Saturday 29 March 2008

Shoot Me Up




Ten days ago it was my first time. I was a little bit nervous but not scared. He took a good look at me and then asked me to lie down. He prepared the syringe, putting the needle on top and filling it up with the liquid which would take care of my worries and fears. He cleaned my skin and gently sticked the needle into my tissue and pushed the plunger.

I didn´t feel any pain but I heard how the needle cracked into my muscle and he told me I was bleeding a bit. He injecting me four times in total and though I didn´t feel the effect right away, I knew that all would be good for me from now on. He was kind enough to wait until after he was done to ask for the money. I payed him, put on my sunglasses and slipped out of the building hoping that I would not bump into somebody I know seeing my in the state I was in.

And that was the first time I had my forehead injected with Botolinum toxin A also know as Botox a deadly neurotoxin which will kill in high doses and which will paralyze muscles and sweat glands in highly diluted concentrations. If you inject botox into a muscle it will prevent the muscle from moving and by doing so reducing facial expression lines. This effect will last for 6-8 months.
I have the disadvantage of being a smoker (I really should look into that quitting smoking pill), I move my eyebrows and use facial expressions a lot when I talk and I have problems drinking enough water which resulted in premature lines on my forehead which are very hard to get rid of. You should see my daily moisturizing routine, it´s insane but it didn´t help with the lines at all. So the thought of taking little more drastic measures was bouncing around in my head for quite some time. I even titled my birthday party this year "two more years till botox". I guess I lied or simply couldn´t take it anymore. I am vain, I am superficial at times I even have bad hair days so when I don´t like something about myself I change it. I am short sighted so I started wearing contacts when I was 13, I have dark shadows under my eyes so I use concealer, I don´t like wearing colours so I mainly wear black white and grey for over a decade now. Point is if there is anything that you don´t like about yourself you should consider changing it if it makes you feel better. But you should never change something because other people tell you to.

So I was unhappy with my forehead and I had it fixed and ten days after I´m very happy that I did it. Botox needs some time to build up, so the first three days not much happened, after that it got harder and harder to frown and I am completely unable to wrinkle my forehead since two days. I told the doctor that I would like to keep my eyebrows movable since I use them a lot while I talk and I can still use them which is great.

I have to go back in for a touch up next week. The good thing is that my doctor is not that kind of doctor who would shoot you up and sent you on your way, no, he only injects you with half of the usual dosage the first time and adjusts some things at your touch up.
My eyebrows are a tiny bit uneven now which he will take care of during my touch up. It´s a very common side effect since you cannot estimate how the muscles will settle once they are paralyzed. I have to fight the urge to just pluck them so that they are even again. Doing so could end up in a very unpleasant surprise when the final dose kicks in. I could end up looking very Cruella de Ville-ish. So I will simply wait a little.

All in all, I am very happy and can recommend it.
If I find a picture of me which I haven´ t already Photoshoped I will post some before and after pictures later.

Images:Allergan

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