Beyond the Face: Unconventional Areas You Can Treat with Botox®

Author

Dr. Stephen Cosentino

Your medical aesthetician knows where to inject Botox®. Do you?

The answer is more complicated (and maybe more interesting) than you might expect. As it turns out, Botox has many lesser-known indications to complement more popular ones.

Here’s what you should know about what Botox and its botulinum toxin-based competitors can (and can’t) do for you.

Where You Can Get Botox on Your Body

Botox is FDA approved to treat more than a dozen recognized medical conditions and cosmetic complaints. A few are well known, but most aren’t.

Before we dive in, a word of caution. Many years of medical evidence suggest Botox works well and has a good safety profile, but it’s never a good idea to inject it yourself. Always work with a board-certified plastic surgeon or other medical provider who has completed comprehensive Botox injection training coursework.

The Neck

Botox treatment is effective for several medical and cosmetic conditions involving the neck:

Chronic migraine, which is often caused by neck muscle spasms
Cervical dystonia, another muscular disorder that can cause severe neck pain
Platysmal bands, horizontal lines that appear and deepen with age (this treatment option is sometimes called a Botox neck lift)

The Underarms

Botox is approved to treat excessive sweating, also known as hyperhidrosis. As you might imagine, the armpits are one of the most common injection sites for this procedure.

The Groin

The groin is another common injection site for Botox in hyperhidrosis treatment. Compared with the smaller amounts injected into the more delicate areas of the face, the underarms and groin may require higher doses.

The Midsection

Botox treatment for overactive bladder? It’s a thing. Actually, it was one of the first indications for medical Botox.

The Feet & Hands

Back on the excessive sweating beat, Botox is effective at reducing sweat production on the soles of the feet and palms of the hands.

Less Common Botox Treatment Areas on the Face

Let’s return to the face for a moment. Providers use Botox and its competitors to treat a variety of facial cosmetic complaints, from common conditions like crow’s feet, frown lines and forehead wrinkles to less popular ones like these.

The Chin

Botox is sometimes used to treat chin dimples, which can form when chin muscle contractions get out of control. Chin Botox relaxes these muscles and restores a smoother appearance.

The Jaw Muscles

Unlike most facial Botox injections, jaw Botox is often not a cosmetic procedure. It can treat TMJ issues and involuntary jaw clenching, which can contribute to dental problems when left untreated. But it can also treat square jaw, a cosmetic complaint.

The Nose (Really)

Those lines that form when you scrunch up the bridge of your nose are known as bunny lines. As long as they go away when you relax, they’re cute, but it’s a problem when they don’t. Botox can temporarily reduce the appearance of chronic bunny lines.

Botox can also reduce the appearance of fine lines along the sides of the nose. But deeper nasolabial folds resist Botox; dermal fillers work better for those.