Why I am a Fan of Botox (& the Difference Between Botox and Fillers)

It is a surprise to exactly no one that I get Botox. It’s hard to one day look in the mirror and gasp in horror at the first sign of fine lines and wrinkles. (Mine aren’t even so fine, quite frankly.) Then thoughts run through our minds like: “When did these show up?” And “So this is what I’m stuck with now??” At first I tried to justify it with excuses like: “I had a tough week and I’m just tired”. Um, yeah, not so much. You can only ride that for so long.

Who wants to grow old naturally?

Who wants to grow old naturally? I guess not me. I love the whole French idea of looking amazing with zero makeup. Two problems: A) I’m not French. B) I don’t look good without makeup. C) An extra problem I didn’t initially disclose, I want to look good for myself, even if I’m the only one who thinks so. (I’m the girl, remember, who reapplies lipstick when she’s working from home all day.) The tricky part with this whole growing old naturally vs Botox and fillers, vs whatever else is out there, is knowing what to do, how much, where, and how often. It’s hard! I know, first world problems. This is NOT lost on me so please save the hate mail.

The difference between Botox and fillers:

To freaking figure out the whole thing, I asked my girl Tamara at Skin Deep in Pasadena. (Disclaimer: I have no tie to the place other than a girlfriend recommended it to me, I’ve been and I like it. I don’t get anything free, nor is this some pay for play. I’m just using my personal venue here to answer questions that my clients ask me, especially brides and go over what my girlfriends and I talk about anyway. Plus, I was curious and wanted the facts, so I went straight to my source.)

Keep in mind, this is not a solution for full on reconstruction. For that, well, you’re going to have to go ask Taylor or see one of the Real Housewives’ docs. (Although, bee tee dubbs, Ken Todd [Lisa Vanderpump’s husband] WAS at our event a couple of weeks ago for Kelly Rutherford and the Children’s Justice Campaign – #bringkellyskidsback – and he looked great, whatever, if anything he’s doing so not everyone is Botoxed out in La La Land.)

The Step by Step Guide to Know if It’s Botox or Fillers:

What do you want to treat?: Fine lines, deep wrinkles or both? If it’s those pesky lines around your eyes or those frown lines that make you look bitter all the time, Botox will be your new best friend.

What it does: Botox relaxes your muscles so you have limited movement, which prevents worsening of the lines and then also softens the ones you have.

How long does Botox last: 3-4 months and it takes anywhere from 3 to 14 days to see the full benefits, but I have to say that I feel better almost immediately, which is probably totally psychological. Oh well.

Once it’s gone: You’ll need to be re-injected to obtain the same results, but my own personal experience has been that it seems to kind of compound on itself after you’ve been a few times so I don’t have to goes as often.

How you know you want a filler

If you’re concerned about the lines that run from your nose down to your mouth or the deflation in the cheek area, that requires a filler to “fill in” the space. We start losing collagen in our late 20s (ugh, depressing isn’t it?) and it’s pretty much downhill from there.

What makes you need fillers? Well, we lose the collagen, and then, there’s the rest of it, the stuff we can control in our lifestyle choices:

• smoking
• weight loss
• sun damage

What are the different types of fillers? We’ll have to get into that in a later post, or if you just can’t wait, check out this article.

How long do fillers last? Fillers typically last 6 months to a year.  That’s it? OK, OK, there’s a newer filler which is FDA approved for 2 years, but call Tamara and ask her about that because I have no idea what it’s called.

The bad news? We’re getting older. The GREAT news, there are options.

The net/net difference between Botox and fillers?

One relaxes the muscles which kind of prevents the fine lines while the other fills and re-stimulates collagen to our faces which reduces the deeper lines.

Let me know what you think in the comments below. Yay or nah on Botox and fillers?

xx Marley

P.S. Thanks, Tamara, for agreeing to share!!