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Should You Seek Botox Treatment During Pregnancy?

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If you're a faithful user of Botox to help treat TMJ, chronic migraines, or unsightly frown lines, you may greet pregnancy with equal parts excitement and concern. Is it safe to continue to have Botox treatment during your pregnancy and while breastfeeding? If you've already had Botox prior to finding out you were pregnant, will your child suffer health problems? Read on to learn more about when you should continue your Botox regimen during pregnancy, as well as some scenarios in which it may be best to wait.

Can Botox harm a developing fetus?

Although the full name of Botox is botulinum toxin, this treatment shouldn't pose any harm to your baby. The injection of Botox into your frown lines or temples is a highly localized treatment -- this is why the effects of your Botox don't travel throughout your body or even to other areas of your face. Botox hasn't been extensively studied on pregnant women due to the relative newness of this treatment and the ethical restrictions surrounding medical testing on developing fetuses, but there isn't any evidence that the women who have unwittingly undergone Botox treatment before finding out they were pregnant have suffered any negative side effects. 

When should you continue your Botox treatments?

For those who use Botox for medical reasons (such as the management of TMJ or migraine pain or to reduce vision-related headaches), continuing treatments during pregnancy may be a good idea. Being in physical pain for an extended period of time can cause your body to release stress hormones that can travel through the placenta to reach your baby. Because there's no evidence that Botox during pregnancy causes harm, but some evidence that being under stress during pregnancy can lead to problems during delivery and beyond, it's likely a better idea to keep up on your treatments than suffer through the pain.

Are there any cases in which having Botox while pregnant is a bad idea? 

If you have a high-risk pregnancy and are seeking Botox treatment for a purely cosmetic reason, it may be a good idea to put off this treatment until after you deliver. It's likely the water you're retaining will help minimize any frown lines you notice, and it may not be worthwhile to put you or your child under any additional stress (even the minor twinge you feel when the Botox is injected) for cosmetic purposes. Once you've delivered and your body has reached its pre-pregnancy fluid balance, your Botox treatments will become more effective than those you received while retaining extra fluid. Contact a company like Hass Plastic Surgery for more information.


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