“I had a question today that came up with a patient I was treating with Botox. He had heard from a friend that if you got Botox, your eyes open up when you were smiling. It’s actually true to a certain extent that your eyes can be opened slightly by treatment with Botox, Dysport or Xeomin, the 3 competitors that out there, by treating the important sphincter muscle that surrounds the eye in concentric circles, it’s the one that squeezes the eye closed and if we treat the lateral or outside aspect, the area under the brow, we’re able to relax that portion of the muscle which releases the downward pulling forces of the eye muscle, the orbicularis, and allows that brow to come up and allows the eye to be somewhat, more opened.
Now that is generally true at rest. We’ve measured that in a study that I conducted in the early 2000s where we compared Botox brow position before and after Botox, and showed that from the middle part of the pupil to the lowest brow hair and the lateral campus or corner of the eye to the lowest brow hair, we could get up to 5 millimeters of brow elevation at rest after treatment with Botox, Dysport or Xeomin, being similar.
So the answer to the question is a little complicated because those measurements are typically taken at rest and when we smile we actually elevate our cheek muscles as well as bring the brow down so to the extent that the cheeks are elevating, the eye actually will be a little bit smaller, but to the extent that the brow comes down with smiling, the eyes would be a little bit bigger. That is, we should see a little bit of increase in size of the eyes in treating the lateral orbicularis so the crows feet area when we’re using Botox, Dysport or Xeomin in the treatment for smile lines or lateral orbital lines or rhytids as we like to refer to them.
It’s a good question about how the face might change with these products, remembering that Botox, Dysport and Xeomin are very simple in their mechanism of action. They relax the muscle that we’re treating and we’re actually using these different vectors of pull around the face with facial muscles to improve the shape and symmetry and the overall contour of the face as well as improve facial lines using these products.
If you have any other questions about Botox, Dysport or Xeomin any of the new products that might be coming along including any of the cosmetics injectable I’m happy to answer them, you can visit my video blog at DrMaas.com, our website MaasClinic.com, any time you want to write in or call please feel free to do so.
As always, it’s my pleasure to answer your questions, this is Corey S. Maas MDTM on Looking Your Best.”
