4 Facial Tics To Fight With Botox

Botox is usually considered an anti-aging or skin care procedure, but it can also nip bad habits in the bud. Specifically, Botox treatments help discourage certain facial tics, which can prevent premature aging.

1. Squinting

Some facial tics are learned over long periods of time, while others are stress responses that occur without your even realizing it. Squinting is one example, which involves tightening the muscles around the eyes and narrowing the eyelids.

Unfortunately, squinting is one of the common causes of "crow's feet", which are the lines that form around the eyes. The more you squint, the deeper and longer the lines become.

The most common reason for squinting lies in refractive vision issues. You might squint frequently if you live with uncorrected vision, such as:

• Myopia: Difficulty seeing distant objects clearly ("short-sighted")
• Hyperopia: Difficulty seeing close objects, such as the print in a book
• Astigmatism: Defects in the curve of the cornea

While corrective lenses might help you stop squinting, they might not be enough if you have squinted chronically for a long period of time. It becomes an ingrained behavior that you perform even when it isn't necessary.

When you have a Botox treatment around the eyes, however, your squinting days might be over. This is because the injections paralyze the muscles around your eyes, rendering you incapable of squinting even if you try.

2. Frowning

Most people frown when they are angry or upset, but some people frown naturally based on their facial shape. A frown can involve numerous muscles in the face, including those around the:

• Forehead
• Mouth
• Eyebrows

If you frown consistently on a daily basis, fine lines and wrinkles develop in response to those facial tics. The positioning of those lines depends on the anatomy of your frown; for example, if you furrow your eyebrows, lines will develop around your eyes and across your forehead.

Botox discourages frowning by "freezing" the facial muscles required to produce this expression. You can target the areas that give you the most trouble or focus on the entire face for more universal results.

3. "Scrunching"

When you find yourself contracting the muscles around your nose, you are performing a facial tic known as "scrunching." It is often a result of stress or anxiety, but it can also occur in well-adjusted children and adults.

The problem with scrunching is that it not only contracts the muscles in your nose and cheeks, but it also produces lines in your face's T-zone, which extends across your forehead and down the center of your face.

Botox is used to paralyze those muscles so scrunching is not as easy to achieve. You might still have the urge to scrunch, but you won't suffer from premature aging as a result.

4. Blinking

Another common facial tic is chronic blinking, which can be triggered by stress, allergies, or dry eyes. You might not even realize you have this condition until someone else notices that you blink more frequently than normal.

Although Botox cannot stop you from blinking, it can reduce some of the potential damage. By paralyzing some of the muscles around the eyes, each blink will have less of an impact on your skin.

Getting Treatment

If you suffer from chronic facial tics, consult a physician about the problem so he or she can rule out serious neurological disorders or other conditions. These are rare, but it is important to make sure you are healthy before you undergo a cosmetic procedure.

Many people in their 20s and 30s undergo Botox because of facial tics and other causes of premature aging. The lines and wrinkles that disrupt your natural facial shape don't have to be continually intensified by facial tics. Contact one of the Botox doctors in your area for more information.