My First Botox Treatment with CosmetiCare

It was inevitable. As a 40-year-old woman in Orange County, it’s like a right of passage to get Botox. I was nervous but excited to have it done the first time and I want to share my experience with all of you!

I was treated to Botox injections, by CosmetiCare in Newport Beach, because I’m a #CosmetiCareAmbassador! Read more about how I’m taking care of me this year as an ambassador! CosmetiCare!

I have really deep forehead wrinkles. After my consultation with CosmetiCare I learned that Botox might be a really great way to lessen how severe they look.

I scheduled my appointment and was told about all the prep I had to do! The two things I was told not to do was drink alcohol or take Advil before the appointment.

The appointments are pretty short (about 15 minutes) and you can immediately return to work or momming or whatever else you were doing. There is virtually no downtime. 

As with any type of doctor, you always want to do your homework and get referrals. I am lucky to know several of the other ambassadors, who have worked with CosmetiCare before, and know they 100% trust the doctors and staff. Plus I’ve seen their work, firsthand, and know how amazing it all looks.

The CosmetiCare office is in Newport Beach and overlooks the gorgeous bay. (I may need to look into Trusculpt now…) Their waiting room is beautiful and calming and all the staff is really friendly.

While you are waiting, you can check out information on other types of services they offer. The day I was in the office, my friend Pattie, was having Vaginal Rejuvenation – which you can watch live…don’t worry, it’s not graphic at all. CosmetiCare pretty much has a treatment for everything that ails you! 

I started the appointment by talking about what my goals were for the Botox treatment which is that I basically wanted to look a little younger in the forehead wrinkle department. 

Some before pictures were taken and they keep them on file so you can see the before and afters of all your procedures.

She’s about working with what you have, knowing how the product works, and making a plan for achieving the results.

As I mentioned, I have really deep forehead lines but I also have slightly hooded eyes. My nurse was able to explain why she didn’t want to inject tons of Botox into those lines because it could actually cause my forehead to drop and make my eyes even more hooded.

That made me feel so good! I fully trusted her years of experience.

What is it like to get Botox?

She started off by cleaning my forehead with alcohol. 

Next, she had me make all kinds of faces so she could mark where the points were that she would inject the Botox.  

Then we got started! I was nervous about the pain but she said that it would feel like a little pinch. I’m not afraid of needles and with my skin cancer monitoring, I often have to get shots to numb areas where my dermatologist wants to do a biopsy.

It’s really no different from that. And although at the time I didn’t have another Botox experience to compare to, I was told that each practitioner usually has their own technique for inserting the needle that helps to keep the pain down. 

It was way less painful than I expected. She started with the area closest to my eyes first (You know, your scowling lines that start to deepen basically right after you get married. Just kidding. Kind of).

Then we moved on to the forehead lines. She put 20 units in the lines between my eyes and another 10 units split between the 2 forehead lines.

When we were done, she explained again what she had done. While I had a little bit of redness, she assured me it would be gone within 20 minutes.

I was advised me not to exercise for the next 24 hours (that is something I can ALWAYS promise) or lay down for 4 hours. And that was it!

Botox treatments last about 2-4 months, depending on the person. I believe she said that the cost of Botox is between $12-$17 per unit. For reference, I got 30 units. So while Botox isn’t cheap, it is something that you can plan for. 

This is what my forehead looked like before I even left the office. There were a few small marks, but nothing crazy. My forehead was a little bit achey on the way home but about 20 minutes later, that subsided. And at day 2 and 3, my forehead was still a little bit tender to the touch, but no marks or bruising.

At first, I didn’t really feel like there was too much of a difference. Thanks to the nurses light hand (which I totally appreciate) I still see movement, and therefore wrinkles.

But that’s on me, not her. I mean, Botox can only do so much, you know – is what I thought. But I have rewritten the ending of this blog post now at least 4 times!

The first few days after I got my Botox treatment, we didn’t have much to do and the kids and I pretty much stayed at home. But today we went out to the movies. Having Botox was much more noticeable to me when I was out of the house.

