How many Botox injections have you done? 11,063!

I’m writing this Modesto Botox Blog as of 12/8/19 – so this doesn’t represent the entire 2019. Visit my Modesto Botox Home Page. This page is written by me, Calvin Lee, MD

11063 Botox procedures that I’ve logged since 2011 (I’ve been injecting since 2008)

So a possible estimate might be over 12,000 procedures. I consider a procedure as a separate injection, I don’t count Botox touch ups (Botox refinements) as a separate procedure.

1462 Botox injections since moving into our new building

We moved to a new building which we built ourselves. It is across the street from the Kaiser Hospital in Modesto on Dale Road. We moved in March 2019. It gives us a lot more space to work. I have three different rooms where I can inject Botox, and I have a separate room to store the Botox safely and efficiently so that all the Botox is centralized. It’s our new Surgical Artistry building.

Allergan Brilliant Distinctions

I use the Allergan Brilliant Distinctions provider portal to create reports. I’ve been injecting since 2008, but my data just goes back to 2011. So I am missing the data before 2011 – so I’m missing about 3 year’s worth of Botox Data. I’ve grown a lot with my Botox injections since I started writing about my Botox Statistics. Here is a page of my old Botox statistics in 2015

Modesto Nature Photography last weekend in May

Same as what I wrote in my last blog.  I believe that my Botox Artistry and Filler Artistry is enhanced by looking at nature.  Studying the patterns, the colors, the geometry, and even the natural aging process of young plants to old plants.  Here are pictures which I took on the last weekend in May 2015 around my home in Modesto, California.

Sunflowers and Bees

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The sun plays a role in how we see our subjects. The shadows create an appearance of deeper depth. In my Modesto Dermal Filler practice, we use fillers to lesson some of the shadows and thus create an appearance of a smoother surface.

 

a sunflower sky
In this picture, the lighting comes from the back. The subject looks completely different. This is why I have an operating room light in my procedure room where I do most of my Botox and Filler work. The operating room light can be adjusted to come from above, from below, from behind and from the sides. I also like to be in the same room most of the time when I inject – this way I can get a feel of the fixed lighting and have control over a movable light.

 

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A blurry background helps us take out distractions from our best features. This is what I like to achieve with Botox in my Modesto practice. I like to use Botox to help blur out the wrinkles which detract from beautiful features on or face – especially eyelashes and the eyes themselves. Botox works especially great around the sides of the eyes and between the eyes. So this picture to me is very much like performing a Botox treatment around the eyes. With fewer “distractions” the eyes really shine!

 

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Beauty attracts company. Three bees on this beautiful sunflower.

 

 

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And this is where I took the above photos. At first glance – it doesn’t seem beautiful. But it’s my job with Botox and Fillers to bring out the beauty that is already there. And that’s what I tried to do with the camera.

 

The next few pictures depict my study of young leaves of a sago palm

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a alien take me to your leader IMG_5659 - Copy - Copy

a sago twin
This picture shows the “older” but magnificent leaves of our Sago Palm

 

Beauty up-close is different from beauty from beyond

I have to look at a patient closely for one form of artistry but I have to keep in mind what a patients face looks like from a distance.  This concept that I have to keep in my mind while injecting Botox and Fillers is represented by these two pictures which are near and further away:

a closer up IMG_5670 - Copy - Copy

a orchid sky IMG_5710 - Copy - Copy

The next two pictures show two different colored agapanthus blooms in different stages of bloom

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a agapanthus white IMG_5803 - Copy

 

Thank you for taking the time to visit my web page.


 

Botox Blooms 2 - Calvin Lee
Out of a Bottle of Botox, comes a Bloom of Beauty.

Botox Blooms 1 - Calvin Lee

Visit my other webpages

January 2015 Modesto Nature Pictures – owls, goats, lady bug

New Zealand January 2015 Pictures – a chance to get away from Modesto for a Modesto Botox injector.

Calvin Lee, MD

Modesto Botox Artistry

a natural beauty logo

What I love about Belotero Balance

What I love about Belotero Balance

I have been an avid user of Belotero Balance for a few years in my cosmetic injection practice. Last month, April 2015, I injected about 4640 units of Botox and 75 syringes of fillers. 20% of the fillers I use is Belotero Balance. Much of what I do with Belotero is considered off-label FDA use. I am a frequent user of cannulas in my filler practice which includes the spectrum of Juvederm available in America and Radiesse.  Juvederm dermal fillers in my Modesto practice include: Juvederm ultra, Juvederm ultra plus, Juvederm ultra xc, Juvederm ultra plus xc, Juvederm Voluma xc.

Briefly about my Modesto Practice

I spend half of my clinical time personally performing cosmetic injections. I think I would be a bit busier if I spent more time on the Botox/filler side of the practice but I have plastic surgery assisting duties (my wife is a plastic surgeon, I am a general surgeon with trauma experience), a small cosmetic vein practice, and I also have an acupuncture practice which I love. After clinical hours, I am an administrator for our plastic surgery practice. I feel that I spend about 80 hours per week on our practice clinical+administrative.   Of course there is room for me to be more efficient.

