Botox or Filler: What Is the Difference and Which One Do You Need

“Should I get Botox or a filler?” is one of the questions cosmetologists hear most. Both are injections and both make the face look younger, but they do completely different jobs. The wrong choice gives no result or an unnatural face. Here is the difference in plain terms.

What Botox does

Botox (botulinum therapy) places a type A botulinum toxin product into an expression muscle and relaxes it for a while. When the muscle contracts less, the skin above it does not crease — the expression line smooths out.

Where Botox works well:

• horizontal forehead lines;
• vertical frown lines between the brows;
• crow’s feet around the eyes;
• drooping mouth corners and neck lines;
• excessive sweating (hyperhidrosis).

It starts working after about a week, the result is assessed at 2 weeks and lasts 3–8 months.

What a filler does

A filler (dermal filler) is a dense hyaluronic acid gel. It does not act on muscles; it replaces lost volume and adds shape.

Where fillers work well:

• lip volume and outline;
• nasolabial folds and drooping corners;
• cheeks, chin and jawline;
• age-related volume loss and asymmetry.

The result is immediate and lasts 6–12 months depending on the product and area.

How to tell: a simple test

• Is the line visible only when you move your face (raising brows, smiling)? — usually a job for Botox.
• Is the line or hollow there even at rest, has volume gone? — usually a job for a filler.
• Both? — they are often planned together.

The test only points the way — the doctor decides after looking at your face at rest and in motion.

What they cannot do

• Botox adds no volume and does not fully erase deep static lines.
• A filler does not relax muscles — “filling” forehead lines is often the wrong choice.
• For skin quality — dryness, dullness, fine lines — biorevitalization or laser is often needed.

Safety

• Injections should be done only by a doctor with certified products.
• A hyaluronic filler is reversible: if needed it is dissolved with hyaluronidase.
• Pregnancy, breastfeeding, facial inflammation or cold sores and some illnesses mean the treatment is not done or is postponed.

At Radeski

Botulinum therapy and fillers are done by cosmetologist Dr. Lorena Georgievna Mangasaryan: expression-line correction, lip and facial contouring, full-face plans. Products — Dysport, Relatox, Xeomin; fillers — Juvederm and TEOSYAL.

Read more: Botox in Fergana, Dermal fillers in Fergana, Botulinum therapy, Dermal fillers.