Long-term Botox patients perceive themselves as younger than their age

According to a study presented at the 2014 American Society for Dermatologic Study Annual Meeting, patients receiving continuous Botox treatment over the course of several years perceived themselves to look younger than their actual age.

Alistair Carruthers, Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada (FRCPC) presented the results of the study, which assessed 194 patients, aged 18 and above, with at least five years history of continuous treatment.

Carruthers and his team reviewed patient records of Botox treatments from 1999 to 2012, evaluating facial areas treated, dosage per area, number of treatments performed, any accompanying aesthetic treatments and any adverse events associated with the Botox treatment.

The mean age at first injection was 46.3 years, and data was collected from 5,112 treatment sessions with an average of two or more treatments annually, over a mean of 9.1 years.

The researchers found that the longer patients were injected, the younger they perceived themselves to be. They also found that although dosing for glabellar lines and crows' feet remained stable over the period covered, dosing for forehead lines had decreased since 1999.