BOTOX VS FILLERS

What is the difference?

AREN’T fillers much the same as Botox, you might ask? No. They’re utterly different substances, injected into different parts of the face to do different things.

Botox is a nerve toxin that is injected into the muscles to reduce their ability to contract. A filler is a gel made (usually) from hyaluronic acid, which is injected to add volume or structure to the face.

The confusion comes about as people often use the phrase ‘Botox and fillers’ as a kind of shorthand to describe non-surgical cosmetic treatments and perhaps also because patients can receive both Botox and fillers in the same session. Botox is frequently used on the forehead to soften frown lines. Fillers are often injected into cheeks and lips to stop them looking deflated. If you wonder why I’m spelling out something as basic as this, it’s because people still confuse the two — even those who know quite a bit about aesthetics.

One friend told me she had been for treatment and had had Botox in her lips.

When I said that I thought it was filler she’d had, not Botox, she got quite cross. I hadn’t been there, she said.

But she was wrong. I checked with the doctor, and she’d had fillers — but the point is that she had got as far as having the treatment without fully understanding what went where or did what.