Back To Blogging, With a BANG. Botox Bang.

So I got botox.  Bam. There you go… lol… I didn’t tell anyone because… well have you have noticed that when you want to do something.. almost anything. Someone tries to talk you out of it?  Tells you all about how bad it is, or what a stupid idea, or irresponsible it is.

Amusing side note, while I was going to brunch yesterday I was thinking about how I decided that I wasn’t going to tell anyone because I didn’t want well meaning concern to talk me out of what I wanted to do.   And I walk up to a conversation about how one of our number is thinking about moving to china and working on this project with this guy that some of us know.  And everyone (myself included) proceeded to go on and on about what a terrible idea it was.  Part way through I thought .. see this is why I’m not telling anyone, I apologized to my friend and said hey do what you want, I’m selfish so I hope it doesn’t work out and you come back here, but you should do it if you want to.

Anyway after lunch I was giving my friend a ride and I told her why it was so funny/ironic that I had been sitting at the table trying to talk her out of taking some job that she wasn’t even certainly taking, just something she was thinking about and discussing with friends.  That  I was going to go get botox, but I hadn’t told anyone (other than my sister) because I didn’t want well meaning friends to talk me out of it. Interestingly, I wonder what the reactions would have been if I hadn’t done it yet?

I mean the two people I told before were really supportive.  Actually after I dropped my friend off at the mrt I went right over to the clinic and was like… screw it.. lets do this. My sister asked me to document everything, and funnily I had already decided to do that.  What the heck, if I’m going to do it … why not blog about it :D.

It’s not like I’m really the type to be all cagey about anything I’ve ever done. I have been thinking about it for a while, mostly as a preventative measure, I’ve heard that you can prevent deep wrinkle lines with lower dosages if you get botox before the wrinkles are a big issue.  I did some reading, and everything was pretty clear that it wasn’t as bad as some make it out to be.  Even people who had bad experiences say that it is definitely temporary.   I read up about how much to take, how much it costs and all sort of things. I went to the same clinic where I get laser hair removal.  And asked for a doctor and nurse who spoke English, I do speak Chinese but when you’re doing something for the first time it’s much more calming if you can speak your native tongue.

The first nursy type chick was like, oh hey if you buy 40 unit you get a discount of x amount of dollars.. and I was like uh no thanks.  Then she told me I needed a minimum of 3 units anyway and I was like.. yeah ok you need to go away.  First of all all the doctors I had talked to in the past several years had suggested 12-15 units for me.  So her suggestion was insane. The actual doctor wasn’t an idiot like that girl.  I told him I wanted a very low dosage because everything I had read was that it was better to go with less and get more later than to go overboard and look like you just had a stroke.  😀  He suggested 14 units, I asked if 10 or 12 would be ok.  Because I’m rather nervous about the whole thing, being the first time I’ve ever tried it.. that and I’m going to France in a couple of weeks to see my boyfriend and it would suck to have frozen face. He said 10 would be fine, I then asked if it was enough that I would see some results, I mean why have it done if it’s going to do nothing.  He assured me that I would definitely see something with 10 units and that that it wouldn’t be too dramatic so a good middle ground.

Oh the cost, it’s 400 nt per unit that’s about $13.50 a unit.  Seems pretty standard from what I saw online, prices ranging from 8-20 dollars a unit.  So my total cost was 4000 nt and the effect is meant to be 4-9 months.  They suggest you come back in every 4-6 months depending on your results. So In the clinic, they put a little numbing cream on my face (not necessary but they are really keen on numbing cream in Taiwan) and I waited playing with my phone.  After 20 minutes, I went into the doctor’s office, had our little chat and then I laid down on the little massage table in the office.  I got a blankie and everything  meanwhile the nurse went out and got the botox.  The doctor and I chatted while we waited for her to return, actually he was really good, very confident and calm and answered all my questions clearly.

He did a really good job of making me feel comfortable and calm, if you’ve ever been to a doctor in Taiwan, you’ll know how rare such a good bedside manner is. On to the injections!  I am being treated for crows feet, which to be honest aren’t that significant, and under eye wrinkles, which have just become an issue in the last year and actually bother me.  I think they make me look tired and old… booo! So I got three injections on each side, one near the corner of the eye (for crows feet) and two slightly below the eye top of the cheek to stop the under eye smile wrinkles. The shots didn’t hurt, of the three I only even felt one of them.  The pressure of injecting liquid into the muscle tissue was, not uncomfortable, but well.. I don’t know how to describe it.  One spot hurt a little, but I mean so little that it doesn’t count, just enough for me to categorize it as pain.  The other two, I felt nothing or just a little pressure.

After that, I asked was there anything I should or shouldn’t do.  The doctor was like, oh yes don’t go to a sauna or hot spring in the next week.  I asked anything else, food?  Exercise?  Rubbing the area?  What about tanning? Can I go tanning?   The answer was I can do what ever I want, just try not to get the area too hot for a week, so no tanning, sauna or hot springs but exercise is fine.  and do not massage or rub the area for a week.

Another interesting thing I didn’t know, was that I won’t see any results for a week… well he said a week, but I looked online and they said 3-7 days.  I assume he said a week so I wasn’t calling in 4 days being like.. WTF why don’t I see anything.  Apparently results are in full effect with in two weeks. Interestingly, botox is used for a bunch of stuff including migraine treatments,  muscle spasms, and a number of other things.  Anyway since I’ve already done it, now I’m telling people and the responses have ranged from surprise  because they don’t feel I have any wrinkles, and curiosity.  So far no negativity at all.. interesting :D. I took some pictures, of before during and after.  So you can see what it all looks like.  If you have any questions feel free to ask, I’m a (mostly) open book.

Ok so I mostly wrote this right after I did it, and here is a little post op info :).  There wasn’t much of anything to see for a couple of days, and then a slight lessening of the crow’s feet.  Now it’s been 6 days since the injections and there is a notable difference.  To be honest I’m quite pleased with the results, I might go with a slightly higher dose next time (1-2 more units, which was what the doctor recommended in the first place).  But so far, it’s really worth it.  Of course that is assuming it actually last a few months, it wouldn’t be worth it if it wore off in 1 month.  But I look a lot less tired around the eyes, and just knowing that makes me feel better :).

Anyway here are some pictures I’ll try to make them as big as I can, but if you want big versions you can just ask me to email them to you.. it’s quite interesting all large on the computer screen!

Before the Shot, relaxed

Before, Smiling

They put this numbing cream on before the shots

I got the nurse to take a picture while the doctor was doing the injections

Just after the shot, you can see the red spots.

This is the next day, not sure why it’s out of focus, obviously nothing to see yet

Monday Jan 14th oooh a little less crow’s feet

Tuesday Jan 15th, wow! can totally see something

Jan 16th, ok, definitely can see a difference!

And this is Today, Jan 18th so 6 days after the shot.

Ok and here are a before and after side by side 🙂 wadday thing?

Before

After