A patented botulinum toxin delivery method that concentrates treatment along the eyebrows and glabellar area, leaving the forehead untreated, avoids the frozen look that keeps many from having Botox and other neurotoxins. That’s according to the oculoplastic surgeon who patented the Microdroplet Lift, Kenneth Steinsapir, M.D., a clinical associate professor of ophthalmology at the Jules Stein Eye Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, Calif. Dr. Steinsapir presented “The Microdroplet Botulinum Toxin Forehead Lift” yesterday at the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery’s (AACS’s) 2017 annual scientific meeting in San Diego, Calif.
Standard cosmetic botulinum toxin treatments paralyze the forehead, according to Dr. Steinsapir.
“Consumers do not like their forehead paralyzed,” he says. “That means that 90% of the potential market for this service is afraid to have treatment. The Microdroplet Lift makes it possible to provide a service that relaxes the resting brow pinch, lifts the eyebrows [and] reduces forehead lines without the freeze.”
“In essence, the approach involves treating eyebrow depressing muscles; not treating the brow elevator muscles in the forehead. The forehead lines are reduced by reducing the amount of work they have to do…. This means that the resting pinch at the eyebrow is relaxed, the brows go up and the forehead lines diminished without paralyzing the forehead. So, the frozen effect of standard botulinum toxin treatments is eliminated,” Dr. Steinsapir says.
The Microdroplet Lift is administered using 10 to 30 microliter (0.01 to 0.03 ml) injections, instead of the more standard 100 microliter injections (0.1 ml) and larger.
“This effectively traps the medication so it can’t diffuse and cause ptosis,” he says. “Typically 60 to 100 microinjections are placed.”
Dr. Steinsapir recommends using a numbing cream to improve patient comfort. He says the overall dose of Xeomin [Merz] or Botox [Allergan] for the Microdroplet Lift is 30 to 50 units, with most patients doing well with the lower dose. The dose of Dysport [Galderma] is higher. The longevity of the Microdroplet Lift is similar to other cosmetic botulinum toxin treatments.
To perform the Microdroplet Lift, physician and nurse injectors must subscribe to the Microdroplet Lift website (initiation fee of $300 and $75 per month thereafter), which includes access to a training video, a license to use the patent and marketing materials. Dr. Steinsapir says the directory will be hosted on Microdropletlift.com, a site where consumers can find Microdroplet injectors anywhere in the world. Dr. Steinsapir tells Cosmetic Surgery Times that the site is set to launch this spring.
Disclosure: Dr. Steinsapir holds the patent for the Microdroplet Lift and could benefit financially from licensing of the approach.
