Camile,
Thanks for your questions regarding Relaxed Expressions and Botox. Regarding longevity, Botox lasts 3-4 months reliably. Relaxed Expressions is harder to quantify. Firstly, Botox completely relaxes the muscles, Relaxed Expressions completely relaxes the muscles initially through ablating the nerves to the muscle, but over time (6-12 months) there is a varying recovery in the nerve. Some patients get just enough recovery to produce some expression without causing a deep furrow when they scowl. This is a perfect result and exactly what the procedure was intended to do. In my opinion patients with this level of recovery at one year will maintain that result forever, although we don’t know that for sure as we haven’t followed any patients forever. The limitation of the procedure is that some patients will get more recovery than desired and will need to be re-treated. As far as choosing Relaxed Expressions over Botox, it is individual. When you come in for a consultation we will examine your lines of expression and determine whether the procedure is appropriate for you. We can then go over the entire procedure and you can decide based upon all the information. There is some down-time from Relaxed Expressions. There is about a week of swelling in the brow area and sometimes some bruising as well. Relaxed expressions is only for treating the frown lines. If a patient already has furrows then a filler will have to be added to complete the result.
I hope this helps. We would be happy to talk with you further if you like.
Ed Buckingham
