Millions of people use it to eliminate wrinkles and smooth lines, but the cosmetic treatment can have scary side effects.
Horror stories about drooping eyelids and frozen mouths after Botox injections have flooded social media in recent months, while a string of celebrities have also revealed botched procedures.
Singer Meghan Trainor, 30, confessed she “can’t smile anymore” after receiving “too much Botox” and having filler applied “right above” her upper lip.
Made in Chelsea star Sophie Habboo also admitted she had an “accident” with the injectable after her dentist suggested jabbing her jaw muscle could help her stop grinding her teeth.
Talking about the Wednesday Podcast she said: ‘My smile was frozen. When my mouth was closed it looked normal, but everyone else wondered what was happening to my smile: it lasted six months.
Botulinum toxin (commonly known as Botox) costs between £100 and £300 per area and is used to relax the muscles of the face, smoothing lines and wrinkles.
It can also be used to treat jaw pain, teeth clenching, and migraines.
But as dozens of young women in their 20s use the treatment to “preventively” smooth wrinkles, experts have warned that the injections carry serious risks.
Singer Meghan Trainor, 30, confessed she “can’t smile anymore” after receiving “too much Botox” and having filler applied “right above” her upper lip.
Botulinum toxin (often abbreviated to Botox) is used to relax facial muscles and smooth lines and wrinkles. It can also be used to treat jaw pain and clenching and even migraines.
Side effects include headaches, “frozen” face, nerve damage, bruising, and swelling.
Aesthetic nurse Amanda Azzopardi, who offers Botox at her clinics across London, Liverpool and North Wales, has urged patients to go to “an injector who knows your anatomy very well” to avoid complications.
“Botox is a prescription-only medication and must be prescribed to each individual client in the correct dosage,” he told MailOnline.
It is easy to inject too much and doing so can cause asymmetry due to differences in muscle strength on either side of the face.
This leaves patients with crooked smiles and droopy eyelids, he added.
Patients have taken to social media to reveal the horrific impact of their botched jobs.
A social media user named @Raiinnna_ shared stunning before and after images on TikTok, documenting the consequences of her Botox injections in the masseter muscle, which is located inside the jaw and helps us chew.
Botox in this area of the face can help relieve teeth grinding and clenching, as well as relieve tension headaches. Square contoured jaws are also offered to create a more symmetrical facial shape.
In the video, she warned her 204,000 followers against the procedure and revealed that she still can’t smile three weeks later.
This can happen if Botox is injected into the zygomatic muscle, which controls the movement of the cheeks and is located just below the masseter, relaxing it and reducing the width of the smile.
Similar videos demonstrate how Botox on the forehead can cause drooping of the eyelids if administered incorrectly.
Social media user @justjennie77 She shared her Botox mishap on TikTok to warn others about the potential side effects.
The video shows her showing off her slightly drooping eyelids, which she says is a dramatic change.
She said: “To anyone thinking about getting Botox, please look at this, you might reconsider.” By the way, he had very good eyelids.
Raising his eyebrows with his finger, he exclaimed ‘that’s how I was.’
And he added: ‘Where have they gone! I don’t have eyelids.
A popular TikTok account, @ultimatebykomiwho shares “beauty gone wrong” videos, shared a clip of a woman left with uneven eyes after a Botox treatment.
The woman said: ‘This is a Botox procedure I had a week ago, they injected it in the wrong place so I ended up with a droopy eye and also a bigger eye.
Made in Chelsea star Sophie Habboo also admitted she had an “accident” with the injectable after her dentist suggested it could help her stop grinding her teeth. Left her unable to smile (pictured talking about the incident on the Wednesday Podcast)
Social media user @justjennie77 (pictured right) shared her Botox Mishap on TikTok to warn others about the possible side effects. The video shows her revealing her slightly droopy eyelids, which she says is a dramatic change from her previously “really good” eyelids. A TikTok account @ultimatebykomi (pictured left) that shares “beauty gone wrong” videos shared a video with its 1.1 million followers of a woman left with a droopy eye and an enlarged eye after receive Botox.
‘I called my GP because I was really scared, this had never happened to me before. Then he prescribed me medication that I have been taking for a week now.
“I just want to raise awareness before you go somewhere and get Botox, try to research the place and who the injector is.”
One way to prevent this from happening is to receive only a small amount of Botox at a time, suggests Ms. Azzopardi.
She said: ‘If you inject a small amount, you can always add it in two weeks. It takes two weeks for the product to have full effect.’
Ms Azzopardi explained that having too much Botox on the forehead or jaw can be particularly risky and cause lumps and unevenness.
‘Sometimes the muscles in the lower face have different strengths on each side, so if you inject a little more on one side than the other, or if the muscle is stronger or weaker on one of the sides, you will have a crooked smile. ‘ she said.
Botox on the forehead or around the eyes can affect the muscles that animate this area of the face.
“If the forehead muscle is injected too low, the toxin will diffuse into the orbicularis oculi muscle surrounding the eye and can cause eyelid ptosis (droopy eyes).”
The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) explains This eyelid drooping only occurs in one in 100 cases and can be corrected with eye drops and will improve as the effects of Botox wear off, which can take three to four months.
Anyone can legally administer Botox in the UK, including non-medical professionals such as beauticians.
However, because it is a prescription-only medication, it must still be prescribed by a medical professional, such as a doctor, dentist, pharmacist, or nurse prescriber.
Campaigners want to see a licensing regime for companies and individuals providing these treatments to help keep Britons safe.
It is estimated that around 900,000 Botox injections are performed in the UK each year, most without patients complaining.
But Save Face, a government-approved registry of accredited professionals, received almost 3,000 complaints in 2022 alone, of which more than two-thirds related to dermal fillers and almost a quarter to Botox.