There is no woman who does not care about her appearance. It is amazing what representatives of the gentle sex do to look good, but sooner or later, time takes its toll, facial lines and wrinkles give out the age that has to be carefully hidden with various tricks. In this case, derivatives of botulinum toxin type A come to the aid. The most popular beauty products on the market are Botox produced by Allergan (USA) and Dysport by Ipsen (France). The brand Botox appeared on the pharmaceutical market earlier. Currently, only Dysport (look for Dysport online here) is competing with it.
Undoubtedly, having a choice at their disposal, patients are interested in the advantages and disadvantages of each of the preparation, as well as contraindications to their use. We will try to help you grasp this.
Botox and Dysport are botulinum toxins purified and diluted to a safe concentration. Injected with a tiny needle into particular points of the mimic muscles, botulinum toxin causes relaxation and, as a result, eliminates the cause of wrinkling. The blood supply to the muscles is not affected.
When Botox and Dysport are not Advisable
There are no age limits for both medications. The quality of licensed products is very high, but there are certain contraindications for their use.
It is absolutely forbidden to use them in patients suffering from:
- Generalized disorders of muscle activity (myasthenia gravis, Lambert Eaton syndrome)
- Blood clotting disorders (hemophilia, thrombocytopenic purpura)
- Hypersensitivity to one of the ingredients in the preparation
- Local infection in the area of the intended injection
- Myopia
Pregnancy and a period of lactation are also absolute contraindications.
Relative contraindications include taking some medications. Botulinum toxin administration should be restricted given the following groups of drugs are being used:
- antibiotics of aminoglycoside class (gentamycin, kanamycin, erythromycin, streptomycin), tetracycline, lincomycin, polymyxins. They increase the myorelaxant effect of the toxin;
- muscle relaxants (rocuronium bromide, suxamethonium chloride, etc.);
- calcium antagonists (verapamil, amlodipine);
- tranquilizers (diazepam), anesthetics.
Side Effects
Complications can be associated:
- with the injection itself: hematoma, pain at the injection site, swelling of tissues, a feeling of pressure in the forehead area and other parasthesias (any injection, regardless of the medication administered, may have such consequences)
- with individual characteristics of the body: predisposition to swelling, hypotension of facial muscles, atypical position of muscles. All this can lead to permanent swelling around the eyes and drooping of the glabellar area. Moreover, it is not possible to anticipate headaches, nausea and the flu-like syndrome after the injection;
- with mistakes made in the planning stage: undiagnosed excess skin and eyelid hernia, insufficiently accurate diagnosis of muscle location and evaluation of the type of mimicry; this can also include unrealistic expectations on the part of the patient;
- with technical errors made during the procedure; intra and subcutaneous administration in cases which require intramuscular injections, wrong choice of the injection site and depth, a too small or too high dose.
Fortunately, all the side effects that can occur after injections of botulinum toxin are completely reversible and they disappear within 3-4 weeks.
And finally, you should be aware that there are no proven long-term negative effects of Botox and Dysport procedures. Neurotoxin is completely eliminated 7-9 months later.