Most people assume that all wrinkles are created equal. You’ve seen one wrinkle, you’ve seen them all, right? Nope. There are actually two types of wrinkles: static wrinkles and dynamic wrinkles. Since we treat both of these wrinkle types with dermal fillers and neuromodulators, respectively, at Bryn Mawr Facial Aesthetics, let’s get into the difference.
Static wrinkles hang around all the time. That’s because they are caused by damage to the skin and by declining collagen production levels as we age. Static wrinkles are to be found on the mid to lower face: beneath the eyes and all around the mouth. You know them as smile lines, marionette lines, parentheses lines, and barcode lines.
Dynamic wrinkles are completely different. They occur as the result of muscle contractions under the skin when we make various expressions, such as frowning, showing surprise, squinting, and others. Go ahead and make a frown. You can feel all of the muscles engage around your eyes, on your brows, and on your forehead. That’s the expressive area of your face, the upper third.
Over time and making these expressions hundreds of thousands of times, the skin above the muscle develops a wrinkle. These are dynamic wrinkles, and you’ll find them on the outside of your eyes (crow’s feet), between your eyebrows (glabellar/frown lines/the 11s), and on your forehead.
No one likes these lines and wrinkles on the upper third of our face. But you can erase them with either of the two neuromodulators we inject at Bryn Mawr Facial Aesthetics: Botox and Dysport.
Neuromodulators work by relaxing the muscle contractions that are causing dynamic wrinkles. They do this by blocking the nerve messages sent from the muscle to the brain. The brain never gets the message to contract the muscle, so the muscle stays at rest and the wrinkle above it doesn’t form. All neuromodulators work the same way, but they have subtle differences.
Botox is the original neuromodulator, first approved by the FDA for cosmetic use in 2002. Botox is one of the world’s most famous brand names. It has been injected millions of times around the world and has a loyal following. Botox is great for treating small areas with precision.
The FDA approved Dysport in 2009. Dysport is made with smaller molecules when compared with Botox. Smaller molecules enable Dysport to work faster than Botox (sometimes as soon as within 24 hours after injection, where Botox can take up to 72 hours). It also spreads when injected, so it can be used for larger areas. But Dysport is less precise for the same reason, so it isn’t great for smaller areas.
Now you’re a neuromodulator expert. Call us Bryn Mawr Facial Aesthetics Center, [flc-phone], and set up a Botox or Dysport session.