How to Prepare for Your Botox Appointment
April 16, 2019

One of the best things about Botox is the fact that no true preparation is needed for your appointment.  However, there are some things that you can do to improve your results and minimize any risk of bruising that can occasionally occur from getting injections.

  • Avoid taking aspirin or using any products that contain Aspirin such as Ibuprofen, Aleve, Motrin, and most over the counter pain medication other than acetaminophen (Tylenol) two weeks prior to your treatment.
  • Avoid drinking alcohol two days before the treatment.
  • Be patient. Remember that it takes three or more days to see an effect from Botox. Don’t expect the injection to last forever, the effects of Botox last about three to four months before it’s time for another appointment.
  • Be honest with your provider- If you are taking any medication that thins your blood, including (but not limited to) Coumadin and Plavix, or if you smoke- your likelihood of bruising is increased. Your SHAW Center provider will apply Arnica Montanna to the treatment areas to reduce the incidence of bruising, and will suggest further treatment of Arnica Montanna at home to assist in the decrease of bruising.
  • Think long term. With repeated treatment, wrinkles often appear less severe over time because the muscles are trained to be less active. In younger patients, Botox may even prevent minor wrinkles from forming.

After your Botox appointment, you are free to go back to your daily activities (go back to work, go out to dinner/lunch, parties etc). However, The SHAW Center does not recommend exercising or lying down (flat on a bed) for four hours after your Botox treatment. If you have Botox injected around the eyes, you should avoid rigorously rubbing towards your eyes for a few days after your treatment.

Call The SHAW Center today to schedule your consultation! (480)767-1900

About Dr. Shaw

Dr. Lawrence Shaw is a double board certified plastic surgeon in Scottsdale, Arizona with over 30 years of aesthetic surgical experience. Dr. Shaw’s excellent reputation is attributed to his uncompromising commitment to the highest standards of patient care, rational decision making and meticulous surgical technique. He has thousands of satisfied patients throughout Arizona, the United States and beyond.

Dr. Shaw is the founder and medical director of The Spa at The SHAW Center which has grown into a Premier Medical Spa offering non-invasive, anti-aging services ranging from advanced skin care, neurotoxins, injectable facial fillers, non-invasive fat reduction, cryotherapy, IV infusion therapy, to lasers for vaginal rejuvenation, hair removal and skin rejuvenation.

About The SHAW Center

At The SHAW Center, over the last 30 years, Dr. Shaw has created an environment to attract the best team possible to promote innovation and exchange ideas to fulfill our mission.

Dr. Shaw’s vision is to deliver the utmost in surgical and nonsurgical cosmetic care and patient experience. We strive to be the plastic surgery and medical aesthetic spa of choice where we consistently meet or exceed our patient’s expectations. Caring for our patients, assessing and realizing aesthetic goals in a safe, comfortable environment is always our top priority.

We provide compassionate personalized care that extends well beyond the treatment and recovery period leaving our patients with a positive lifelong lasting impression. It is personally gratifying to see how many patients from the 80’s and 90’s are still our patients and now referring their children to Dr. Shaw and our office. Our patients truly become “patients for life” and part of The SHAW Center family.

We invite you to come meet our incredible team to explore and realize your aesthetic dreams.

 

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Listen up guys, Botox is no longer exclusively for the ladies. A new term coined Bro-tox is the latest and greatest thing to happen to your skin. Yep, we know it sounds a little out there, but Botox has crossed the gender lines with a 258 percent increase over the past ten years.

So why are men opting to go under the needle? According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, there are a few factors playing into Bro-tox’s popularity. 

The first factor is that within the past couple of years, cosmetic procedures are more widely accepted and no longer carry the negative stigma they did in the past.
Additionally, Botox delivers results with no downtime and is an appealing option for men because it erases wrinkles but isn’t obvious that you’ve had “work” done.
What’s most interesting is that men feel increasing pressure to stay relevant in the workplace and want to look better and younger to climb the career ranks. The American Society of Plastic Surgery also reports that employees want to maintain a more attractive and youthful look in the competitive job market. This means that a youthful appearance allows men (and women) to receive promotions and generate more income than their older looking peers – a crucial part of success especially with a leaner workforce.
Men on the hunt for jobs also up their competitive game with Bro-tox for an extra edge when interviewing.
Not a scary procedure, Botox includes a few pricks to areas including your forehead, eyes and in between eyebrows to relax facial muscles and minimize lines and wrinkles.

