A doctor who injected just one side of her face with Botox to see the effects has just done so for a second time to see the difference.
Dr. Bita Farrell, a board-certified physician with over 20 years of experience, 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, and filmed the results for her followers.
Two weeks before posting the initial 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.
And it's safe to say the the results were jawdropping.
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 while the results were dramatic, she confirmed that she would be injecting the other side to even it out.
Now, around a year and a half later, Dr Farrell chose to repeat the experiment to show how administering a neuromdulator into the depressor muscles in the lower half of the face could allow the elevator mucles in the mid-face to dominate instead.
She explained: "This can help reduce the appearance of mild jowls, soften the downturn at the corners of the mouth, create a neck lift effect (Nefertiti neck lift), sharpen the jawline, and make the cheeks appear slightly fuller and more lifted.
"This treatment is best suited for people with mild jowls. Candidate selection is important because jowls develop from multiple factors, including skin laxity, loss of deep and superficial fat volume, descent and shifting of the facial fat pads, ligament laxity, bone resorption along the jawline, and overall changes in facial structure with age.
"Neuromodulators help one component, but they are not a full corrective treatment for moderate to severe jowls."
She revealed that the results on her showed that the injected side was fuller higher up, whereas the fullness in the other side fell more into the jowls.
People were blown away by her commitment to showing the results on her own face, writing: "This is so educational and you are AMAZING!"
Others added: "Wow... a doctor willing to show a test comparison on themself? That just gained a lot of my respect. Thank you Doc!", and: "Un-injected side looked way better! I was surprised when she said the other side. Thanks for the demo!"
One commented: "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.”