What it is
Botox Cosmetic is FDA-approved botulinum toxin type A. Injected into specific facial muscles, it temporarily blocks the nerve signal that causes those muscles to contract — the muscles relax, the overlying skin smooths.
It is not a filler. It does not add volume. It does not freeze the face when placed by a clinician who reads anatomy.
How we approach it
Botox at Southern Vanity is mapped to your face, not to a template. The dose to the glabella that suits one patient will overweight another. The lateral canthi that need eight units on one face need fourteen on another. The injector evaluates muscle bulk, brow position, lid aperture, and your stated goal — then writes a unit map specific to your anatomy before the first injection.
Typical glabellar dose: twenty to forty units. Typical forehead dose: eight to twenty units, dependent heavily on brow position. Typical lateral canthi (crow’s feet) dose: eight to twenty-four units total. These are starting ranges, not formulas.
What to expect
Onset begins around day three to four. Full effect lands at day seven to fourteen. Results last three to four months on average — longer for low-dose maintenance, shorter for first-time patients whose muscles have not yet relaxed into the treatment cycle.
You may resume normal activity immediately. Do not lie flat for four hours. Do not exercise hard for twenty-four hours. Do not press on the treated areas.
Candidacy
Good candidates have dynamic lines that appear with expression and want conservative, predictable softening. Poor candidates are pregnant or nursing, have neuromuscular disease, or expect Botox to address static lines etched into resting skin — those typically need resurfacing or filler.
If you are not a candidate, the injector will say so and offer the alternative that fits your anatomy.