How much does toxins cost?
This varies depending on how many areas you have treated, but expect to pay from £150 per area (the lines between the eyebrows is one ‘area’, the crow’s feet are another ‘area’, horizontal lines on the forehead are a third ‘area’) at a reputable clinic and £450 or more for a top practitioner. Bear in mind that prices at prestigious clinics at prestigious addresses, like Harley Street in London, will be higher than elsewhere.
Download my guide to toxins for an insider tip to keeping the cost down while still getting the best treatment.
How long does toxins take to work?
You’ll start seeing the effects take hold within a week and the treatment will reach full effect in 10-14 days. The procedure itself takes hardly any time. About 10 minutes if you’re getting one or two areas done. The initial consultation is a longer process (which is a good thing and one of the hallmarks of a good practitioner) so set aside an additional 30-40 minutes for your first time. All said and done, you’ll be in and out within an hour.
I would always recommend always booking in for a review two weeks after treatment, by which time the full effects of the treatment will be showing. That way, if you end up with, say, one eyebrow arching higher than the other, your practitioner can make a small adjustment to even things out. Most practitioners will not charge you for this review appointment, and you can always cancel it if you are happy with the way your face is settling down.
How long does toxins last?
toxins lasts from two to six months, depending on how much is used and the level of muscle activity in the area. A very light treatment with toxins, perhaps described as ‘baby toxins’ or a ‘microdose’ of toxins, will be wearing off after two months. An average treatment will last for three months. A stronger treatment of more toxin will give a more obvious result (i.e. it will pretty well stop all movement in the area where it is injected) but will last for five or six months.
What happens if I stop getting toxins?
After two to six months, the effects of toxins will be wearing off as the muscle develops more acetylcholine receptors to pick up signals from the nerves, and the muscles will fully recover their function. Amazingly, this is a reliably observed process that happens time after time, even with serial toxins fanatics. (More seriously, this effect has been studied over many years with patients who have repeated treatment with toxins treatment to control muscle spasticity . With this sort of treatment, much larger doses of toxins are used than in cosmetic treatment.) The upside of this is that if there’s something you don’t like about the result then you can tell your practitioner and they can make sure to adjust your treatment accordingly. The downside, of course, is that this is a repeat cost that adds up over time.