I attended a Botox lecture yesterday in Fresno that included a small section on ethnic differences in use of Botox, fillers, and Kybella.
This made me think of my Asian patients. I live in an area of California where there aren’t a huge population of Asian patients, but I have a good handful of Asian patients coming in for Botox and fillers.
Botox differences that I’ve observed
Compared to caucasian patients, our Asian patients are asking more for Botox for slimming the face, and there is more of a preference placed on crows feet botox over glabellar botox. Glabellar area is the “11’s” between the eyes. I’ve noticed that my Chinese patients are usually requested a lower dose for the glabellar botox, but the opposite is true for my Indian patients who frequently request or need more glabellar botox for the same effect.
I’ve also seen much more request from Asian patients regarding jaw slimming botox procedures.
Filler differences – Voluma
I’ve actually learned a few things from my Asian Botox / Filler patients who have received cosmetic injectables in Asia. They tell me and teach me about rounding out the glabella and forehead and filling up the bridge of the nose. This has helped me observe that this area tends to flatten with age in some Asians. Also most of the cheek augmentation tends to be in the anterior direction more than in the lateral direction. Thus the apple cheek result is what they are asking for with Juvederm Voluma injection – rather than more of an angle with the zygomatic arch.
Well, that’s what I’ve observed so far, and I hope to observe and learn more from my patients and I hope to continue to improve.