First of all, it is important to know that the name of the first approved neuromodulator is owned by the pharmaceutical company Allergan. Therefore its name, which is widely known but which we cannot mention, is the same as Nike or Adidas is for sports shoes. Or as Ferrari or Audi is for automobiles, or as Chanel or Balenciaga is for fashion.

But it is a trade name for what product? It was the first neuromodulator approved as a drug use by the U.S. regulatory agency FDA (Federal Drug Administration). It has other names by other manufacturers, you can discover them here.

Medicine for what? It has many uses as varied as for headache, depression, excessive sweating, facilitator in the repair of hernias, etc. However, the most frequent use is as a treatment for wrinkles.

The use of a neuromodulator to reduce wrinkles is the most frequently performed treatment in the aesthetic field. But how does it work?

It is a toxin produced by a bacterium called clostridium botulinum. Surely many moms have heard that honey should not be given to a baby under 1 year of age. This is because we find this molecule naturally in honey and babies under one year of age are susceptible to very small amounts present and can develop muscle weakness or"infant botulism".Its function in adults is the same and is to weaken the muscles causing less muscle contraction.

When you are a child, your skin is always smooth. As the years go by we can observe how wrinkles start to appear. We can compare it to highways. When they are newly made they are smooth but with the passing of the years and their use by vehicular traffic we begin to see potholes. The busiest ones are generally in worse condition. The same happens with wrinkles, the more facial expressions we have the more wrinkles there will be! For example who concentrates a lot can have two vertical wrinkles between the eyebrows (like the model in the picture of this blog), and these wrinkles can transmit to another person the wrong expression of anger. Who smiles a lot can have wrinkles around the eyes. Another example is who is very surprised and has horizontal wrinkles along the forehead. What happens on the highways when vehicles stop passing by? Generally the potholes stop getting worse. But the body, which is much more perfect than a highway, not only do the wrinkles not become more prominent by limiting muscle contraction, but over time they begin to disappear.

But then, I will have no expression and no one will know when I cry or when I smile? You are absolutely right, that is why it is important to choose well the professional who will apply this medical treatment which is an aesthetic art.

Why should it be a health professional? Because it is the most frequently performed cosmetic treatment the demand is huge and there are many people interested in filling the market, beware of charlatans.. Not having any safe expression is not desirable, however it is not the most risky thing to do when applying botox. Fortunately all possible complications are transient and can last for the duration of the effect of the drug in our body which is about 3-4 months. The most feared complication is a paralysis of the muscles that lift the eyelid and as a result the patient will have the eye closed for several weeks. Other undesirable results are an expressionless face or a face with unnatural expressions such as a crooked smile or very high eyebrows.

To reduce these risks, it should preferably be a plastic surgeon, who are not only experts in anatomy but we know and study the beauty of the human body. But it can also be a dermatologist or an otolaryngologist who have knowledge of either the skin or the face. It can also be applied by other health personnel who will take precautions not to cause harm.

The objectives of the application of this treatment are to reduce the expressions without, therefore, cancelling them. This is so that little by little with time the wrinkles will disappear keeping always a natural and aesthetic expression in the face. Let's not forget that our face is our first and most important window to the world! In the following videos we observe a beautiful woman who had never applied this treatment for expression lines, then we can see the result after 3 weeks, where we observe noticeable changes without losing the naturalness. But what is interesting is the third video before her third application 8 months later. We see how she has substantially improved the condition of her skin as well as the intensity of her facial expressions. Finally the fourth and last video is 1 week after her third application. We observe a more stable result than after her first time, always taking care not to lose the naturalness and essence of each person.

What is the difference with filler? The application of filler in the face is the second most frequently performed procedure in the field of cosmetic surgery. This is the reason why many people think that they both serve the same purpose. To a certain extent, they do serve the same purpose, since they both help us to look better! However, this objective is achieved by different ways, either with the neuromodulator or with the filler.

In another post we will discover more about filler.

At Kintsugi we may not give years to your life but we will surely give life to your years!