My First Botox Treatment

One of all my all time favorite trips was back in July, 2015 when my mom, sister, niece and I took a girl’s trip to Beverly Hills. This trip was all about shopping, eating and a trip to the cosmetic dermatologist office because when in Beverly Hills do what the locals do right?! HA!

Shopping and Lunch on Rodeo Drive

Dinner at Sur Lounge

And that’s exactly what we did! We shopped all day, ate at some fabulous restaurants and visited one of the most famous dermatologists in the country, Dr. Simon Ourian. You may have seen him on The Housewives of Beverly Hills or even Keeping Up With The Kardashians. This doctor is LEGIT and works on some of the most famous faces ever! So there we were, the four of us in his office.

Tea and Pastries in the Cosmetic Procedure Room at Epione in Beverly Hills

It was actually my first time ever to visit this type of doctor. When the nurse came in, she asked what everyone wanted to do that day. Fillers, lip injections and botox were all requested and when it was my turn, I just shouted, PREGNANT! Everyone laughed, but I was embarrassed! I clearly was in need of the most work…my mom, sister and niece are all stunningly gorgeous, but since I was pregnant, I just had to sit and watch. All four of us are into looking our best. In fact, we recently wrote about Our Beauty Favorites that you can read about here. After that trip, my countdown to Botox began. Obviously when you are pregnant or breast feeding you cannot get Botox, so literally the week I stopped breast feeding (when my daughter was 18 months old), I made my first Botox appointment.

I live in the East Bay Area outside of San Francisco. So, as you can imagine there are many amazing places to go for Botox, but I wanted to stay local and I’m so glad I did. Before I tell you all about my experience and where I went, I want to start with a disclaimer, I am SO afraid of needles. I know a lot of people say that, but my fear is super intense. So intense that before having kids, I was so afraid of having my blood drawn I actually went to a therapist to discuss this fear. I knew that shortly after becoming pregnant you had to get your blood drawn and that literally made me question having kids. I also cry every time I get a flu shot. I am such a baby and I’m telling everyone this because if you are like me you need to know that getting Botox is a piece of cake! For real! I always let the nurses know I’m super afraid and have a low pain tolerance and they always take good care of me.

I get my Botox done at Balfour Dermatology in Brentwood, California and they are AMAZING! The first time I went, I was soooooooo nervous. I couldn’t even sleep the night before. I was legit shaking sitting in the chair and it was all for NOTHING! I barely felt a thing! The doctor and nurse took such amazing care of me and the results were almost immediate. I don’t think this is normal, but as soon as we got back in the car I could tell my forehead already had less movement. Even my husband was like “whoa that is crazy”. Of course it did take a couple of weeks to see the full results, but I had no idea how quickly it would work. The best part of the whole thing though was the eyebrow lift it gives you. To me, that’s what really makes you look younger. Another thing that I like about Balfour Dermatology, (for anyone who may be local) is that they have a beauty membership plan which includes 20% off of all products and special discounts on botox and fillers. They also let you pay your treatment off in increments instead of all at once. This place is amazing and I would highly recommend it.

Yes, I was a little nervous!

 

Surprisingly, it wasn’t that bad!

Before and After

 

For anyone who is considering Botox, I say go for it! It’s not painful and really does make you look younger! You really have nothing to lose because even if you don’t like the results, it wears off in three or four months – so why not? Honestly, I’ve never heard anyone say that they don’t love it! So go on and give it a try, even if you are afraid. I promise no one is a bigger baby than I am, so if I can do it you can too!

Love,

Abby