it. However, after regular injections, it may be six months before mild lines reappear, because your forehead muscles “atrophy” after prolonged periods of being relaxed. You will also require smaller doses after repeat sessions.
What to Expect During Treatment
When using Dysport, also known as abobotulinumtoxinA, to treat glabellar lines, you can expect your forehead to be cleaned with an alcohol-based cleanser to prevent infection. If you’re worried about feeling the injection of the medication, we can apply a local anesthetic, like lidocaine, to numb the treatment area. If you need a topical anesthetic, you may need to wait approximately 15 minutes for the drug to take effect.
If you don’t need a topical anesthetic, your injections can start as soon as your skin is sanitized and the appropriate doses of medication are drawn up into the syringes. When used to treat glabellar lines, abobotulinumtoxinA is injected into the muscles between your eyebrows and above your nose. If you also have frown lines you wish to correct, we will also inject medication into your forehead muscles above your eyebrows.
How to Extend the Durability of the Results
A multitude of factors affect how long the results of your treatment will last, including the position you sleep in, how often you make facial expressions that temporarily wrinkle the glabellar skin, your age and your genetics. While you can’t change your genes, age or how often you smile or frown, you can reduce your effective skin age, change your sleeping habits and take other steps to extend the durability of the results. Here’s what you need to know.
Sleep on Your Back
If you want to extend the durability of your treatment results, you need to get comfortable sleeping on your back. If you find that you’re not comfortable sleeping on your back, you may need a firmer mattress, a firm mattress topper or a mattress that allows you to adjust the firmness of your bed. Furthermore, your neck may need additional support. If you don’t have a firm pillow, roll up a bath towel and place it under your neck to support your head.
If keeping your facial skin smooth isn’t quite enough to convince you to sleep on your back regularly, consider some of the other benefits of sleeping in this position. With the right mattress and pillow supporting your pressure points and head, your spine will stay aligned and extended rather than misaligned and compressed. Furthermore, the frequency and severity of tension headaches will be reduced, and your sinuses will be clearer during allergy season and cold season.
Moisturize Regularly
Another great way to see the final results of your treatment for longer is to moisturize your face regularly. Most people only need to moisturize once daily, but people with dry skin will need to moisturize twice daily for the best results. For the first few days after your treatment, we strongly encourage you to use a gentle moisturizer, like petroleum jelly, Cetaphil or Vaseline. This ensures your skin is not irritated where the injections were made. CeraVe is another solid choice.
It is designed specifically for people with sensitive skin and contains ceramides and hyaluronic acid. Hyaluronic acid is another key chemical compound for keeping your skin looking young, healthy and beautiful. Using a facial moisturizer with hyaluronic acid is also great because the acid makes your skin smooth to the touch as soon as it is absorbed and continues to penetrate to the deepest layers of your skin, hydrating and smoothing it.
Drink Plenty of Water
Another crucial step to take if you want your treatment results to last as long as possible is to drink plenty of water. Your hydration needs will vary based on your lifestyle, and we can help you determine how much you need to drink during your initial consultation. However, the only way to know for sure if you are hydrated is for you to ensure that your urine is pale, if not clear. If you find yourself struggling to drink enough water to make your urine pale, drink tea or coffee.
Research has shown that, despite the caffeine content, neither type of beverage has enough caffeine to have a diuretic effect. We recommend drinking black coffee or green tea; green tea has more polyphenols and other healthy micronutrients than white tea, black tea or yellow tea. However, it’s important to drink something you like so you drink enough to stay hydrated.
Eat Nutritious Foods
Eating nutritious foods is a great way to keep your skin looking tight, smooth and wrinkle-free. However, if you usually eat junk food, it can be difficult to put into practice. This advice is two-fold. First, you should make sure you’re getting all of the micronutrients your body needs in your diet. focus on fresh fruits, vegetables, lean meat and whole-fat dairy products. You don’t want to consume low-fat or skim dairy products, because such products are highly processed.
The second part of this advice is to avoid eating unhealthy foods. Do your best to shop only on the exterior of the grocery store, where all the fresh food is. You should only go into the middle of the store if you’re picking up ingredients to make your own pasta or bread. It’s okay to eat minimally processed foods, but you should minimize your consumption of heavily processed foods, like cereal bars and frozen dinners.
Don’t Smoke
For the results of your treatment session to last as long as possible, do not consume any product that contains nicotine. The worst things for you to consume are cigars, cigarillos, cigarettes, chewing tobacco and e-liquid because they contain over 100 dangerous chemical compounds. However, smoking cessation devices, like gums and patches containing nicotine should also be avoided.
One of the reasons your skin stays tight and smooth when you’re younger is that your collagen and elastin are healthy. Your collagen is like a lacrosse net, a matrix of protein cells that serves as the primary support structure of your skin. Nicotine gets caught in the matrix of cells, tangling the “net” and weakening the support structure. It also slows your body’s ability to create new collagen, further leading to wrinkles and skin sagging.
Wear Sunglasses
Remember, glabellar lines form due to excessive muscle use. Among the facial expressions that can cause these lines is squinting. If you wear sunglasses when it’s bright outside, you reduce the frequency of your squinting. As a result, your muscles glabellar muscles don’t get stronger through repeated use. When your muscles are weaker, you won’t need treatment as regularly.
You shouldn’t wear hats in the few days following your treatment because you should avoid applying pressure to your forehead. However, approximately four days after your injections, you may want to wear a hat when you go outside during the day. The hat has the primary benefit of shielding your eyes from the sun so you don’t squint as often. Furthermore, it will protect your skin’s collagen from the sun’s damaging UVC rays.
Learn More About Glabellar Line Treatment Today
The best way to treat glabellar lines depends on the cause of the lines. If they are caused by hyperactive muscles, they can be treated effectively with Dysport. This injectable medication helps you reduce these lines by relaxing the hyperactive muscles to the point of normalcy; you don’t need to worry about your muscles freezing so you can’t make facial expressions anymore.
Once your muscles have been relaxed to the point that they are once more normal, there are several ways you can extend the durability of the results. Among these are keeping your forehead hydrated through regular moisturization and drinking enough water, eating a healthy diet, avoiding cigarette smoke and sleeping on your back. To learn more, please drop us a line at Radiant Divine Medical Spa in Avon, OH to schedule a consultation.