While my face isn’t frozen, you definitely feel it when you are using the muscle that the Botox is in. It’s an interesting sensation. And it sort of keeps you from wanting to use those muscles. Which I think is good so you don’t deepen the wrinkle.

And while I thought Botox was pretty immediate, I think it, for lack of a better term, settled down, over the next few days. By the end of the second full day with it, I’m noticing that I’m seeing a nice little lift in my eyebrows, like the nurse had mentioned.

I still see forehead lines but they are MUCH less defined. I think I’m starting to fall in love… (another friend of mine chimed in as I was sharing progress on my Instagram stories – {are you following?} that it takes about a week to fully see the results! I had no idea!)

I’m currently at Day 4 and I’m seeing real results. I can still see my forehead lines, but not nearly as much! I also am a little more frozen than I was earlier on after the Botox injections. I can still totally move, but definitely not as much.

BUT! when I do raise my eyebrows, I have this nice little arch in my brows! I have never had an arch before! Before the Botox, I was also feeling super tired all the time, like my eyes were half closed. I’m not really feeling that right now!

I’m not sure if it’s because it’s summer and I have gotten way more sleep than I’ve had in a long time or the fact that my brows are a little lifted. In any event, it feels awesome. I feel refreshed!

I’ve heard from several people that they started to get Botox more preventively before they really needed it. And I totally get that. If I look at photos from a few years ago, my forehead lines are way less prominent.

I did love, however, that when the nurse was reevaluating my face at my appointment, she said my crow’s-feet weren’t bad and didn’t even consider putting it there.

I liked that because, I felt like that was a win for me as a woman and two, she doesn’t seem like the type to pressure you to do more than you need. That was super refreshing.

I spoke with several friends after I posted on social media about having Botox done. Many had already tried it (I think you’d all be surprised at how many of your friends have Botox that you never knew about…).

Several other friends were interested in the process. I think we all can kind of guess what it’s like from seeing it on shows like Real Housewives (in fact, you’ve seen CosmetiCare’s Dr. Niccole on RHOC).

But I highly recommend going in for a consultation. It’s important to tell them what your trouble areas are so they can help you figure out the best plan, which may not be that big of a deal.

And while I definitely don’t promote lying to your husband, sometimes they can push back on things that they don’t know about or don’t understand. When I told my husband I was thinking about getting it, he was all weirded out. If I hadn’t told him, I’m certain her wouldn’t have been able to tell that I had anything done. Just saying…

CosmetiCare often has promotions on products or bundles of treatments so check out their website if you’ve been thinking about checking in to cosmetic procedures! Sign up for their email newsletters!

I also got pushback from my mom and other relatives who have only heard horror stories. I get it. It’s important to do your research and feel good about a place that may or may not be sticking needles in your face (or do something more invasive).

I can tell you from my personal experience, that CosmetiCare has been amazing every step of the way and I can’t recommend them enough. Let me know what questions you have and I’d be happy to put you in touch with someone who can help answer them for you!

UPDATE: My Botox must be all worn off now. It’s been about 4 months. I don’t think my forehead lines look as pronounced as before I had it done though, so that’s great! I can absolutely move my forehead again.

Having gone through the whole process, I wanted to mention how it changes over time. As I mentioned above, it takes about a week for it to fully kick in. Then it feels pretty tight for a few weeks and then starts to loosen up again.

While I did like the phase, a week in, that had the most extreme results, it really didn’t stay that way too long and then you moved on to a nice little window of no lines and no side effects (like the evil eyebrows I could make). I saw friends at the pool near the end of summer and one mom said I looked refreshed (not knowing I had Botox).

And that was after having it for 2 months! For me, Botox lifted my eyelids enough so that I didn’t feel like I had tired, half-closed, what I thought were allergic eyes. Turns out it was just sagging eyelids from getting older.

Not only did I lose lines that I didn’t want, but I also felt amazing! I felt energized and that was totally something that was unexpected! I’m totally a fan of Botox and have plans to get it again soon!

Read my announcement about becoming a CosmetiCare Ambassador.

And check out some of the other amazing content from my friends:

Healing adult acne with Beth Jones

Kybella with Mary Tran

The new look simulator with Jennifer Wiley

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