Wednesday 31 October 2012

The Myths About Botox & Dermal Fillers

Botox and dermal fillers: myths and important client information

Skin Beautiful Medical and Cosmetic Clinic provides expert advanced dermal filler treatments at clinics in Exeter Milton Bristol Coventry Swansea Warwick Daventry Evesham Carmarthen Llanelli and Neath.


From every corner of the non surgical aesthetics industry there exists a multitude of myths regarding the uses, properties, legalities and ethics of Botox & dermal fillers. Some are quite surprising and none are limited to any one particular group.

In an attempt to provide the discerning public with the most accurate information possible, this article aims to clear up many of the most common myths.

Who can administer Botox injections?

Although there is widespread disparity in answering this question, the answer is a very straightforward one. At the time of writing, and under current UK law, any person can administer Botox injections, so long as certain criteria have been met. Botox is a prescription only medicine (POM). This means it must be supplied by prescription. A prescription must be obtained following a face to face consultation with an appropriate person. Therefore, if a doctor is willing to give a direction to a beautician to administer Botox there is currently no UK law prohibiting this.

Who can prescribe Botox?

I have seen several articles where doctors claim that nurses are not allowed to prescribe Botox or other botulinum toxin type-A drugs. This is quite simply a distortion of the facts. Any nurse holding a nurse independent and supplementary prescriber qualification (NISP) can prescribe Botox independently of a doctor or dentist. An NISP may also prescribe for others and give a direction for others to administer Botox too.


Who is qualified to do what?

I have seen several doctors (general practitioners) claiming to be 'best placed' or 'most suitably qualified' to deliver non surgical facial aesthetics treatments. I am sceptical that this advice is not in the best interest of the general public for several reasons:
  1. A doctor is highly knowledgeable in medicine and disease. However, no aspect of doctor training covers any part of facial aesthetics, nor does it cover the technique of injecting Botox or dermal fillers.
  2. Many doctors have absolutely no aesthetics training, qualifications or certification whatsoever. That's not to say that doctors don't make good aesthetics practitioners. There are many good aesthetics practitioners with medical backgrounds. However, to claim to be most suitably qualified on the basis of a medical degree, without having had any professional aesthetics training is perhaps misleading.
  3. Over 70% of all injections in the UK are administered by qualified RGN or RN nurses. Many doctors rarely inject patients in daily practice, but instead give the direction to practice nurses to administer injectable drugs.
  4. Specialist medical aesthetics training course for doctors, dentists and nurses are readily available, leading to certification in all manner of non surgical cosmetic and medical procedures. A medical aesthetics certificate is evidence that the practitioner can perform the given procedure safely and correctly, and, independently of any medical, nursing or dentist training and qualifications.
In my own experience, I have been told of several doctors, nurses and dentists who have injected incorrectly leaving a client(s) with bruising and other undesirable effects following treatment.

My advice to the client is: ask several questions of your practitioner. Find out exactly what training and qualifications they have, and ask whether they have evidence that they can perform the treatment you require effectively. Always ask to see professional cosmetic insurance, which is independent of any other medical practice insurance. The best cosmetic insurance available will only cover doctors, dentists and nurses who are also qualified aesthetics practitioners.

The Frozen Look!

It is not good practice to inject a client's face leaving a frozen look. Scientific literature from both independent studies and drug manufacturers state that Botox Cosmetic (and other botulinum toxin type-A drugs) should 'relax', 'reduce' or 'weaken' muscle contractions. Botox is not supposed to be administered to the extent that muscles become completely, albeit temporarily paralysed. In my own practice I refuse to attempt the 'frozen look' on the basis of such scientific evidence. Botox is supposed to achieve a reduction in the visibility of facial lines and wrinkles, not a visibly stiff face.

What is the difference between Botox and dermal fillers?

I often get asked this question by clients. For many 'Botox' has become a generically used term to describe all facial aesthetics injectable treatments. In terms of the physical and pharmacological properties of the two Botox and dermal fillers are very different.

Firstly, Botox is a prescription only medicine (POM) whereas dermal fillers are medical devices (non POM). Botox cosmetic is a drug that is injected beneath the skin to temporarily correct lines and wrinkles caused by the contraction of particular facial muscle groups. It does so by blocking the release of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter. This in effect inhibits localised muscle contraction.

By contrast, dermal fillers have no effect on muscle contraction or in neuromuscular function. Instead they work by replacing lost volume in the skin's matrix. The active ingredient in most dermal fillers is hyaluronic acid, a substance that occurs naturally in the body. In the skin it aids hydration by holding water, which in turn gives volume to the skin. Through ageing, our skin loses its ability to hydrate itself and the resulting loss of volume yields characteristic deep lines and folds. Dermal fillers can replace the lost hyaluronic acid and allow the skin to rehydrate itself once more.

Protected by Copyscape


Links:
Skin Beautiful Homepage
About Skin Beautiful & Helen Bowes RGN BSc (hons)
Contact Skin Beautiful

About Botox
About Dermal Fillers
Botox & Dermal Fillers Cosmetic Treatments
Botox & Dermal fillers FAQ


5 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello Susan and thank you for commenting on the Skin Beautiful Botox and dermal fillers news blog. We are pleased you found it informative and interesting.

    Our webmaster has removed your comment as it contains a backlink to another aesthetics clinic. We do not permit spamming, or linking of any kind in order to boost Google SERPS for other businesses.

    Please feel free to comment again but without links to other websites.

    With best regards
    Helen Bowes RGN BSc (hons)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for sharing this informative post, has everything you need to know about botox and dermal fillers, i am sure it will be helpful for a lot of people.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Myths update:

    A client I recently treated with Botox for facial wrinkles - 3 areas (i.e. forehead lines, glabellar frown lines & eye wrinkles/crow's feet) was told by another clinic that their Botox treatment would last for 6 months.

    As much as I don't want this blog to become an excuse for finding errors in other colleagues' practice I believe such misinformation must be addressed. it is not in my interest for potential clients to have false expectations of treatments from other practitioners.

    How does Botox work?
    Botox works as a 4 stage cycle that is: binding, internalisation, blocking and awakening. Stages 3 and 4 relate to the relaxing of muscles and the awakening of muscles following their period of relaxation.

    The key information for clients seeking Botox treatments is that the blocking stage lasts for approximately 3 months. The fundamental question is how long after muscle contractions resume does it take for lines to reappear? The simple answer is "no set time." It is entirely dependent on the individual, his/her muscle contractions, metabolism and a multitude of health, lifestyle, and/or social factors that may influence the equation. For some it may be only a few days, while for other it may be as long as a month.

    Treatments should be advised on a timescale to address muscle contractions. Hence, as a general rule treatments are taken 3-4 times per year to keep muscle contractions at bay. It is unreasonable to expect lines to be invisible for 6 months per treatment. A more accurate guide would be 3-4 months.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you to all for the dozens of comments received for this article.

    Unfortunately, many comments do not relate the the subject being discussed. In some instances other clinics have used this blog quite blatantly to promote their own businesses in a way that does not relate even remotely to the content of the article.

    Our webmaster will not allow these kind of comments and will remove them from the article.

    If you want your comments to appear here as part of a discussion then please do not insert hyperlinks with keywords back to your own clinic/practice.

    Helen Bowes
    Skin Beautiful Medical & Cosmetic Clinic

    ReplyDelete