Draper and Lehi, Utah
Bad Botox on men is usually a brow problem
The male brow sits lower and runs flatter than the female brow. Treat your forehead the way you would treat a woman’s and you do not get a subtler result. You get a brow that has moved somewhere it does not belong, on a face where everyone can see it.
Two things are different, and both of them matter
- The dose. More muscle mass in the frontalis and the glabella generally means more product to get the same effect. Underdosing is the most common reason a man tells me Botox “did nothing” or faded in six weeks.
- The shape. A lifted, arched brow is a feminizing change. On a male face the aim is usually to hold your brow exactly where it already sits while the lines soften, which is a harder target than simply relaxing a forehead.
- The glabella first. The vertical lines between your brows do the most work in how your face reads at rest. For plenty of men, that area on its own is the whole treatment.
- Restraint at the top. Treating heavily high in the forehead is what makes that flat, smooth band that looks obviously treated. Leaving movement up there is a feature, not me being stingy.
Why I care about this
Brow position is the part I study
How treating the forehead moves the brow, and how to fix it once it has gone wrong, is the subject of work I published in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology. It is also the thing most responsible for a result other people can spot across a room.
That matters more on men, not less, because there is less room for error. A male brow that drifts up or picks up an arch does not read as “refreshed.” It reads as different, and people cannot tell you why.
More on the browWhat the first visit is like
You do not need a plan before you get here. That is my job. We look at what your face does at rest and in motion, talk about what you actually want changed, and start conservatively enough that the first result is a data point rather than a commitment. Adding more two weeks later is easy. Taking an effect back out is not.
Individual results vary. Treatment planning depends on your anatomy and goals and is discussed at your visit.
Straight answers
Questions men actually ask
Do men need more Botox than women?
Usually, yes. Men generally carry more muscle mass in the forehead and between the brows, and a dose that works nicely on a smaller muscle wears off early on a bigger one. The common version of this is a man deciding Botox does not work on him, when really he was dosed for somebody else.
Will it make me look like I have had work done?
That look comes from two specific things. A brow pushed into the wrong position, and a forehead gone completely flat while the rest of your face still moves. Both are decisions about dose and placement. Neither is something the drug does to you on its own.
Can I still look tired or angry if I want to?
Your expression is the whole point of your face, and nobody is trying to take it off you. Softening the vertical lines between your brows is the change most men notice first, because those lines read as anger or strain even when you are perfectly fine.
How long does it last for men?
The same general range as anyone else, though a strong muscle given too small a dose will seem to fade sooner. If yours is consistently short, look at the dose first, not the product. Individual results vary.
Do I have to keep doing it?
No. Stopping does not leave you worse off than never starting. The muscle just goes back to what it was doing. Anyone framing this as a commitment you cannot get out of is selling, not explaining.
Will anyone be able to tell?
Done conservatively, what people pick up on is that you look less strained, not that you had something done. The failure mode is the part that shows, which is exactly why your brow and your dose get the attention.
Read first
Before you book
How many units of Botox do I need?
Typical ranges by area, why two people with the same lines can need very different doses, and how to verify what you actually received.
Why didn’t my Botox work?
Five causes, in order of how often each is the real one. True resistance to the product is near the bottom of that list, not the top.
Does Botox hurt?
Brief and minor for most people, but not identical everywhere on the face. Here is what differs and what reduces it.