What is the difference between ‘botox’ and fillers?

I overheard a conversation yesterday in a lovely little café in Ashbourne. We had left early from home in Lichfield and taken the doggies (and the children!) up Thorpe Cloud at Dovedale (if you haven’t been there, it’s a great little walk – with a big hill to get your heart rate up!). Afterwards, we decided that we should support a local business, so cue lots of frothy coffee and home-made cakes!

Another family (with another cute doggo! I was going to say ‘equally cute doggo’ but then realised that obviously my doggoes are the cutest!) was in the ‘dog room’ with us and I ended up sitting on my own for a bit while hubby popped to a shop, and the children nattered at a different table.

While I’m not usually an eavesdropper, I couldn’t help overhear a conversation at the next table. They had originally been chatting about veganism, and ‘safe’, cruelty free beauty products (really wish I could have told them about Alumier!), and then the conversation moved onto Botox. Except it didn’t, it moved on to dermal fillers.

I realised that I have heard this kind of thing before – people use ‘botox’ as an umbrella term for aesthetic injectables, and while I may not be the shy, retiring type, I didn’t feel it was my place to leap in and correct anyone on their wrong use of terminology!!

However, the general consensus was that ‘botox’ was used to correct jaw lines, alter nose shapes and plump up lips, as well as iron out wrinkles on the forehead.

So I made a mental note that my next blog would be to tell you about the difference! After all, if you don’t know, you don’t know!

You may have read the last blog I did about this, but it was more about the history of botox and fillers in the aesthetic market {add link}, so I thought I would clarify things for you all.

Botox is actually a brand name, the active ingredient is called Botulinum toxin (or often just called ‘toxin’ in the aesthetics world). It has been used for many years for a variety of conditions, starting in the Opthalmology world. It from there became used in aesthetics, as it effectively paralyses muscles by removing the nerve’s ability to communicate with the muscle, meaning it is unable to tell it to move. This ‘paralysis’ fades over a few months as the body builds new nerve axioms, allowing the muscle to move again. By doing this, you reduce lines and wrinkles and the skin is not able to ‘crease’ from repeated movements.

However, this is not the same substance that is used to plump lips and contour the face! Dermal filler is a completely different substance. Generally, fillers from most brands (we only use those of exceptional quality, Juvederm by Allergan) are a formulation of Hyaluronic Acid (HA), cross-linked to stay in place for several months.

This HA is injected into different parts of the face, to plump lips, and give them more shape and definition, to replace lost volume in cheeks, they can be used to smooth out the deep lines by the nose and mouth, soften mouth wrinkles, and even reshape chins and jawlines. The training is completely difference, and the results are very different too! While fillers can help with lines and wrinkles, actually they are used for definition and plumping, and you do not lose any ‘movement’ with fillers – no startled rabbit-in-headlights looks here!

Both most definitely have their place in the aesthetics world, with many clinics offering variations on both of these treatments – but whichever you choose, please remember they are most definitely not the same thing!

Don’t forget – I have some offers running at the moment – until the end of the year, all dermal filler appointments get 20% off if you are happy to pose as a model for my social media and website (i.e. before and after pictures, testimonials, short videos etc), or if you prefer, you could have a complementary skin treatment at your review appointment, personalised to your skin type.

So if you are still confused, or like the sound of injectable cosmetics, just let me know and we can have a chat!