How Effective Is Botox At Reducing The Temporal Muscles?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I plan to fly out this summer and set up an appointment with you. I’ve read numerous studies and doctors have been able to reduce the temples by 4-5 mm with Botox injections.Yes your right, multiple injection rounds are needed every 3-6 months. But I’m willing to pay and fly out to you every 3-6 months. Is there anyway we can run scans at your office and formulate a plan with Botox. I’m not interested in excision of the muscle under any circumstances. If its impossible to achieve the temporal reduction results as you illustrated with Botox, please tell me up front, but I’d rather fly out every 3-6 months to achieve reversible results. Have you ever reduced the temporal muscle with Botox injections?

A: There is no question that Botox can shrink a masticatory muscle. But like all drugs its effect is dose dependent. And the temporalis is an enormous muscle that would require very high doses (in comparison for example to the masseter muscle) to see a substantive effect.(of which 4 to 5mms would count as substantive) What dose that is per side can not be fully predicted beforehand and the dose:effect ratio per patient can only be learned by doing it. (pick a dose, see the effect and adjust accordingly next time) There is no scan or imaging that is going to be helpful when injecting Botox into any muscle as long as the target muscle location is known.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana