My Botox experience – The consultation

Tomorrow is my appointment to get botox and I am so excited!! There will be a few live videos on my Instagram Stories so if you aren’t following me, you can follow me here.

I am excited to share with you all that I’m actually partnering up with Aestheticare Medspa to share my experience with you all! I am so thankful and grateful for every opportunity that I’m given and was in absolute shock when they reached out to me on Instagram for this. I am receiving these services complimentary but everything you read is all my own words and opinions.

 

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In all seriousness I truly am excited. It’s been almost two months now since mentioning how every year for my birthday I gift myself something big and this year was the year I  decided to pull the plug and get botox. I went on my Instagram stories (I’m seriously always on there haha) asking about everyone’s experience with it. Here is what I learned….everyone gets it. Of course living in Kansas botox has yet to make its big debut and you’re looked at like you’re crazy when mentioned,  but I was shocked by the amount of people who said botox where they lived was the norm!

You all were completely open books and I got a ton of recommendations, experience stories, and what to expect for my price point! There were even some really funny stories shared about getting too much botox! I wasn’t expecting anything from asking you all other than just getting some opinions and information.

I was lost when it came to where to go because I had heard such wonderful things about going to medspas, plastic surgeons, and dermatologist offices. I am so grateful that Aestheticare Medspa reached out because I couldn’t image a more perfect fit for me. All the ladies there are super sweet, absolutely gorgeous and put off a very happy and welcoming vibe. Their waiting room is so cozy and fun from the glamorous sitting area to the cutest coffee/snack area. I was even given a tour of their office and loved hearing about all the services they offered from signature facials to fillers to CoolSculpting. If you’re curios about what all services they offer you can check them all out here.

Stephanie, an esthetician at Aestheicare Medspa (she is the absolute sweetest!) gave me my consultation and I was absolutely speechless after all that I was told. I had so many questions I wanted to ask and couldn’t remember half of them because I was so amazed by everything! The questions I did remember are listed towards the end of the post.

The first thing Stephanie talked to me about was skin care, what my concerns were with my skin, and basically why I wanted botox.  I told her that right now I have really bad hormonal acne, that I’m all about anti aging, and I’m mainly looking into botox for prevention. Here is where she told me that she recommended getting Dysport over botox! I had no idea that there was another option other than Botox. The only thing I ever knew of was fillers and botox so I was really fascinated in learning the difference.

Both Botox and Dysport, are neurotoxins that are purified proteins used to temporarily improve the look of moderate to severe wrinkles.  They work by blocking the nerve signals that direct facial muscles to contract during facial expressions. When muscles are prevented from contracting, the lines and folds in the skin’s surface are prevented from forming.  -Aestheticare Medspa

The way Stephanie explained it was that there is a molecule of difference between botox and dysport. Dysport works and is noticeable immediately while botox takes a few days to completely settle. She said because my lines aren’t as severe dysport would be the better choice. I also read some brochures after my consultation and the one over Dysport talked about how it was a more subtle version and gives less of an overdone look. I’m not sure the price of either at other medspas/offices but botox is $13/unit and dysport is $12/unit at Aestheticare Medspa. Stephanie decided that I would need anywhere between 7-14 units.

So, after our talk, Stephanie had me remove my makeup and gave me a Visia Skin Analysis. This was the coolest thing I have ever had done for my skin. I was literally speechless and could only get out “this is so cool” the entire time she went over my analysis. The Visia Skin Analysis captures information for six areas affecting complexion health and appearance: wrinkles, spots, pores, evenness (color variation in the skin tone), bacteria in pots, and UV Spots. I had my face scanned twice. The first was my entire face and the second was only the left side of my face to pick up any uv spots from the sun while driving.

Here is an overview of each face chart and where I was totally blown away! (each picture will give an overview underneath it)

This one maps out each area of my face to show where most of my pores are, most of my wrinkles are, and most of my texture is found.

This image shows where most of my dark spots are. A lot of these are freckles. I fall in the 80% category which is super high.

You can’t really tell much in this photo but in the highlighted blue under my eyes it shows that area is where most of my wrinkles reside. I was really shocked that it didn’t pick up anything but one measly wrinkle of my forehead when that is where most of them are. My score was 92% for this test. 

This picture focuses on the texture. I was also surprised by how little it picked up but couldn’t agree more with where it is showing most of my texture. I score for this was 97%.

This photos shows my noticeable pores. All the ones on my nose are really focusing on the blackheads I have haha. My score was a 94%

This photo was a little more scary to me and had me want to go out and buy everything spf. This shows where all my UV spots are. I have  definitely deserved all this damage after being in the sun all the hours I have and letting my face fry. I scored a 40% which is absolutely terrible. Spf 50 is now my absolute best friend. 

This photo shows all the bacteria on my face. I would say 98% of these are blackheads. My score was 49% for this and I went home immediately to do a blackhead extraction mask after the consultation.

 

This was one of the coolest and the first skin analysis test I have ever had. I would love to do this constantly over time to see if my skin has improvement! After the analysis, Stephanie was able to recommend products based on what my skin was telling me. My skin felt amazing the rest of the day!

With getting dysport tomorrow I will also be receiving a facial and I am so excited. I’m anxious to see the difference in my skin and to see the difference when I’m wearing makeup. I will be taking a ton of pictures for the follow-up blog post that will be up Tuesday and there will be some Instagram stories capturing it all as well. So be sure to be following me on there (@kendra.raymer). 🙂

 

The questions

All of these questions are a mix of what I asked Stephanie, what we came up with together to share with you guys, and some are some FAQ from google.

Q: What’s the recommend age to start getting Botox to help prevent?

A: The recommended age if you’re wanting to focus on prevention is around 26. If anything, at that age you should be starting to focus on prevention, and adding anti-aging into your skin care routine.

 

Q: How often should you come for appointments?

A: It’s recommended to stay consistent when getting botox/dysport  and to schedule appointments every 3-4 months.

 

Q: If you stay consistent with your appointments can you eventually use less units per visit?

A: Yes! It doesn’t happen right away but being consistent helps to keep the nerves from reaching the muscles that contract to form those fine lines.

 

Q: What exactly does botox do?

A: Botox is designed to relax muscles.

 

Q: Is botox permanent?

A: No, it’s not but a single round can last anywhere from 4-6 months.

 

Q: What’s the average amount of units used per treatment?

A:  I got a very wide range for this answer when searching. On the forehead it’s anywhere between 6-20 and the lines between our eyebrows is anywhere between 20-35 units.

 

Q: Where is botox usually put?

A: The area between the eyebrows (known as the glabella), the forehead, and crows feet.

 

 

 

 

Why do I want botox?

I want to add this in because getting anything done to your body is so controversial. Wether it’s tattoos, getting plastic surgery, or something as simple as fillers or botox, someone always has something negative to say. In the end its your body and you can do whatever you want to do with it. Getting botox or dysport as I should say has been something I’ve talked about for years. I take really good care of my skin and am all about prevention. I knew at some point I would be getting it and the opportunity came.

I am 100% happy with smile lines because that’s a reminder of happy moments! However, I subconsciously am always raising my eyebrows and have noticed a huge difference with how deep my wrinkles are getting. At first it didn’t bother me, but after a while I noticed my foundation setting into the lines and I felt so much older than my 23-year-old self.  After I started noticing how deep-set they were I felt like everyone else was noticing too and it’s something that I want to fix. I love myself and am just enhancing the features that I have.

 

To follow along, you can read all about me getting disport here: My botox journey – Getting Dysport

 

I am getting this service complimentary of Aestheicare Medspa in Lawrence, Kansas, but all words and opinions are my own.

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xx-Kendra