Newsweek on anti-aging's Botox and Restylane

Botox and Restylane have long hit mainstream. Boxtox has rapidly replacing collagen injections as the treatment of choice for minimizing wrinkles and has taken the Hollywood community by storm including former presidential candidate John Kerry. With the hype comes a word of caution and Newsweek has published an article explaining the procedures and providing some information to help you the decision whether to use them or not.

Botox is a neurotoxin and it works by temporarily paralyzing wrinkle-making muscles. It’s usually used in the forehead to get rid of the vertical "11" lines between your eyes or the horizontal creases higher up on your face. It lasts three to four months and costs about $500 a session, depending on how many injections are needed.

Restylane is the leading hyaluronic-acid dermal filler. It was introduced in the U.S. in 2004 and works by plumping up the deeper creases in the lower face—like those folds between your nose and the corners of your mouth. It’s somewhat moldable and can be used to smooth out other uneven areas of the face. A competitor to Restylane is the newly introduced Juvéderm, made by the same folks who make Botox. It has a slightly different consistency but works in a similar way.

[You need to] decide who does the procedure and where. Badly done injections can result in an unnatural expressionless look, or, worse yet, droopy eyes or facial paralysis in the case of Botox.

In addition to assuring you are picking the right person and doing a consultation first, Newsweek has these tips:

* Don’t fall for those $99 Botox ads. Botox costs the same for all physicians, so if you’re being offered it on the cheap, be suspicious. You may be getting an over-diluted product or something that isn’t Botox at all.
* Take your own before-and-after pictures.

What about side-effects or Boxtox 'horror stories'? Boxtox is FDA and approved and has been used for over two decades for eye muscle dysfunction problems--presumably a long enough time for problems to surface. That said, any medical procedure should be taken seriously and there is a lot to be said for 'aging gracefully' without the need to inject a lethal toxin into your forehead to look younger.

There have been some lawsuits including a high-profile suit by the wife of film producer Mike Medavoy and Florida couple. But they appear to be the result of specific circumstances and not indicative of a trend.

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