What’s the difference between all the Botulinum products?

There are three main stream products designed to reduce wrinkles and frown lines:  Botox, Dysport, and Xeomin.  All are injectable products in the same class of medications, known as Botulinum toxins.

Each one temporarily paralyze the targeted muscle (and surrounding tissue) to reduce wrinkle and fine line formation.

Botox, Dysport, and Xeomin all boast similar features:  longest lasting, fastest working, and least “frozen” look.

Thus, it is hard to choose the best product for the desired results.  Below are a few considerations to keep in mind.

Botox has the most name recognition, after being around the longest.

Most physicians are happy to use any of the products, but typically have a preference. That preference likely stems from experience with the individual product, not actual medication differences.  Physicians’ choice is normally the product which they use most often.  They know the exact dosage used to get the best results.  Physicians will switch products when a patient doesn’t have the expected results.

They all say products starts working within 24-48 hours. In reality, full results aren’t achieved for at least one to two weeks.

It is difficult to objectively compare these three products because of differences in dosage.  Furthermore, there are no scientific publications comparing the products’ usage and results.

In regards to the science and pharmacology of each product, both Botox and Dysport have protective proteins, but Xeomin does not.

Thus, Xeomin is lighter, and could work faster.  Xeomin has no protective proteins, so in theory the efficacy rate should be higher.  But because of its smaller size it might diffuse easier.  In this case, the likelihood of it spreading to unintended areas is much higher. That said, there is little original research on Xeomin to know if this is true in real practice.

Xeomin also claims to have less allergic reactions, since it’s not covered by protective proteins.  Unlike the other two products, refrigeration is not required.

To me, they all behave in a similar manner.

In short, Botox, Dysport, and Xeomin are members of the same class of medication, exhibit similar behavior, and last the same amount of time.  While theoretical differences exist between the three, this claim remains unproven in reality.

I hope that helps, if you have any other questions, you can email me directly at info@drundavia.com.