Confused about botox

[So Cal]

How are you able to tell if a doctor is diluting or inadequately injecting Botox unless you get the stuff and have it wear off waaayyy too soon! How do you intelliglently compare prices? If one doctor is offering it at $11 per unit and another offers an area at a specific price, how do you determine which is the best value so you are not ripped off!! As you can tell, I've had questionnable experiences and want to go into this thing a little more educated!!!:confused:

[danya]

The real question is "how much saline is added to 1 vial of botox?"

1 vial contains 100 units of Botox, so if they add 1cc, then each cc contains 100 units. If 2 cc are instilled, then each cc contains 50 units. If 4 cc are instilled, then each cc contains 25 units (or each 0.1cc contains 2.5 units). Get it?

Adding 2 to 4 cc is common. If it's more concentrated (2cc with 50 units per cc), then less volume is injected. If it's a little less concentrated (4cc with 25 units per cc), then a little more volume is injected.

The eyebrow (frown lines) usually requires 20 to 25 units, so that could be either 0.5cc of the 2mL saline dilution, or 1.0 cc of the 4mL saline dilution.

So, the key to pricing is knowing how much Botox you will need.
At $100 per unit, the eyebrow area would cost $275, assuming 25 units is needed.

Some reasons for Botox wearing off early are
1. too dilute
2. not a fresh bottle
3. very strong muscles
4. 1st or 2nd time using Botox
5. Botox antibodies (can occur rarely when using large doses)
6. individual differences
7. injector's technique.

Well, that may be more than you wanted to know. I hope I didn't lose you along the way. By the way, "cc" is the same as "mL'.

Danya

[So Cal]

How do you tell how much it is has been diluted? From your explanation, I can theoretically have 20 units of a stronger mix and have potentially better results than 25+ of weaker, meaning I can probably pay more for less??? How do I protect myself from being ripped off???
thanks!

[danya]

the only way to know how much it's been diluted is to ask how much saline is added to the vial, or you can ask how many units is used (on average) to treat a particular area.

if they only tell you how much fluid is injected (and not how many units of Botox), then it's not standardized.

for example, if they inject 1cc, that could be 1cc containing 25units, or 1cc containing 12.5 units.

but if they're charging by unit, then you'll know how many units they've used when you get the bill...