I am super excited to welcome Racquel Aesthetics newest, Board Certified Nurse Practitioner, Rebecca Strickland, to the blog this week! Rebecca has been a nurse for 8 years and while working bedside in the hospital setting, she felt like something was missing from her career. She carried a deep passion for all things skincare and aesthetics. She started writing customized skincare plans and her passion grew stronger. After countless hours learning facial anatomy, neurotoxins, dermal fillers and medical grade skincare, she decided her destiny by becoming a nurse injector.
4 years ago she started as a nurse injector for a top plastic surgeon in the St. Louis area. She then discovered my blog and set up a full day shadowing with me. We immediately connected & I knew one day we would work together. 1 year later, Racquel Aesthetics was coming to life and I immediately thought of her to work along side me. And the rest is history! Rebecca has been at RA since the start as a nurse injector and graduated with her Nurse Practitioner degree last year. She is brilliant, an amazing injector, sweet soul & great friend!
Take it away, Rebecca! ❤️
Let’s Talk Botox
Do you have little lines on your forehead that your makeup settles in to through out the day? Or maybe you notice 11’s between your eyebrows, even when you are not making an expression?! Then Botox may be just for you!!
Botox is a neuromodular medication that is injected to temporarily relax muscle movement. Most often Botox is injected into the forehead, between the eyebrows and around the eyes to rid of the fine lines. It is one of the best treatments to reduce the signs of aging. When a patient decides to start recieving botox, they want to soften preexsisting fine lines and wrinkles or want to prevent those lines from forming. Preventive botox is my fav 🙂 Deciding to start botox treatments IS a big commitment as botox treatments do not last forever and must be maintained every 3-4 months for optimal results. It is not a one and done treatment. You will notice that the lines have began to soften after just ONE treatment. But if you are wanting to keep those pesky lines at bay and keep the botox glow, you will want to stay consistent with your treatments!
As mentioned Botox temporarily relaxes the muscle but as soon as the medication wears off, the muscle movement returns to normal. That is why is important to maintain your results! Once the muscle starts moving again, the muscle will start to form expression lines (hence the lines you see when you are raising your eyebrows, scowling, etc.) and then the static lines will begin to come back. Static lines are lines that you see when your face is at rest (no expression is being made but the lines are still there). Make-up tends to settle into static lines and once static lines become too deep, we call them wrinkles! Botox can completely erase the static lines but may only soften wrinkles. As long as you keep the muscle relaxed every 3-4 months, you can keep those lines from coming back or from getting worse.
Unfortunately there’s no definitive way to make your treatment last forever, but there are things you can do to extend the results of neurotoxins. My biggest suggestions to help maintain your Botox results are to stay well hydrated, maintain consistency with your RFA skincare regimen, avoid UV exposure (don’t forget your SPF!) and take a daily zinc supplement!
Patients who stay well hydrated have a more plump, glow to their skin! Yes, moisturizing is important to help keep the skin plump, but when choosing skincare products that help your Botox treatment last longer look for ingredients that stimulate collagen (Forever Young Ret 50) and protect your skin from free radicals (Radiant Vitamin C)!
Working at Racquel Aesthetics and along side Racquel is nothing short of a dream! I love being able to extend my reach virtually to men and women all over the nation to help them achieve their dream skin, while seeing patients in office for full facial assessments integrating injectable treatment plans and in office procedures for optimal results. I would love to work with you, please reach out if interested!
XO-
Rebecca Strickland
