How Much Botox Do I Really Need?

Many patients come into the office requesting a dollar amount for their Botox treatment. They are doing themselves a disservice by never getting fully dosed. The recommended treatment dose for Botox is 64 units if the glabella, the forehead, and the crows (smile lines around eyes) are being treated. The glabella dose is 20 U, the forehead dose is 20 U, and the crows treatment dose is 24 U. It is important to get the full dose of Botox when you initially start treatment. Over time as the muscles weaken it may take less but that is determined patient to patient after you have been treated every 3 months for at least a year.

I use the analogy of dosing yourself with Advil (ibuprofen) for a headache. If the dose is to take 2 tablets every 6 hours for a headache and you take ¼ of 1 tablet, do you think you would still have your headache? Most patients understand that they would still have a headache. The same is true for Botox. If you greatly underdose the Botox you won’t get the best reduction of the wrinkle AND you won’t get the 3-month duration. So you will not attain full correction.

These are the reasons why you should get fully dosed every 3 months for the first year and then work out your long-term treatment plan with your provider.