Skinspiration...Injectables

*Disclaimer; All work produced in this skinspiration blog is owned by Nicole Webb, with copyrights to La Beauté Ltd.
Most people have heard or read about cosmetic injectables, others will have seen the Hollywood injection disasters splashed over the media but many don’t really know what injectable are, how they work and if people actually get them done!!
 
The media has done well to show us the effects, given us snippets of information and often enabled you to make a quick fire opinion about injectables with limited facts and a few scary photos.
I like many of you have my own personal opinion of cosmetic injectable’s (which I will cover in this email) but I am also aware that many of you have made your decision without all the information so I want this skinspriation to be direct non-swaying information about exactly what they are, how they work and is it common to have either injected.
What even is Cosmetic Injectable?

Cosmetic Injectable’s is an umbrella title for Botox (also known as botulinum toxin) and Dermal Fillers.  Yes that’s right they are two completely separate treatments, two separate products and doing two separate tasks!!
You can have either one or both injected as they work in different areas of the face and provide different results.
How do they work?

Botox; works by blocking nerve signals in the muscle(s) that it is injected into. When those nerves signals are interrupted the affected muscle(s) are temporarily frozen or reduced in movement.
Without movement of those selected muscles in the face, certain wrinkles that are created through muscle movements are softened, reduced or can be completely removed.
The most common areas for Botox is in areas of repeated facial movements such as, frown lines (lines between the middle of the brows created from frowning), forehead lines (lines horizontally created from raised brows) and ‘crows feet’ (lines on the outer corners of the eyes due to squinting).
The degree in reduced movement or frozen result is determined by the amount (units) injected into the muscle, the more units the less movements.
Botox is not permanent; it takes about 7 days following the treatment to see a reduction or no movement in the targeted muscles and lasts for about 4-6 months, although everyone is different.
 
Dermal Fillers, are a mixture of substances contained in a hyaluronic acid gel (Hyaluronic acid is naturally found in the skin and provides our own natural plumpness but depletes with age) that are designed to be injected beneath the skin to add volume and plump areas that have had a loss of volume, sagged or were smaller than desired. 
Once injected the fillers, ‘fill in’ and smooth out the area providing a change in the size, surface or shape of the area. The most common places for dermal fillers is in areas that have lost collagen and elastin such as, the mouth (lines around the whole mouth area including smile lines, and nasal lines), lips (yes this is what makes those huge lips you see from Hollywood, but it can be done subtly too), cheeks, jawline and recessed scars.
The visual result is determined by the amount of units applied into an area; those Hollywood ballooning lips have a very high amount of units injected, this is not normal and most doctors will not inject this level even if you wanted to!
The time that is takes for the filler to work, as well as how long it lasts is widely varied, some last 6 months, while others last 2+ years.
So are people getting it done??

The simple answer is YES, both Botox and Dermal Fillers are being done both in New Zealand and world wide on a massive scale. Millions of units per year in New Zealand alone, by a wide variety of ages!
Many people think that the celebrities are the only ones getting cosmetic injectables, as that is often all we hear about as both botox and dermal fillers are often kept as a bit of an unspoken ‘secret’ by those having the procedure and therefore it is natural to think it is uncommon but I can assure you that this is not the case at all. 
My personal opinion
 
I am not able to inject Botox or Dermal Fillers (as in New Zealand it can only be preformed by a registered Nurse or Doctor that has taken further studies in cosmetic injectable procedures) but I find that I am asked about them often as it links to my area of work, it is also an area that I have researched, I have talked to doctors that preform it and I feel that many of you maybe interested in my opinion, so…
In nutshell I am both for and against.
I feel that it very much has its place in the non-invasive cosmetic world and it is needed at times to gain a desired result as there is no skin care product on the market that is going to counter-act and remove a wrinkle/line that is created from the repeated facial movement without first freezing the muscle creating the movement and then using the correct skin care to soften the wrinkle/line to achieve better results.
But at the same time I think that you must be aware that Botox and Fillers are only one string and that all the Botox and Fillers in the world are not going to make a skin glow, look fresh and function in a healthy manner, that comes down to skincare and internal skin support. I also want to stress that if you are going to have cosmetic injection performed that you need to go to a practitioner that you trust, understands your desired results and is willing to stay “No I will not preform that on you” as the last thing you want is to look un-naturally, frozen or too bigger lips!!
I also believe (and know for a fact) that we are all going to age, and that for some they want to age gracefully with limited intervention, except a good skincare regime and SPF!! And they are not interested in freezing muscles and adding volume, and I fully support these people as much as I support those that are for it.