Want to learn more or are you ready to take the Bro-tox plunge? Reach out to us at www.theshawcenter.com/Contact/Contact.phpto schedule a consultation.
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Getting a face-lift is a big decision so you’ll want to make sure you proceed with an expert. Dr. Shaw is a board-certified expert in cosmetic surgery, with more than 25 years of experience, so you can rest assured that you’ll end up with the best possible results.
There are many face-lift procedures available at The SHAW Center. Be sure to schedule a consultation with Dr. Shaw to discuss the bet options for you.
Some to consider:
 Injectables – Injectables like Botox and JUVÉDERM can be the perfect thing for people who don’t need a full face-lift but are simply looking to refresh and rejuvenate their face without surgery.
Face-lift – Called a rhytidectomy, a face-lift eliminates sagging skin along the jaw line and neck. It can also reshape fat tissue and sagging skin on the cheeks and jowls.
SmartLipo – SmartLipo is another option for creating a younger look by thinning the face and neck. This facial liposuction procedure, which usually takes less than an hour, gives patients a slimmer, more youthful appearance.

Eyelid and Brow lift – Eliminating sagging and loose skin on and around the upper and lower eyelids can give patients a much younger appearance as well. The brow lift does just that – lifts the brows, eliminating a “tired” or even “angry” look. With a brow lift, Dr. Shaw can also smooth wrinkles on the forehead.

Rhinoplasty – Nose reshaping is a popular procedure to transform the size and shape of the nose to become more proportional to the rest of the face.
Whatever look is desired, Dr. Shaw can often combine many procedures at once to create a whole new look at one time. A consultation with Dr. Shaw can help you customize your facial reconstruction desires – both surgical and non-surgical – and welcome back a more youthful, happier face in the mirror!

