Prevention or Maintenance? Here’s How to Figure Out When to Start Botox

There are those life milestones that make you hyper-aware of your age, like holding your first driver’s license in your hand and drinking your first (legal) sip of wine. You can file “finding your first signs of crow’s feet” under this, too. The process of figuring out what, exactly, you should do about your first wrinkles may be daunting, but that doesn’t mean you have to sit back and let fine lines happen. Here’s how preventative Botox may help, and why it might be worth incorporating into your anti-aging skin care regimen. 

First, the bad news: Wrinkles are inevitable.

“Repetitive facial expressions—like frowning, smiling or raising one’s eyebrows—will eventually result in wrinkles in the affected areas, like frown lines, forehead lines and crow’s feet,” says dermatologist Arielle N.B. Kauvar, MD, the director of New York Laser & Skin Care and clinical professor of dermatology at New York University School of Medicine. Once they’ve become permanent lines, she says, they become more difficult to minimize—which is why prevention is key.

Botox can stop expression lines from becoming permanent wrinkles.

In part because of this—and because aesthetic treatments have become more accepted and mainstream—Kauvar is noticing more young adults choosing to treat the signs early. Botulinum toxin, from brands like Botox, Dysport and Xeomin, is an injectable substance (also known as a neuromodulator) that freezes the facial muscles. It’s also the most popular cosmetic procedure in the US (by a long shot). “By starting neuromodulator injections early and relaxing those expressions, you can prevent temporary expression lines from becoming etched into permanent skin wrinkles,” she explains.

The right time to start Botox depends on a lot of factors.

Before you run to the mirror to assess your wrinkle situation, know that there’s no rule about when to start Botox—whether it’s for prevention or maintenance. “It depends on facial structure, genetics, sun damage and skin type,” says Kauvar. “Some people will develop their first wrinkles in their 20s and others, closer to 40.” But because there’s no right age to do it, you can opt for it as soon as your wrinkles begin to bother you. “When I was 26, I noticed I had some fine lines forming around my eyes,” says Kathryn Reina, now 29, who has been receiving preventative Botox injections for several years. “I wanted to make sure they didn’t become deep-set wrinkles.”