I just wrote a blog about teens and plastic surgery. Now 22 year olds? botox? really? What is going on?
Botox gets rid of wrinkles. The three major areas are 1. between the eyebrows, 2. the forehead, and 3. crows feet. When you are 22, you likely don’t have wrinkles in these areas.
Botox is not preventative. When you do botox at 22, it doesn’t mean you won’t get all old and wrinkly at 40 (As a 40+ woman, I am not throwing stones at us in the over 40 crowd.) Botox is not an antioxidant, or sunscreen, or something which may protect you against wrinkles down the road. It is good for the here and now. Botox blocks muscle movement to stop wrinkles. If you have a wrinkle with movement (when you raise your eyebrows, wrinkle your brow, or smile and get crows feet) or you have a wrinkle at rest (when you are doing no facial movement) you are a good candidate for botox. The effect of botox “wears off,” so you need to do it every 3-6 months.
The only real exceptions I could see are
- those people who always furrow their brow, and are starting to get the deep wrinkles between the brow already (the hockey stick wrinkle between your eyebrows)
- migraine headache sufferers.
So. EMBRACE THAT YOU ARE YOUNG. Your skin is tight, nonwrinkled, and lovely. Save your money for other things (good antioxidants, sunscreens, and Retin A products for you Palo Alto California girls). Doing botox now will not help you avoid aging later. I love botox. I think it is great. But do it when you need it, and most patients don’t get there until in their 30s.