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Periorbital lines around the eyes have been called laugh lines or worse – crow’s feet. But the fact is they are still just unsightly crinkles and creasing around the eyes alluding to your true age.
If you prefer to keep your age a secret, consider treatments to rid the skin around your eyes of crow’s feet. The SHAW Center offers many wonderful treatments to disguise, reduce or altogether eliminate crow’s feet.
If you are noticing the beginning stages of crow’s feet, try a chemical peel or microdermabrasion procedure to remove the outermost layers of skin, resulting in a softer, smoother appearance. The use of a topical retinol cream after the procedure can help accentuate the results.
Dermal fillers such as Juvaderm, Restylane/Perlane and Radiesse and others offered at the SHAW Center are non-surgical injectable agents that can effectively treat facial lines and wrinkles. The fillers offered at the SHAW Center contain all natural substances such as hyaluronic acid and/or calcium hydroxylapatite. Dermal fillers promise a smoother, more youthful appearance of the skin.
Light/RF treatments can also solve your crow’s feet woes. The SHAW Center uses we the latest light technologies from Lumenis, Syneron and Alma to eliminate wrinkles via skin tightening procedures ranging from in-office light laser procedures to surgical laser systems for more dramatic results.
The SHAW Center offers the following laser procedures: Intense Pulse Light Laser (IPL), ReFirme and Alma 360.
Procedures to eliminate crow’s feet can also be used to correct laugh lines around your mouth, worry lines on your forehead and other age-revealing facial creases.
As always, if you are considering any procedure, seek out professional experts such as the ones at The SHAW Center who are available to meet with your for an in-depth consultation designed to discover your age-defying needs.
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So you’ve had a little lift, a nip here or a tuck there – does it have to become public knowledge?
The choice is yours
Choosing to have cosmetic surgery is certainly nothing to be ashamed of, especially as popular as it is today. However, even if you decide to have a minor augmentation such as Botox or something more apparent like breast enhancement or liposuction, don’t feel obligated to share the news. After all, it’s really no body’s business but your own, right?
Be selective about who you tell
If you decide to share your news, be choosy about who you tell. You don’t have to announce it to everyone in your neighborhood coffee house, but it’s probably smart to discuss the decision beforehand with your spouse or partner and your parents. And your best friends who will probably want to know why you look so much more amazing as of late.
If you are undergoing a major augmentation that will require some downtime, you may need to inform your boss in case you need to take some time off of work. However, just because you tell your boss does not mean your facelift has to become the topic of water cooler gossip. If you choose to be discreet about your cosmetic surgery, ensure that the people you do tell (including your boss) will use the same discretion.
Be prepared
You don’t have to tell anyone if you don’t want to. However, you may want to be prepared with a response if a close friend or family member asks if you have had something done. You can choose to be honest, coy or share the most intimate details. Once again, the choice is yours. If you’ve decided to enhance your look with cosmetic surgery, be proud of your new look.
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A trip to The SPA at The SHAW Center is unlike any other spa day you’ll experience. The SPA offers a vast range of high-quality, state-of-the-art medical grade skin treatments that combine medical facials with the relaxation of a traditional facial.
Juvederm is one of the skin treatments offered at The SPA that can take years off your face without the need for a full facelift.
Juvederm is a smooth-consistency dermal filler made from hyaluronic acid, a substance that occurs naturally in the skin. This injectable gel helps reduce and eliminate the look of fine facial wrinkles that occur specifically at the corners of the mouth and around the nose. Juvederm can also be used to enhance lips, giving them a fuller and more symmetrical appearance.
The Juvederm procedure is quick, with minimal discomfort and no downtime. A very thin needle to used to inject small amounts of the substance into the skin to “fill” wrinkles and folds. To ease pain, a topical anesthesia and/or local blocks can be used but traditional anesthesia is not typically needed.
The procedure usually takes less than 30 minutes and you can return to all normal activities immediately afterwards. Results are immediate, though some minor swelling or redness may occur for the first few days after treatment. However, no bandages are needed and there is no need to limit normal activities after the procedure.
Juvederm is ideal for creating a more youthful look and reducing those irritating fine lines and wrinkles. Since the results are so natural and immediate, people will never suspect you’ve had any work done… though they will certainly notice a difference in your appearance.
During a consultation with our team, we can discuss further details about any specific risks with this procedure as well as your particular desires so we can help you attain your aesthetic goals. The SHAW Center has been awarded the Black Diamond for Botox® Cosmetic and dermal filler injections, so you know you are in good hands here.
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By Leslie Baumann, M.D.

Recently, Allure magazine asked me to review a study that claimed Botox can be used to treat acne. The study, which was published in the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology, was written by Chicago plastic surgeon Anil Shah, who says he has used Botox to treat about 100 patients for their acne.
Dr. Shah believes Botox treats acne in two ways, firstly by blocking the chemical acetylcholine, which revs up oil production, and secondly by paralyzing the tiny muscles that surround pores and preventing them from expanding. While Dr. Shah’s findings are intriguing (17 out of the 20 patients he examined reported a decrease in sebum production and pore size), his study was much too small to offer any conclusive evidence that Botox can improve acne–to do that, a randomized, double-blind, controlled study is necessary.

Though Botox may slightly decrease oil production, in my opinion it won’t help cure pimples. In fact, I have personally treated thousands of patients with Botox and have never seen an improvement in acne. Even more worrying is that it would have to be used on the cheeks, which are frequently prone to acne. If your doctor accidentally paralyzed one of the many muscles in the cheeks, you could end up looking like you’d had a stroke!

Even without these issues, this would be a very expensive way to treat acne–Botox typically costs $500 per vial and only lasts about four months. There are many cheap and effective acne treatments that offer much more bang for your buck, including drugstore products by Oxy and Neutrogena that contain benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid. (Read Salicylic Acid – Inexpensive Skincare That Works.)

Or you can visit your dermatologist to take advantage of the “credit cards” currently being offered by drug companies to stimulate sales. They offer patients discounts of up to $100 on prescription drugs like Ziana (a mix of a retinoid and an antibiotic), which will cost just $50 for a three-month supply after the discount.

For more treatment options, check out my previous blogs Advances in Acne Treatments and Is Your Diet Causing Acne?

Wishing you great skin!

Source: Yahoo Health

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