Facial exercise accelerates the anti-wrinkle effects of Botox® (botulinum toxin), confirms this study by a team from Northwestern University (Chicago). While botox binds to nerve cell receptors to relax muscles, exercise speeds up this binding process. Second advantage, according to these conclusions presented in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, some patients appreciate gaining control over their care and their results.
In fact, the study conducted by Dr. Murad Alam, professor of dermatology at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, shows that simple facial exercises soon after the injection can speed up, by about 1 day , the effects of the injections. While Botox can reduce forehead wrinkles and other facial wrinkles, resulting in a more relaxed, youthful appearance that lasts for several months, its effects take a little longer to show up, without facial exercises.
But some patients are impatient, and for those who are unable to wait the necessary 3 or 4 days before the appearance of the wrinkle smoothing effect. Many patients come for their injections shortly before an important social or professional event, and fear that the effect will not be visible in time. The study shows that a facial exercise after the injections accelerates the change in appearance by about a day. Also, it helps to be able to tell patients that facial exercises are really evidence-based, Alam said.
The study of 22 adult women with forehead wrinkles treated with botulinum toxin asked half of its participants to perform facial muscle exercises about 4 hours after the injections. These exercises included movements of raising the forehead and bringing the eyebrows together at the rate of 3 sets of 40 repetitions, separated by 10 minutes. 6 months later, once the effects of the treatments disappeared, the experiment was reversed: the group that had performed the facial exercises during the first phase of the study became the control group.
Both study dermatologists and participants felt that forehead wrinkles improved better when injections were followed by facial exercise, vs. no exercise.
- But, after 2 weeks, these differences in results fade: there is no longer any visible difference in effect between the participants who performed these exercises and the controls;
- no difference is also observed in the duration of the effects of the treatment;
- 68% of participants felt that facial exercise accelerated muscle relaxation and reduced wrinkles;
- 59% find facial exercises easy to do.
These data show that post-treatment facial exercises after botulinum toxin injections can lead to the reduction of wrinkles a day earlier. It is therefore an effect of acceleration but not optimization of the overall results that is observed.
Exercise will just speed up the process of botox binding to nerve cell receptors to relax the muscles.