Botox for Bedford Village, NY

Why the same frown line keeps returning

Lines across the forehead, between the brows and beside the eyes are drawn by muscles. Each frown, squint or raised eyebrow starts with a nerve telling a muscle to contract, and after enough years the skin above it folds in the same place every time. Botox, a purified form of botulinum toxin type A, blocks that message where the nerve meets the muscle. The muscle relaxes, the skin over it smooths, and because it is no longer being creased as often, new lines are slower to set in. As the nerve signals gradually return, so does the movement, usually after three to four months.

Who you will see

Botox at Bellava is given by two nurse injectors. Nicole Cardwell, FNP-BC is a board-certified family nurse practitioner whose background is in critical care and urgent care. Grace Jacildo, BSN, RN has worked in aesthetic medicine for more than five years. Both follow the standards set by Bellava’s medical director, Donna D’Alessio, MD, who leads the injector team in Bedford Hills and at the sister practice, Montville MedSpa & Pain Center, in New Jersey.

Timing it around your calendar

A full treatment takes only 10 to 15 minutes, but the result is not instant. Softening begins somewhere between day three and day ten, and the full effect is in place at about two weeks. In practice:

• Before a wedding, a party or photographs, come in at least two weeks ahead.
• For upkeep, put the next visit in your diary three to four months out, when movement starts to come back.
• If you bruise easily, leave a few extra days; slight redness, swelling or a small bruise at an injection point normally clears within a few days.

There is no recovery period, so you can drive yourself home and carry on with the day.

Getting here from the village

The railroad that crossed central Westchester in the 1840s bypassed Bedford Village, so the trip to Bellava is one you make by car, and it is brief: about ten minutes without traffic, heading north on Route 22 before cutting across on Bedford Center Road and Harris Road to 182 Route 117 Bypass Road. Bellava is open until 7 pm on Mondays and Thursdays, and from 10 am to 2 pm on Saturdays.

Bedford Village patients ask

Botox or a facelift? They fix different things. Botox quiets the muscles behind expression lines; a facelift tightens skin and tissue that have begun to sag, which no injection can do. Board-certified plastic surgeon Chang Soo Kim, MD consults in the same building, so you can hear about both.

Can it be paired with filler? Yes. Filler replaces lost volume, which Botox does not, and the liquid facelift combines the two in a single plan.

Is Botox approved for cosmetic use? Yes, since 2002. Smoothing the vertical frown lines between the eyebrows is its FDA-approved cosmetic use.

How do I book? Book Now opens the online booker, where you can pick an appointment. Financing is available, including CareCredit.