You've heard of Botox as a beauty treatment, but what about Baby Botox?

Baby Botox claims to be a milder, micro-dosed alternative to Botox, offering a more natural look. Photo: AFP

Pretty much everyone's heard of Botox, and its promised effects on wrinkles and fine lines. But it's a different technique, called Baby Botox, that's currently all the rage among younger people.

This alternative, considered to be milder, is said to promote a more natural look, and is popular for preventing future wrinkles.

Criticism and controversy do nothing to stop Botox from gaining ground every year, and even managing to seduce younger generations.

Botulinum toxin injections are now the most popular aesthetic procedure in the world, representing no less than 43% of all procedures, far ahead of hyaluronic acid injections (28%), according to figures provided by IMCAS at its most recent annual conference. Injections – of all kinds – are so popular that their annual growth rate is now estimated at 8.9% over the period of 2019 to 2025.

And given young people's enthusiasm for these aesthetic procedures, the phenomenon shows no signs of slowing.

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Five billion views

Contrary to popular belief, Botulinum toxin injections are not the exclusive domain of people in their thirties, forties and fifties.

On the contrary, young people – namely generations Y and Z – are more and more interested in this cosmetic procedure, which is also very popular with their favorite influencers. As a result, the hashtag #botox is now the source of no less than five billion views on TikTok.

The scale of the phenomenon is such that some countries, like the UK, have banned the administration of Botox and other cosmetic fillers to minors.

This is a way to avoid exposing young people to "fake injectors", people who are not authorised to perform these injections and who are mainly active on social networks.

If the craze around Botox never seems to subside in spite of these controversies, another anti-aging technique seems to have become particularly popular among young people in recent months.

Called Baby Botox, it's an alternative that's considered milder than its predecessor, and which promises a more natural result.

Here too, a glance at the Chinese social network is enough to measure the success of this supposedly new method, which has already gained more than 100 million views and is – once again – promoted by many influencers.

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What is Baby Botox?

Clearly, Baby Botox is by no means revolutionary, since the product injected is the same as that used for regular Botox. It's simply a matter of limiting the quantity, to erase wrinkles and fine lines without creating that "frozen" face effect that can result from the regular injections – and which can put some people off.

It's a sort of booster, in short, that leaves the signs of facial expression intact.

The result is a much more natural look, perfectly in line with the current trend favouring authenticity – or at least the illusion of it – over all things fake.

It seems that this technique is preferred by those whose wrinkles have not yet set in, including 20-to30-year-olds, although this obviously depends on the individual.

Some specialists even suggest that Baby Botox can be used for prevention purposes.

For example, the website of the Paris-based Clinique Des Champs-Elysees says that this technique is used for the prevention of fine lines or future expression lines.

"It is indeed logical to think that, if the force of an expression-related muscle is reduced at the age of 20 or 25, wrinkles will not appear or be visibly prominent later on," reads the statement.

As with Botox, the results of Baby Botox are reportedly visible within a few days of the injection, and fade after about four months.

Interviewed by the British edition of Harper's Bazaar, plastic surgeon, Dr Ashwin Soni, explains: "Every patient metabolises Botox at a different rate, so it depends on when it starts to wear off, which is when you notice some wrinkles starting to return.

"I have some patients who only see it lasting three months, and then I have other patients who experience longer results. On average, it lasts around three-to-four months, which is very similar in my experience to traditional Botox treatments."

But when it comes to Baby Botox, don't expect to pay baby prices. The UK-based specialist charges £400 (RM2,100) for injections on the forehead and crow's feet. This is more or less in line with the average prices found in many clinics. – AFP Relaxnews