In a daring teaching effort, a California aesthetician used herself as a “lab rat” to illustrate the paralyzing consequences of injecting botox into your face.
Botox, a neurotoxic protein that is used in medicine, does much more than just reduce wrinkles; it also stops muscles from contracting by blocking nerve signals.
Botulinum toxin, a prescription medication, usually results in smoother, younger-looking skin. These effects are transient and last three to six months, so anyone hoping for that ageless glow needs to maintain it regularly.
Dr. Bita Farrell, a world-renowned aesthetic physician and clinical professor at UCLA, provides her followers—240,000 on Instagram and another 185,000 on Facebook—with visually stunning demonstrations, “for the sake of science,” rather than merely informing them about the benefits of Botox.
Stiff and relaxed
To demonstrate the real-life effects of Botox injections, the doctor only injected the right side of her face’s lower face muscles two weeks prior to the woman sharing her widely shared social media video.
In the clip’s commentary, Dr. Farrell explains her Botox experiment: “Face muscles either pull up or pull down.” The zygomaticus or cheek muscle, which pushes the midface up, takes over and pulls the face up when the muscles that draw the lower face down (platysma and DAO) are relaxed and injected with a neuromodulator like Botox!
This can lessen the look of jowls, marionette lines, nasolabial folds, and frowns (rbf [resting b**** face], or sad face). Additionally, it can sharpen the jawline, raise the neck, and give the cheeks a little broader, more lifted appearance.
“Any of the FDA approved Neuromodulators can be used,” she continues, adding that the effects endure for roughly three to four months.
Astonishing lift
The board-certified doctor published the results with her social media followers after drawing a line down the middle of her face in the shocking reveal video.
As she struggles to elicit movement out of the treated side, Farrell added, “And now for you, two weeks later, I present my results as I try and contract my lower face muscles. Watch this.”
“You can see that my DAO is pulling the corner of my mouth down, and the platysma muscle on this [left] side is really contracting and pulling my jawline down,” Dr. Farrell explained.
She strained to move the injected muscles as she cried, “I’m really trying to pull this side!” in the video.
“Notice that this cheek rides a bit higher, this nasal labial fold seems softer, and so does my shadow at the marionette on this side,” she adds, pointing to the side of her face that she had treated.
She jokingly said at the end of the video, “Now I better go inject the other side to even things out.”
restricted mobility
The distinction between Dr. Farrell’s two facial parts was extremely clear in the viral video. Her features displayed a range of natural expressions on the untreated (left) side. However, there was a significant decrease in movement on the side that received Botox (right).
Beyond the movement—or lack thereof—the Botoxed side of her face showed more subdued improvements: the nasolabial fold, which runs from the nose to the lips, softened, the shadows surrounding the marionette lines were less noticeable, and her cheek seemed slightly raised.
By restricting Botox to a single side, she produced a simple side-by-side comparison that demonstrated the potency of Botox in altering face dynamics without the need for a lengthy study.
What people say
Viewers marveled at the observable outcomes and praised the experiment’s clarity in the comments that poured in almost instantly. It was refreshing and captivating to see Botox’s true consequences so openly in a society that is fixated with youth and beauty.
One internet user says, “For the same sake – I will try that too, just on both sides.”
Another comments, “This is a fantastic example of how Botox works. It’s very incredible! I appreciate you doing this. To be honest, I’m amazed at how much of a difference it makes.
However, others remarked that her face appeared “better” on the untreated side.
I think the side you didn’t inject looks better, which makes it humorous.Younger! One person writes, “You have fewer wrinkles under your eyes on your left side,” while another queries, “So, she appears paralyzed on one side.” Is that satisfactory?
Then came the detractors who voiced their harsh thoughts on Dr. Farrell’s self-experimentation: “What motivates a doctor to pose as a clown in order to obtain attention after so many years of research and effort? This is a shameful tendency.
Dr. Farrell provided us something unique in the world of beauty myths and Photoshopped advertising: education and authenticity combined into one captivating, flawlessly half-frozen face.
How do you feel about the Botox experiment conducted by Dr. Farrell? If her videos make you decide whether or not to have Botox, please share her story with us so we can hear your thoughts!
