My First Botox - Listen to an actual DeRosa Center patient's experience.

The following is the experience of a patient at the DeRosa Center:

I came to DeRosa Center a couple weeks ago for my first ever facial treatment, and, since Dr. DeRosa and her team were so professional and engaging, I decided to get Botox as well. It has been a while since wrinkles started creeping up on me, but only now I realized I had to do something about my facial rejuvenation situation and Botox seemed as the most logical way to go. After all, Botox is the most common cosmetic treatment in modern times! 

The Botox injection was not scaring me at all. It is super common procedure and millions of people in the United States get Botox every year. I was not thinking twice about pain either-I have seen Botox injections done so many times at so many different shows that I had some idea as to how little pain Botox injection involves. 

Here are the things that scared me though:

1. Spending some hundreds of dollars on Botox treatment that might not actually work.

2. Becoming a poster child for facial prejuvenation with a frozen face.

3. Starting a Botox regime that I would not be able to keep up with.

4. Finding a trustworthy physician with the knowledge of facial anatomy who is not going to botch my face and do the right thing

At tender age of forty-six my face has some “mileage” being in the sun during those winter vacations in Mexico and “11 lines” showing up ever more prominently. Also, a thin net of wrinkles started to cover the areas around my lips and near the creases of the eyes more and more stubbornly.

I was worried, especially when looking into the mirror, that it was too late for me to get Botox. My wrinkles were just too large. Oh and did I mention those horizontal wrinkles, large creases, actually traversing my forehead seemingly permanently?  How could a procedure that made muscles relaxed have any impact on these seemingly permanent facial crevices? I don’t think so…

When I floated “Botox” with Dr. DeRosa she explained that her approach was more gentle than many other doctors out there: she didn’t like to use too much at first, in order to properly assess each patient’s reaction. By this time I knew of her credentials, so I was very relaxed and at ease. As an added bonus she did not look “done”, as if she had a facelift and other procedures like other plastic surgeons I’ve encountered in the past—unlike someone who administered Botox in my home town, from whose office I ran three years ago horrified.

I live in one of the priciest towns in Massachusetts but surprisingly the DeRosa Center’s price point was significantly cheaper—by well over three hundred dollars—than the quote I was given in my home town. And so, I went for it. Finally!

The Botox treatment itself took about fifteen minutes or less. After cleaning my skin with cleaning wipes, Dr DeRosa asked me to make a series of expressions (angry face, surprised face) so that she could see my muscle movement and where to administer the Botox on the most efficient way. The needle was introduced maybe 8-10 times, but they weren’t too painful. It was a bit like letting a mosquito bite you for about three seconds. In fact, some spots, especially along my forehead, didn’t hurt at all. I had injections to get rid of my Number 11’s and the horizontal lines as well as crow’s feet. There were no markings on my face and I could have actually walked right back to work if I were on a lunch break.

Of course I wanted immediate results but they would not appear for a few days. Typically, one gets results at around 7-10 days, and the excitement wore off a bit as life went on. Well, I met a friend for lunch about a week later. She said to me, “Wow, you look so refreshed! You look so…rested, I don’t know...” She had no idea about the Botox treatment I got before I met her, so I know the compliment was deserved. A few days later I heard the same word from another friend: “rested.”  A few weeks after that, I went on vacation to my home state to stay with friends and family that I visit once a year. My friend’s aunt looked me up and down, as if she was looking for something different. She couldn’t pinpoint it, but said, “How come I keep getting older, and you keep getting younger?”

I know, it is too good to be true, but it really is. If it weren’t, I’d come up with something far more sensational to share. But that—as well as a dozen other compliments from people—really did happen. Now, when I look in the mirror I really can’t see wrinkles traversing my forehead. They are gone. Not there. Nowhere to be found. The number 11’s are not there either, you have to look very closely—they are not at all immediately obvious, like the deep creases they once were. Crow’s feet? Totally not there! It’s just as if I set the clock back by about ten years. Plus, I can still move my eyebrows. I don’t know how much Botox these famous people are getting and from who, those people who can’t make a single wrinkle in their forehead…but Dr. DeRosa is a true artist who intimately understands the relationship between form and function and makes sure that those wrinkles are reduced without sacrificing expressions. And if you want more? Just ask for it.

Botox has been the single most important step I have ever done for myself to look younger. It makes me have hope that this easy procedure can take the edge off of my aging, and it seems to have motivated me to take other steps to take care of myself as well: exercise, diet, maybe some filler in those stubborn wrinkles around my mouth.. oh well.. Because I feel good now, and I’m not even afraid to catch a glimpse of myself in an occasional car mirror.

I highly recommend Botox at Dr. DeRosa’s clinic. Grab a friend if you’re nervous—they don’t mind, and it’s sometimes easier to do something new with someone you know! The cost is so reasonable, and you will feel immediately at ease. She will do a great job deciding upon the perfect amount for your face, and offers touch ups two weeks after the original appointment to add any more if necessary.

I’m only sorry I waited so long. Such a small procedure has definitely helped to lift a little part of me that was feeling a lot older than my years.

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To contact DeRosa Center, give us a call at (617)262-8000.