Botox is the world’s most popular minimally invasive facial treatment for cosmetic purposes. Temporarily decreasing or eliminating certain forehead and eye wrinkles that result from reflex facial expressions has proven to be highly desired throughout much of the civilized world. I have always said that Botox is so popular because it simply works well and achieves results that even invasive surgery can not usually do.
Any treatment provider that administers Botox injections will attest to high levels of patient satisfaction with its use. But can a patient’s level of satisfaction be measured and would patients report the same experience that injectors do? A recent article in the December 2008 journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery has looked at that very question and investigated patient reported outcomes with Botox cosmetic treatments. Reviews of 23 published clinical trials and meeting abstracts that evaluated patient satisfaction after Botox facial injections were analyzed. The conclusions were: 1) most studies have looked at the glabellar area (between the eyebrows), 2) patient satisfaction was high, ranging from 65% to 90%, 3) patients had improved self-perceptions after treatment with an average reduced perceived age of 5 years, and 4) patient satisfaction is often even higher when multiple facial areas are treated (e.g., forehead and crow’s feet) or when combined with other aesthetic facial treatments such as skin resurfacing or injectable fillers.
One of the more interesting studies was a comparison of Botox injections versus topical creams. At 3 months after injection, 80% of Botox patients were satisfied compared to none of the topical cream patients. Proving that, at the time the study was done in 2006, there is no such thing as any cream which has an effect on facial experssions that is remotely close to what Botox can achieve.
The use of combination therapy with Botox is well known to be highly effective. Some of the most satisfied patients that I treat are those that get Botox in the glabellar and crow’s feet area combined with an injectable filler in either the nasolabial fold or lips. This combination has a clear ‘youthful’ effect with a change in appearance that really does make one look younger.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana