Wrinkle Reduction Is the Least Interesting Thing About Neurotoxins
A guide to the products, treatment areas and stacking tricks I've tried
There are A LOT of ways to use neurotoxins, and more and more products on the market to choose from. Before getting into what I do, a quick market primer: Botox (owned by Allergan) is the most widely known and used neurotoxin in the US, followed by Dysport (owned by Galderma), and a slew of other emerging products and competitors at the tail end.
Pharma companies are typically designing their new products around three things: 1) duration, 2) results onset and 3) cost. A good duration example is Daxxify (Revance). It launched a few years ago with the promise to extend results from 3-4 months to 6-9 months. The product didn’t really do this, providers and consumers couldn’t justify the higher cost of the treatment, and the launch more or less flopped (some still love it for certain clients / areas).
Allergan is currently developing a product called Treni that is faster acting and lower duration. Instead of requiring two weeks for results to settle, onset happens in the first 8-48 hours and lasts 2-3 weeks. This hasn’t hit the market yet but their goal is to bring more first-time users into the category with this option to “trial” a tox.
Other products like Jeuveau and Letbyo (the “K-beauty” tox) are positioned mainly on price - anywhere from 10-30% cheaper than Botox, making it a more accessible treatment. I think this will mean two things: 1) more consumers and 2) consumers getting more units per treatment (opening up more treatment areas, more satisfaction with full correction).
These products are best known for reducing wrinkles but I am always asking my injector (shoutout to Lauren) to try new things on me. Most of this list is not new in the industry – just areas and benefits not commonly associated with Botox. Here is a list of what I’ve tried, ranked by how life changing I’ve found it to be:
Platysmal Bands
I tried this treatment for the first time this year and it is REMARKABLE. Tox is injected into the vertical bands that run down the neck, giving me the jawline snatch I’ve been looking for. It has even completely done away with my interest in jawline filler. It is that good.
Glass Skin (Pore minimizing)
Another fun fact of tox is that it actually helps with skin health and appearance. Some people describe it as a glass skin look – it tightens pores and has a mechanism that inhibits collagen degradation over time. Neurotoxins are most commonly injected but other delivery methods like microneedling more directly support the skin surface.
Lip Flip (Gummy Smile)
My provider always likes to add a little lip flip to my treatment. This helps prevent my top lip from curling under when I smile, reducing how much gum is visible. I did eventually graduate to lip filler to help with my smile overall, but I still add the tox.
DAO
The DAO muscle pulls down the corners of the mouth, so relaxing it gives a subtle lift here and softens the marionette lines that run down my chin. I am very into all things lower face.
Masseters
This is a large muscle on the side of the jaw. I like my provider to treat it infrequently for some subtle lower face slimming and to ease clenching. My dentist tells me I grind my teeth at night so this helps. This is the same treatment area for medical indications like TMJ.
Wrinkle Reduction for Forehead Lines & Crow’s Feet
I won’t skip this – it is the bread and butter of neurotoxin. I started when I had visible forehead lines at rest. I do love the softening of the crow’s feet around the eyes, which have slowly grown more pronounced.
I’ve done more treatment stacking as of late: getting Botox immediately after my microneedling. This really amps up the post treatment glow, especially after the tox kicks in 2 weeks out. I’m reading more about different delivery methods for neurotoxin too. Microneedling neurotoxins (“microtox”) is common in South Korea and could pick up steam here. I’m committed to a very regular treatment game, so more to come, especially on the newer-to-market products in the US.