Are Zoom Calls Making You Frown?

Lockdowns are having a huge impact on our lives with many of us spending long periods of time working in front of laptop screens and binge-watching Netflix.

All this squinting and frowning is causing the wrinkles between our eyebrows and across our foreheads to become more prominent & deeper.

This blog is intended to give honest and clear advice to readers and does not promote prescription products. In order to help educate the public about are their options when considering a non-surgical procedure, we’ve put together this information to explain what goes into bringing you aesthetic treatments you can trust.

Most of us are constantly online & thanks to ZOOM calls we are seeing our own faces more than usual. Not surprisingly some of us are focusing on every new wrinkle that seems to suddenly appear overnight — pre COVID-19, these are lines that we probably wouldn’t even have been bothered about or even noticed before

Glabellar & Frown Lines – What Are They?

Glabellar Lines or “11s” occur between the eyebrows. Frown Lines occur above the eyebrows. They are both caused by repeated scrunching of the muscles on your face and thinning skin as we get older.

Anti Wrinkle Treatment for Frown Lines

Dr. Mark Hamilton likes to use Anti Wrinkle injections to train the glabellar muscle to stop frowning. In his experience, he feels that it gives a better result and in the long term is a more cost effective for his patients. The results should last 4 months.

Recommended Treatment Dosage

Talk with your doctor at your consultation and they will work out the best dose for you. The trick is not to over-inject your frown  as you will end up with high arched eyebrows and look very frozen and a bit unnatural.

For most patients, 23-26 units is enough to relax the glabellar muscle that makes you frown and cause the lines between your eyebrows. Usually patients will see a distinct improvement in their frown lines with this dosage, whilst other may need a stronger dose.

The most important factor is finding the exact dosage that best suits each individual patient is not to avoid over- injecting to correct the really deep frown lines and end up with Spock Eyebrows !

When treating frown lines, the recommended dosage is  13-16 units into the Frontalis muscle on your forehead. This dose should last nearly 4 months.

Looking at your parents gives you the best idea of how you will age and where your deepest lines will develop. Many of our patients often tell us that their Mum or Dad has the same frown- line and are choosing to have anti-wrinkle treatments as a way of preventing and treating these deep lines that they have in common.

Some patients may need stronger doses of toxin for this problem and they might require a few treatments to get the best results. It can take 3 rounds of treatments  to completely erase a deep etched in frown line, especially if you have had that line for a number of years.

After your first treatment, you can expect up to 50% movement returning to the glabellar muscle at about 8 weeks. This is normal as it may take a few sessions of treatments to completely train the muscle to stop frowning.

Dermal Filler for Frown Lines

If you have deep frown-lines that sadly don’t improve after anti- wrinkle injections, you can get a little extra help by having HA dermal fillers. The filler should last 12 months

The frown line between the eyebrows is a very suitable area for a combination treatment of Anti Wrinkle + Dermal filler treatments to lift the line and create a smoother appearance.

Patients who get a good result from filler are often those who have seen some improvement from wrinkle smoothing injections but still have some remaining lines in the glabella.

 Anti Wrinkle Injections help smooth the wrinkles that are visible when frowning & it acts by freezing the muscles.

Dermal Filler Injections  help smooth the wrinkles that are visible when not frowning & it acts by filling in the lines.

For patients who are bothered about Static Lines (without expression) & Dynamic Lines (with expression), Dr. Hamilton would recommend considering both types of treatment as the two in combination with each other work better than either alone.

Cosmetic Dermal Filler Risks & Downtime

There are increased risks associated with injecting filler in between the eyebrows due to the high concentration of blood vessels. Most cases of vascular occlusion blindness have actually occurred in this area. Always use a skilled and experienced injector if having this type of procedure.

Cosmetic Dermal Filler when injected into the glabellar area is a little more painful than anti wrinkle injections and you need to allow a down time of a few days to allow for any possible bruising to subside.

Frown Lines Can be Cute on everyone and especially on our lovely lady here !

Meet XiXi Hamilton- Dr. Mark’s Dog !

Cosmetic Dermal Filler Risks & Downtime

There are increased risks associated with injecting filler in between the eyebrows due to the high concentration of blood vessels. Most cases of vascular occlusion blindness have actually occurred in this area. Always use a skilled and experienced injector if having this type of procedure.

Cosmetic Dermal Filler when injected into the glabellar area is a little more painful than anti wrinkle injections and you need to allow a down time of a few days to allow for any possible bruising to subside.

Frown Lines Can be Cute on everyone and especially on our lovely lady here !

Meet XiXi Hamilton- Dr. Mark’s Dog !

Some of us embrace and love our wrinkles and choose to keep them.  Others feel their frown lines make them look cross and choose to get rid of them.

The choice is YOURS  and it is nice to know that you have lots of options!.

During these dark times – we all need a little laughter and something to smile about – In the words of those Great Philosophers S Club 7

“When the world leaves you feeling blue, You can count on us, We will be there for you “

My Own Personal Lockdown Song    REACH FOR THE STARS