Does Botox Treatment Help to Lift your Eyebrows?

The Background to Botox

Botox has been used since the 1980's but originally, it was developed as a medical treatment. It was stumbled across accidentally as a treatment that could prove effective at freezing muscles; its use in alleviating a range of conditions characterised by muscle spasms soon followed. Treatment is highly effective at alleviating the symptoms of a range of conditions such as cerebral palsy, blepharospasm, and dystonia, and for conditions of excessive sweating (hyperhidrosis) and symptoms of excessive drooling caused by some neurological conditions.

Over the past decade, Botox has become extremely popular as a cosmetic procedure aimed at reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, without the need to go under the surgeon's knife.

How Botox works

Botox is a neurotoxin called Botulinum Toxin. When administered by injection into an affected muscle, it works by blocking the nerve impulses that make the muscle move. It attaches to receptor sites on the endings of the nerves. The receptor sites are responsible for generating nerve impulses through the release of a chemical messenger called acetylcholine. The production of acetylcholine is greatly diminished and the nerve impulses cannot occur. This in turn prevents muscle activity, freezing the muscles so that they cannot move.
For facial cosmetic work, normal wrinkle-producing movements cannot occur. For example, a smile can raise the muscles in the cheek area, bunching up skin under the eyes, and lifting the eyebrows create lines, eventually causing deep furrows in the forehead. If the muscle activity responsible for creating these lines is diminished, the lines become much less obvious and the skin has a chance to recover from the constant movement it endures.

The Botox Brow Lift or Eyebrow Lift

Muscles within the body work in something known as antagonistic pairs. One muscle has an action one way, and the other muscle produces the opposite movement. The best known antagonistic pair of muscles are the biceps and triceps. Located in the upper arm, the triceps are the muscle that contracts to pull the lower arm downwards and straighten it, whilst the biceps are the muscle that contracts when the lower arm is bent. With the eyebrows, one muscle is responsible for pulling the brows in a downward fashion, whilst the other muscle raises them. Both muscles work in opposition to maintain the facial expression within the brow area.

Botox can be administered to the muscle that is responsible for the downwards action on the brow. This muscle is also responsible for the squinting action of the eyes; if you try squinting, you will feel your eyebrows lower. The Botox inhibits this muscle from acting and allows what is known as an agonist action, where the opposite muscle takes a dominance. In this case, the frontalis muscle responsible for lifting the brows upwards will no longer be working against the downwards muscle, and the brows rise.

The eyebrow lift also has options for the end eyebrow; the client can choose from arched, flared or horizontal brow shapes. The shapes are achieved by carefully injecting in specific places. The results can also smooth out the wrinkles and furrows on the forehead.

Availability and Prices

You should always choose an accredited clinic and an experienced surgeon to carry out the procedure. As the brow lift is one of the standard Botox treatments, it will be offered in all good Botox clinics. The prices will vary by clinic and location, and according to the amount of treatment you decide on, but a typical brow lift costs £200 on average.