Have you ever looked at someone’s face and thought one or both of their eyebrows resembled Dr. Spock from Star Trek? Or does it look like they are always about to ask a question with a ‘quizical brow’? As it happens, one of the most frequent side effects from anti-wrinkle injections for the forehead is called after Dr. Spock.
Brows that arch laterally, toward the outer edges of your forehead, are commonly referred to as spock eyebrows. Injecting Botox without properly distributing the amount given throughout the muscles in your upper face that are involved in making facial expressions is what gives you this unnatural appearance.
‘Spocking’ usually occurs 1-2 weeks after anti-wrinkle treatments. It is described as funny-looking eyebrows that are too high towards the outer end, especially when you raise your brows. Often, they are overarched and make it look like something is not quite right.
Spocking happens when an anti-wrinkle product is applied inappropriately in the center, triggering the frontalis, the forehead’s elevator muscle, in its periphery. This causes the outside parts of the forehead to become hyperactive while the mid forehead remains inactive, creating what looks like of a “spocked” brow.
In general, solving the issue is quite easy. Your expert cosmetic injector will inject a small amount of anti-wrinkle injections into the area of the muscles that are pulling the eyebrows in a strange way.
One of the hardest areas to inject is the forehead. Fortunately, there’s an easy way to fix the spocking effect. Each patient has unique goals, needs, anatomy, and variations. The spocking effect can be minimized by applying the vectors and having an in-depth knowledge of anatomy.
In the awful circumstance that you become a victim of spocking, fear not a simple painless fix is a short appointment away. It is best to have the correction 2 weeks post-treatment as the results from your anti-wrinkle treatment are a maximum during this period. Sometimes, if you notice the issue early, it may correct itself without treatment by the 2 week mark.
