There are few things that can affect our self-confidence like the wrinkles and lines that form as we get older. They can form anywhere on our face, but those that appear on our upper face can give us the appearance of looking upset or unhappy when we aren’t. If you’re discouraged by the way lines and wrinkles are changing your appearance and have questions about treatment costs, call Spa Black in San Antonio, TX and discuss the average cost of Xeomin.
What Causes Expression Lines?
These are the lines we see on our upper face that result from a lifetime of repeated expressions. When you use the same muscles to make expressions, the skin attached to those muscles is always moving with them. Over time, this will create creases and wrinkles that will act as a map for those muscle movements.
Even when you think your face is at rest, those lines may still be visible. Lines like the frown lines between your eyebrows can have a negative effect on your perceived mood. People may think you’re angry or upset when you may feel the exact opposite. When you frown, concentrate or make micro-expressions throughout your day, you could etch these lines in even deeper.
You Lose Collagen
You’ve probably heard of collagen and know that it’s particularly good for the skin. In actuality, this protein makes up 80% of our skin. It’s what holds our skin cells and layers together, making young skin tight and smooth. It works with elastin, the protein that gives our skin elasticity and the rest of our organs their flexibility.
As we age, we have a breakdown in our existing collagen, and we don’t produce as much to replace it. As a result, our skin doesn’t have a solid foundation to hold on to. As it loses its anchor to the other layers of our skin and soft tissues below, our elastin can’t snap our skin back to shape. For dynamic wrinkles, the cell regeneration collagen provides doesn’t happen quickly enough to keep the skin in place, and elastin can’t keep our skin looking smooth.
Fat Redistribution
Younger faces have prominent features. Their cheekbones are high, their foreheads are soft and supple and the apples of their cheeks are perfectly placed when they smile. As we age, the collagen that held these fat pads in place weakens and gravity pulls everything downward. The fat of our faces gets redistributed.
What once kept our mid and upper faces proportional and looking youthful has fallen to the bottom part of our face. This creates extra volume in the mouth, jawline and neck areas. What this means for your forehead and those dynamic wrinkles is there’s not enough tissue underneath to buffer those lines, so they can look even more etched as time goes by.
Treatment: Neuromodulators
There are several treatments available to address the appearance of movement-based or dynamic wrinkles, all of which belong to a class of injectables called neuromodulators. The most famous of these treatments is Botox. Botox is the number one requested and physician-administered cosmetic treatment in the world. There is an alternative to Botox many people may not know about: Xeomin Botox.
How Do Neuromodulators Work?
Each one of these injectables is made from a prescription purified protein taken from the botulinum toxin. These injectables work by disrupting the nerve’s signal to the muscle, telling it to move. When these treatments are injected into the muscle responsible for the movement causing a specific wrinkle, it blocks the signal to that muscle, so the muscle relaxes and it allows the skin to smooth.
For as long as the muscle’s movement is reduced or prevented, the wrinkles etched in the skin will soften and their appearance will diminish. This often results in clients looking happier, friendlier and feeling that their new expressions match how they really feel.
What Is Xeomin?
Xeomin injections is a little different from Botox because it doesn’t include the accessory proteins Botox does in its formula, making it a purer form of treatment. What does this mean for you? Well, it could mean you’ll be able to use it longer and more successfully. It may also mean the average cost of Xeomin is lower.
Xeomin’s purified state means it does not need refrigeration, making it more appealing to some physicians. Botox needs to be refrigerated, and some clients report that warm Xeomin injections are more comfortable than Botox, though both are well tolerated.
Where is Xeomin Used?
Xeomin injections has been approved for various medical uses, like the treatment of upper limb spasms, blepharospasm, and cervical dystonia. But for cosmetic purposes, it has been approved to treat the frown lines between your eyebrows.
Other common off-label uses are for crow’s feet and the horizontal lines on the forehead. Off-label means that it hasn’t been approved by the FDA for a specific use but that the medical community has found it to be a safe treatment of something other than what it was approved for.
The Botox Resistance
Because Botox is formulated with accessory proteins, it’s more likely someone will develop antibodies to those proteins. If that happens, the effects of treatment will be diminished, and clients will need to seek treatment like Xeomin. This same resistance some clients have to Botox can also be found in another Botox competitor, Dysport.
Dysport also uses the accessory proteins, so resistance to it is possible too. This means Xeomin could be the right choice for the best effects.
How Many Units of Xeomin Do I Need?
Doses of this treatment are measured in units. A unit is a measure of an outlined amount of biological activity that corresponds to a set number of the treatment’s molecules. Your doctor is the only one who can decide how many units you’ll need for either treatment. There are some basic guidelines:
- 20-40 units for the horizontal lines found on the forehead
- 5-20 units to treat crow’s feet around the eyes
- 15-30 units for frown lines between the eyebrows
Each client’s treatment needs will vary, and so will the number of units they need. This number will be based on the condition of their skin, the strength of their muscles and the area to be treated.
What Is the Average Cost of Xeomin?
There are a lot of factors that will determine what the average cost of Xeomin will be for you. In America, the average cost of Xeomin to the patient is $425. The range for that average xeomin cost is $75-$3000. Some factors that will go into the price you’ll pay for your treatment include:
- What you’re having treated
- The condition of your skin
- Your desired ultimate outcomes
The average cost of Botox is around $550, and this could be because there are more off-label uses for Botox than there are for Xeomin. So Xeomin vs Botox price difference is small but significant, in the neighborhood of 20%.
Xeomin Can Be Used Like Botox
You know what it does and what it is. But did you also know that Xeomin is gaining ground on the leader in this injectable family? Botox still holds the number one spot, but it’s been around longer than its competitors Dysport and Xeomin, so it may not always hold the lead.
Many doctors aren’t yet using Xeomin in all the “off-label” ways they use Botox, but it may not be long until it’s used just as often as the pioneer of this family.
Botox: the Future of Xeomin
Botox is used on the common areas of dynamic wrinkles like frown lines, crow’s feet and forehead wrinkles. There are some pretty amazing things doctors can do with Botox that are considered off label but that have people lining up. It won’t be long until Xeomin will be used in the same ways.
Eyebrow Lift
This could be and is often done with Xeomin, but Botox is just more well known for it. By manipulating the muscles around the eyebrows to minimize and relax frown and forehead lines, the muscles that pull the eyebrows down can also be relaxed. This leaves people with a nice curve and arch to their brows.
This can have a lifting effect on the droopy eyebrows we get as gravity pulls everything downward. Clients report feeling like their eye area is opened and more youthful-looking as a result.
Gummy Smile
With social media and everything we do ending up on someone’s Internet page, our smiles are more important than ever. If you feel you show more of your gums when you smile than you’d like, Botox can help. A skilled doctor can strategically inject part of the muscle that surrounds the mouth to relax the area that is over pulling your lips when you smile. The result can be transformative.
You’ll still be able to smile, but they’ll only see your pearly whites and not the parts of your gums you don’t want to show.
The Botox Lip Flip
This is a new development in the Botox world. Instead of getting filler for their top lips, some clients are choosing to get what is called the Botox lip flip. This involves the doctor relaxing the muscles that keep your top lip taut. When that relaxes, your top lip does a little flip up.
This exposes the volume of your top lip you may not have known you had. As we age, our lips can thin, so if you feel like your top lip disappears when you smile, or you just wish you had more shape without necessarily adding volume, this could be a great alternative to getting a filler.
Excessive Sweating
If you suffer from excessive underarm sweating, Botox could be a game-changer for you. Excessive sweating means you’re sweating every waking hour regardless of exercise, stress or external temperatures. Clients who suffer from this condition, called hyperhidrosis, always have a damp feeling under their arms and often only wear black or dark clothing to hide what can be an embarrassing issue.
Botox, when injected shallowly under the arm, will block the signal from the nerve telling the sweat gland to produce sweat. Clients report they see an 87% reduction in the amount of sweat they produce. This can be life-changing for them. The results last about six months and can be repeated as necessary.
Other Botox Uses
Botox continues to be a comprehensive treatment for many cosmetic and medical uses. Anywhere changes can be made by softening the downward pull of some muscles to let others pull up or simply to relax a muscle altogether to get the desired result, Botox can usually get the results. Other uses of Botox are to treat:
- Chin dimples
- Neck banding
- Chin wrinkles
- Neck wrinkles
- Hand and finger stiffness
Xeomin works in the same way as Botox, and for many people, it works more effectively. The future of Xeomin is the now of Botox treatments.
Call for Your Consultation
We know how discouraging seeing wrinkles and lines etched on your face can be. You deserve to look exactly how you want so you can feel exactly how you want. Call Spa Black in San Antonio, TX to schedule a consultation. We’re big believers in helping our clients look their best, and we want to help you, too!