Are Botox and Dermal Fillers the Same Thing?

Botox and fillers are two treatments that we perform multiple times a day at our St. Albans botox clinic and, although the general awareness of what these treatments do is far more widespread than when we opened in 2013, we find there can sometimes be confusion between the two treatments.

They are not the same thing. Let’s clear up what each treatment is.

Botox UK

Botox is a brand name for a substance called Botulinum Toxin. There are other frequently used brands, namely Azzalure and Boccoture.  For ease, I’ll just refer to this treatment as Botox.

Cosmetically, Botox is used to treat lines and wrinkles in areas that are caused by muscle movement. This includes forehead/frown lines and wrinkles at the sides of the eyes-you may have heard them being called ‘crows feet’.

As Botox is designed to relax the muscle it’s injected into there are other concerns it can treat, for example, you can use Botox for teeth grinding and jaw clenching where you treat the masseter muscle. We can also use Botox to stop sweating, commonly underarms, by strategically injecting it into the skin rather than the muscle by temporarily blocking the chemicals signals from the nerves which stimulate the sweat glands in that particular area.

Botox is not a permanent treatment; most people will need a repeat of their treatment any time from about 3 months onwards.

Here are some frequently asked Botox questions from our patients:

How Does Botox Work?

When Botox is injected into the muscle it blocks the signal from the nerve to the muscle telling it to contract. This means that the muscle movements in that treated area are greatly reduced; as the muscle is relaxed it can soften wrinkles and, depending on your skin condition and depth of the wrinkle, can make them almost untraceable.

Can Botox Lift Eyebrows?

Yes, it’s possible. This is something that’s done to subtly refresh and awaken the eye area. As with all non-surgical treatments, the results will not be as dramatic as a surgical brow lift or blepharoplasty, especially if your eyes have become particularly hooded.

Are Botox Results Instant?

No. It can take up to two weeks for the product to fully work. Around this time, we will assess you and if any further treatment is needed, it will be done at this point.

Are Botox Touch-Ups Free?

At our St. Alban’s skin clinic touch-ups or ‘top ups’ are free. This is what was discussed in the above question and takes place around 2 to 4 weeks after the initial treatment. Your results will naturally reduce over the coming months and then another full treatment will be required should you wish to have the treatment again; this is chargeable.

What Botox Brand is Best?

At our St. Albans Botox clinic we use three major brands of Botulinum Toxin; Botox, Azzalure and Bocouture. These are all very good, respected brands of Botulinum Toxin.

Will Botox Help Jowls?

Jowls form because the fat pads in your mid-face shrink and drop down into this area. This creates a heavy-looking lower-face that stops your jawline from looking as sharp as it used to and helps to create marionette lines at the side of your mouth.

Botox will not help this problem because it works on the muscle. Dermal filler and the Thread Lift treatment are often good options for these concerns.

Is Botox for Men?

Absolutely. Botox is for men. We regularly see men for Botox treatments at our St. Alban’s skin clinic.

Can I have Botox Without Looking Frozen?

100 per cent, yes! The natural look is what we promote here at Skin to Love. As with most treatment results, we usually only realise that someone has had Botox (or dermal fillers) if they haven’t been done with a natural look in mind.

You’d be surprised how many people say to me ‘you don’t need Botox’, thinking that I don’t have it done because it’s has been done in a way that produces natural-looking results; I can still move my eyebrows to show expression, but my forehead lines aren’t there. Trust me, those little forehead lines creep back if I leave it too long between my Botox treatments.

Botox for Teeth Grinding

This can be done. Your practitioner can treat the masseter muscle to help stop you from clenching your jaw and grinding your teeth.

I have this area treated for this very reason; my jaw was very sore, and I had to keep opening my mouth to feel like I was stretching this muscle out. Eating was becoming tiresome with the continuous ache I was experiencing, and my masseter muscles had become so bulky my jawline was unfortunately on its way to resembling Desperate Dan.

I know when my treatment is starting to wear off as that familiar ache (less familiar these days) starts to tiptoe back into my consciousness; now that I’ve experienced life without that discomfort, I can’t believe I lived with it for so long. A nice side effect that I’ve noticed is that my face looks slimmer because, over time, my masseter muscles have become less tense and bulky.

Botox to Stop Sweating

Yes, Botox has been used for decades to help reduce Axillary Hyperhidrosis (increased underarm sweating) in both men and women.

In this case, the product is not injected into muscle but subcutaneously to temporarily stop, or reduce, the signals to the sweat glands in that area.

Hopefully, I’ve answered many of your Botox questions, so let’s move on to dermal filler.

Dermal filler is used to ‘fill’ areas of depression, such as a wrinkle, to smooth it out. The most common wrinkles we treat with the dermal filler at our skin clinic are nose-to-mouth lines (also called nasolabial lines), marionette lines and ‘smokers’ lines above the top lip.

Dermal fillers are also frequently used to replace volume in places that have lost it from fat loss; this can be from weight loss or the natural ageing process. The most common treatment areas we find for this concern are the cheeks, lips, and temples.

Most fillers are made of a synthetic hyaluronic acid gel (a substance that is naturally found in the body and skin), often with lidocaine in to make the treatment comfortable. This treatment doesn’t have an action on the muscle or the nerve signals like Botox does; it just sits in the tissue making wrinkles smoother or replacing volume.

At our skin clinic, we use a few different brands of high-quality dermal fillers with a good safety profile; after all, we wouldn’t offer our clients a treatment that we wouldn’t offer our family or have ourselves. These brands are Belotero, Teosyal, Juvederm, and Restylene.

