It’s used by millions to banish wrinkles and smooth out lines, but the cosmetic treatment can come with terrifying side effects.
Horror stories of drooping eyelids and frozen mouths following Botox injections have flooded social media in recent months, while a string of celebs have also revealed botched procedures.
Singer Meghan Trainor, 30, confessed she ‘cannot smile anymore’ after getting ‘too much Botox’ and having filler applied ‘right above’ her upper lip.
Made in Chelsea star Sophie Habboo has also admitted she had a ‘accident’ with the injectable after her dentist suggested jabs in her jaw muscle might help stop her grinding her teeth.
Speaking on the Wednesdays Podcast she said: ‘My smile was frozen. When my mouth was closed it looked normal, but everyone else wondered what was going on with my smile — it lasted for six months.
Botulinum toxin (commonly known as Botox) costs between £100 to £300 per area, and is used to relax the muscles in the face, smoothing out lines and wrinkles.
It can also be used to treat jaw pain, clenching and migraines.
But as scores of young women in their twenties use the treatment for ‘preventative’ wrinkle-smoothing, experts have warned that the jabs come with serious risks.
Side effects include headaches, ‘frozen’ face, nerve damage, bruising and swelling.
Aesthetic nurse Amanda Azzopardi, who offers Botox in her clinics dotted across London, Liverpool and North Wales, has urged patients to go to ‘an injector that knows their anatomy very well’ to avoid complications.
‘Botox is a prescription only medication and needs to be prescribed for each individual client at the correct dose,’ she told MailOnline.
It is easy to inject too much — and doing so can cause asymmetry due to differences in the muscle strength on either side of the face.
This leaves patients with lopsided smiles and droopy eyelids, she added.
Patients have taken to social media to reveal the horrifying impact of their botched jobs.
One social media user named @Raiinnna_ shared shocking before and after images on TikTok, documenting the aftermath of her Botox injections in the masseter muscle, which sits within the jaw and helps us to chew.
Botox in this area of the face can help ease teeth grinding and clenching, as well as relieve tension headaches. It’s also offered contour square-shaped jaws to create a more symmetrical facial shape.
In the video, she warned her 204,000 followers against the procedure, revealing she is still not able to smile three weeks later.
This can happen if the Botox is injected into the zygomaticus muscle — which controls movement in the cheeks and sits just below the masseter — relaxing it and reducing the width of the smile.
Similar videos demonstrate how Botox in the forehead can cause the eyelids to droop if it’s administered incorrectly.
Social media user @justjennie77 shared her Botox mishap to TikTok to warn others of the potential side effects.
The video shows her revealing her slightly drooped eyelids, which she claims is a dramatic change.
She said: ‘To anyone out there thinking of getting Botox please have a look at this it may make you reconsider. By the way I had really good eyelids.
Raising her eyebrows with her finger she exclaimed ‘that is how I used to be’.
She added: ‘Where have they gone! I have got no eyelids.’
One popular TikTok account, @ultimatebykomi, which shares videos of ‘beauty gone wrong’ shared a clip of a woman left with uneven eyes after a Botox treatment.
The woman said: ‘This is a Botox procedure that I did a week ago, it was injected in the wrong spot so I ended up with a droopy eye and also a bigger eye.
‘I called my primary doctor because I was very scared, this has never happened to me before. So, he prescribed me medications that I have now been taking for a week.
‘I just want to raise awareness before you go to a place and get your Botox done, try to research the place and who the injector is.’
One way to avoid this from happening is to only get a small amount of Botox at a time, Ms Azzopardi suggests.
She said: ‘If you inject a small amount it can always be added to in two weeks time. It takes two weeks for the product to that full effect.’
Ms Azzopardi explained having too much Botox in your forehead or jaw can be particularly risky and cause lumps and unevenness.
‘Sometimes muscles in the lower face are different strengths on each side, so if you inject a little bit more on one side than the other, or if the muscle is stronger or weaker on one of the sides, you will have a wonky smile,’ she said.
Botox in the forehead or around the eyes can affect muscles that animate this area of the face.
‘If you inject the forehead muscle too low then the toxin will diffuse into the orbicularis oculi muscle which circles the eye and it can cause eyelid ptosis (droopy eyes)’.
The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) explains that this eyelid drooping only occurs in one in 100 cases and it can be corrected with eyedrops and will improve as the effects of Botox wears off, which can take three to four months.
Anyone can legally give Botox in the UK including non-medical professionals like beauticians.
However, because it is a prescription-only medication it still needs to to be prescribed by a medical professional, such as a doctor, dentist, pharmacist or nurse prescriber.
Campaigners want to see a licensing regime for business and individuals providing these treatments to help keep Brits safe.
An estimated 900,000 Botox injections are carried out in the UK each year, most without any complaints from patients.
But Save Face — a Government approved register of accredited practitioners — received almost 3,000 complaints in 2022 alone, with over two-thirds of those complaints relating to dermal fillers and almost a quarter relating to Botox.
