I was ‘addicted’ to botox — here are the mistakes I made
She was filling up a little too much.
One woman on TikTok admitted that she used to be “addicted” to getting cosmetic Botox and filler injections, and she’s sharing one experience that left her with a wonky smile.
Brooke, who goes by the username @brookehutty on the social media app, posted a video titled “Cosmetic procedure fails,” which has more than 37,000 views.
In the 57-second clip, she explained that after she got masseter botox — a procedure that injects Botox into the masseter muscle near your jaw — she ended up with some horrible results.
“My name is Brooke, and I used to be addicted to Botox and filler,” she said in the beginning of the video. “And I say addicted because after multiple years and multiple pretty terrible outcomes, I kept going back.”
She revealed when she went to get the masseter botox done, it was with a highly-respected practitioner. Nonetheless, after the appointment, she was left with an extremely uneven smile, which she showed a picture of in the video clip. In a follow-up, she shared that she had gotten 30 units of the toxin on each side of her face.
“This was me for three to four months,” she said, pointing to the picture. “I had trouble talking, eating, obviously smiling, any sort of thing having to do with my mouth, this muscle was completely frozen. Mortified.”
The Post has attempted to reach out to Brooke for comment.
Masseter botox can help people who suffer with temporomandibular joint disorders as it relaxes the jaw muscle, and can also manage teeth grinding and headaches, according to Healthline.
Dr. Leah Ansell, a board-certified dermatologist at Treiber Dermatology Associates in Rye, New York, emphasized that it’s extremely important to go to an experienced injector when getting this particular procedure done as complications can occur, like they did for Brooke. However, thankfully, these results are temporary until the botox wears off.
“The most problematic complication that occurs is an asymmetric smile,” Dr. Ansell wrote in an email to The Post. “This occurs if the injector injects too medial and accidentally hits the risorius muscle — a muscle that pulls the side of the mouth and is important for smiling… Another complication that can occur is bulging of a small area of the masseter muscle — this is due to the Botox not reaching the deepest fibers of the muscle.”
She added, “This complication is easily correctable with a few additional units to that area.”
Brooke is now one year clean without getting either injection done, but viewers were still shocked by her story–and some even said the same thing happened to them.
“Omg I didn’t know it could do that 😳,” one person commented.
“Same thing happened to me!” another user typed. “My smile was paralyzed for an entire year. I had never seen anyone talk about the possibility of it happening.”
However, other commenters blamed the injector, claiming that their masseter botox injections looked great.
“I think it’s the injector,” one person suggested. “I have a dental surgeon who does mine and never had any issues. I do it for tmj though.”
“Masseter Botox has changed my life,” someone else wrote. “No more headaches and sore teeth.”
In a follow-up video, Brooke explained why she wanted to do the procedure in the first place, claiming that she had some jaw pain. She also revealed that the injector ended up refunding her the $780 she spent on it after seeing her results.
“It deserved a refund,” Brooke admitted. “But I do also think that’s a ridiculous amount of money to spend on something that just ended up being so vain. Is it necessary? No. I wouldn’t do it again.”