Much like Botox, dermal filler is not permanent. If you choose to, you will need to have repeat treatments to maintain the results.

Let’s run through some of the most often asked dermal filler questions at our St. Alban’s skin clinic…

Are Dermal Filler Results Instant?

Yes, you do not have to wait for dermal filler treatment to ‘kick in’ as you do with Botox. The dermal filler product is strategically placed and is then instantly doing its job. Soon after the treatment, you may experience some mild, temporary swelling in the treatment area which can make your results look minimally exaggerated for a few days, but this usually subsides quite quickly.

Are Dermal Filler Injections Permanent?

At our St. Albans filler clinic, we use dermal fillers which are made from synthetic hyaluronic acid, which is naturally found in our body. Our body gradually breaks this hyaluronic down, as it does our natural stores, so you will need repeat treatments should you wish to maintain your results.

What Dermal Filler is Best for Cheeks?

This depends on different factors; how much volume needs replacing, your age, your skin quality.

At our St. Albans skin clinic, some of our favourite dermal fillers for the cheek area are Teosyal RHA 4 and Teosyal Puresense Ultra Deep. In some circumstances, a combination of fillers can be used.

Dermal filler treatment is not a one-size-fits-all treatment so having a consultation with an experienced medical professional is important for your safety and treatment satisfaction.

How much Filler do I Need?

This is discussed upon assessment as everyone ages differently and has their own unique features and structure; the depth of one person’s wrinkle is not the same as the next person and we treat each person as the individual they are.

During your consultation with an experienced medical practitioner, you will discuss how much and the type of wrinkle filler they recommend for your concerns and the area(s) you wish to have treatment.

Please see my point below under ‘Dermal filler not working?‘ for further explanation.

Which Dermal Filler is Best for Under Eyes?

Teosyal Redensity II is the only dermal filler licensed to treat the tear trough area and therefore the only dermal filler we use for this under-eye area.

Which Dermal Filler is the Safest?

Great question. Frankly put, there are some cheap and, in our opinion and experience, lesser dermal fillers on the market. These aforementioned fillers may not last very long and/or may not have been through the research and development trusted brands have.

We use fillers that only have a good safety profile, from trusted sources. The dermal fillers we use are Belotero, Teosyal, Juvederm, and Restylene.

Safety is not just about the product that is used. Dermal fillers, as with all treatments in aesthetic medicine, have possible side effects. Unfortunately, this area of aesthetic medicine is not regulated meaning people with zero qualifications can take a short training course (sometimes only a day’s training) and start treating people.

When looking for a practitioner I would thoroughly recommend looking for a medical professional who has the experience and advanced training. Somebody who is registered with a government-approved register may also be beneficial, such as Save Face and CQC, as they will have had to prove their competence, qualifications, training and standards of safety.

Dermal Filler to Straighten Nose?

Yes, this is an advanced technique that we offer at our skin clinic. You may have heard this being called a non-surgical nose job or non-surgical rhinoplasty. It can help to smooth and reduce minor imperfections, usually, around the bridge of the nose.

This is not a replacement for a surgical ‘nose job’ and there will be those of us whose concerns are far more, or only, suitable for surgical treatment.

Dermal Filler Not Working?

If the dermal filler is injected into the desired area, it can’t work, the product is in your tissue. It may be that the treatment has not met your expectations. For example, the depth of the wrinkle has been lifted and smoothed but the overlying skin still has fine lines and poor quality that cannot be filled with dermal filler; in this case, it is worth considering using something like a skin booster as well as the dermal filler. A skin booster is injected into higher levels of the skin to hydrate and improve the texture and appearance of those very fine wrinkles.

It’s vital to tell you that the quantity of fillers you put in is important *underlines this point*.

Generally speaking, older patients who have never had filler in the area will need more filler than younger patients who haven’t had filler previously. This is because their wrinkles tend to be deeper, which requires more filler to smooth. The same goes for their fat pads; older patients tend to experience more shrinkage, again needing more filler to replace the fat that was once there. As I say, this is generalisation-lifestyle and genetics all play a role in how we age.

If you trust your practitioner and their experience and knowledge, my tip would be to take on board their recommendations about how much filler to use during your treatment to achieve what you wish to achieve.

If you are concerned that the amount suggested for you sounds a lot, then why not request to have the filler in phases so that you can gradually build it up; this way you are less likely to be disappointed with your results by using less but you can feel comfortable that you’re not going to look ‘over done’ of ‘puffy’.

Top tip: Sometimes, hearing quantities of filler is difficult to imagine, so for your reference, 1ml of filler is approximately 1/5 of a teaspoon.

Are Botox and fillers the same thing? They are both injectable treatments that can help with wrinkles, but that’s where the similarity ends. Dermal fillers and wrinkle relaxing injections (aka Botox) are long-standing, medical aesthetic treatments that can help to refresh your face and soften some signs of facial ageing. If you are wondering what is profhilo or is profhilo worth it, we can answer your questions too.

If you are looking for a Skin Clinic in Hertfordshire to learn more about injectable treatment options, our experienced medical practitioners would love to tell you more in a personalised skin consultation.

Disclaimer: This blog is not to be used for diagnostic purposes. We are all unique which means that our results, recovery and suitability for any type of treatment will vary. Always seek the advice of a professional should you have any health or cosmetic concerns or to discuss treatments specifically for you.