Can Dysport or Botox cause a more permanent muscle weakness?

Had Dysport injected into the forehead a year ago. Was for two small horizontal wrinkles and light 11's. My face fell dramatically, I lost the firmness, more wrinkles, I hold my forehead up at times bc it's so heavy. I have before, right after and pics about everyday for the last year. Seen a few Dr's who try to say its this/that. When in reality it's from Dysport. My question is do you think my face fell bc of being over injected, wrong saline or both? It isn't from anything else was healthy worked out daily and more before Dysport do please don't say something else.

There is no data on this but, in my opinion, if enough Dysport/Botox is put into a muscle group, there can be a long recovery period.   I’ll give you an example, and tell you why I think that.  More on Botox/Dysport problems.

I’ve had several similiar patients in the past.   This past year I saw a lovely patient in her 30s who travel to Asia, especially Korea, frequently for work.   While she was in Seoul, a friend talked her into going to a doctor (? dermatologist) there, who injected an entire vial (a huge amount of Botox) into her face (forehead, frown lines, lower face, crow’s feet and cheeks) including very odd, asymetric injections mostly in her right cheek but also some in the left cheek.   As a result, a number of muscle groups in her cheeks were weak but much more so on the right side.  She looked like she’d had a stroke but hadn’t, and a neurologist ruled out Bell’s Palsy.

The Botox took a full 6 months to wear off but as the muscles regained activity, they were clearly very weak, especially on the R side.   With some physical therapy to learn to reactivate those muscles and some electrostimulation facials (I DO think these help in this situation), she’s almost symmetric again.  Imagine what would happen to your bicep muscle in your arm if you couldn’t use it for 6 months!

I DO think that it’s not a good idea to self diagnose –  could there be another explanation for this –  please see a neurologist to make sure!

Hope this helps,  Dr. I

Dr. Brandith Irwin, MD

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Hi, I’m Dr. Irwin. I believe that consumers deserve a medically trained and unbiased skin care advocate.

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