Belotero is great for

Belotero is great for tear troughs and around the eyes
I use a cannula and lay down Belotero for tear troughs. It works well for many tear troughs, and flows very well through a cannula. I’ve learned over the years to tell the patients that the duration in that area seems to average about 6 months. Of course this varies from patient to patient. I was a Juvederm user for almost all tear troughs before and ran into some trouble with swelling for a few patients. I still run into some swelling issues with Belotero but it is much less. It also works well for building up a little bit of the cheek above the zygoma laterally.

Great for forehead lines
Some fine forehead lines are amenable to Belotero filling. It is especially useful for those patients who want a smoother forehead with less brow drooping which can happen with overzealous Botox use on the forehead. It is also great for those wrinkles in the eyebrows.

Great for a touch up on the oral commissures
Belotero is wonderful just as a small touch to a slight downturn in the oral commissure. I’m not talking about the entire marionette line, but just the corner of the mouth and injected superficially.

Great for crows feet
I need to be careful with the bruising in this area but it works well for some of the fine crows feet lines. It works well with Botox to battle those light static lines.

Great for neck lines
Those horizontal lines – belotero becomes very labor intensive but well worth it. The patients get a bit of bumpy look for the first 2-3 weeks, but it settles and the Belotero works well to integrate into the skin.

Great for chest
Or some call it decollatage area. These crinkles thicken up well, with belotero for many patients, I have to bend the needle to get the angle I need.  It really does look like it integrate into the skin after two weeks.

Serial Puncture method
Yes, this is useful, and can at times reduce bruising because the needle doesn’t go in very deep. A wrinkle is injected several times about 2 mm apart and the needle just barely goes into the skin. For most of what I like to do with Belotero, except for the tear troughs, I am injecting very superficially. If I’m threading the needle through (ie, in neck lines), I can see the needle through the skin. This superficial needling probably has an added collagen induction characteristic for the patients – similar to microneedling.

Superficial injections for longer lasting effect
Superficial injections lead to longer lasting effect. I have found that deeper injections in areas with movement seem to eat up the Belotero in 3 months. But 5-6 months can be derived from superficial injections.

I would recommend Belotero to other injectors
I like Belotero and would recommend it as part of our creative set of tools for beauty. It’s like a very thin paintbrush. And Belotero works well with other fillers in a layered approach.

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What size / kind of Botox refrigerator would you recommend?

I like to help other Botox injectors and I just got this question on my email today.  I thought I’d share and hopefully help others

Question: How big of a fridge will I need for Botox? Which one do you recommend?

Answer that I emailed back:

Fridge Size:  I use a dorm room sized fridge.  It’s half height fridge which comes up to my waist.  You don’t really need anything big at all for Botox.  Small works just fine.

You could even get a square shaped mini fridge.  But I don’t want to bend down all the way to the ground.

You don’t need a freezer for Botox.  They make refrigerators without a freezer.  This could potentially save electricity and some hassle of freezer issues.  I think if I were to do it differently, I would get a refrigerator without a freezer.  The ice in there messes up the temperature sometimes.

Regarding temperature regulation.  I have two thermometers – one is digital (uses batteries) and broadcasts the temperature, and the other is just a plain analog thermometer (no batteries).  It’s important to keep the temperature of the Botox within the guidelines suggested by the manufacturer.  But sometimes, it’s nice to have a freezer section for the ice packs.  These would be ice packs to hand out to patients for bruising.

I hope this info helps.

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www.InjectionArtistry.com – my homepage for my Modesto Botox Practice.

Starting a New Modesto Botox blog in 2015

Update: We Moved in March 2019

Our new address is: 4754 Dale Road, Modesto, CA 95356.  We are across the street from the Kaiser Hospital.  We offer Breast Augmentation, Tummy Tucks, Facial Plastic Surgery, Liposuction, Cellfina, Mole Removal, Botox, Fillers, Juvederm, Kybella, Threadlifts and much more.  Call us 209-551-1888 for more information.

January 2015

I figured it’s time to start a new Modesto Botox Babble collection of topics.  I wanted to start fresh, so I started this new blog.  Previous Botox Blog is located at this link.

New Modesto Botox Blog for 2015

This new Modesto Botox Blog is written on a WordPress platform with the 2015 theme.  The home page for this new Modesto Botox Blog is this link.  And to make things a bit different, this blog would have a static front page.  And the most recent Modesto Botox blog postings would be on a different page – entitled “Modesto Botox current topics.”

Purple – the color of Botox?

I chose some purple to highlight this blog because much of the Botox marketing material and the Botox packaging comes with the color purple on it.  It might not make much sense to anyone else except to other Botox injectors.

Capitalization of the word BOTOX?

Technically BOTOX (R) is all capital letters.  But it sometimes looks like yelling, so I won’t capitalize it all the time.