A doctor injected only one side of her face with Botox, and the results have left viewers completely stunned.
Dr. Bita Farrell, a board-certified physician with over 20 years of experience (and 101,000 Instagram followers to prove it), decided to become her own “lab rat” — all in the name of science and education.
Instead of going for the usual full-face treatment, she injected only one side of her face to show people exactly what botulinum toxin can do.
Yep. One side of her face got the Botox, the other didn’t — and she filmed the results for the internet to see.
Two weeks before posting her now-viral video, Dr. Farrell had injected Botox into the lower muscles on the right side of her face, including the DAO (which pulls down the corners of the mouth) and the platysma (which affects facial expressions and mouth movement).
“Now for you, two weeks later, I present my results as I try and contract my lower face muscles,” she told her followers.
The results were wild.
On camera, her untreated left side looked much more animated, with visibly active muscles. Meanwhile, her Botox-injected right side barely budged.
“You can see that the platysma muscle on this [left] side is really contracting and pulling my jawline down, and so is my DAO, pulling the corner of my mouth down,” she explained.
Then, pointing to her right side — the one she injected — she added: “I’m really trying to pull this side!”
She also pointed out some subtle but telling changes: “See that this cheek rides a bit higher, this nasal labial fold seems softer and so does my shadow at the marionette on this side.”
In the caption, Dr. Farrell broke down how it all works: “Muscles of the face either pull up or pull down.
"When the muscles that pull the lower face down (platysma and DAO) are injected and relaxed with a Neuromodulator such as Botox, the muscle that pulls the mid face up (zygomaticus or cheek muscle) dominates and pulls the face up!
“This can help reduce the appearance of marionette lines, jowls, frown (rbf, or sad face), and the nasolabial folds. It also lifts the neck and can sharpen the jawline and make the cheeks appear a bit fuller and more lifted.”
She added that results typically last three to four months and can be achieved with any FDA-approved neuromodulator.
And yes, don’t worry — she hasn’t been walking around with a lopsided face just for fun.
“Now, I better go inject the other side to even things out!” she joked.
Naturally, people had a lot to say.
One person wrote: "This is so educational and you are AMAZING!"
A second said: "Wow... a doctor willing to show a test comparison on themself? That just gained a lot of my respect. Thank you Doc!"
A third added: "Un-injected side looked way better! I was surprised when she said the other side. Thanks for the demo!"
And another commenter summed it up best: “This is an amazing demonstration of the effects of Botox. It really is amazing! Thanks for doing this. I am actually shocked to see how big of a difference it makes.”