Is Botox Safe for Your Eyes?

Botox is actually used to treat eye muscle problems (strabismus) and uncontrolled eyelid twitching (blepharospasm), and it was developed and FDA-approved for these uses with eye safety in mind.

Of course, precautions are necessary to prevent possible Botox Cosmetic side effects such as droopy eyelids, double vision, blurred vision, decreased eyesight, eyelid swelling and dry eyes. If you have any of these issues after an injection, report them to your eye doctor and your physician.

What You Can Do To Avoid Botox Side Effects

The list of possible side effects mentioned in this article is a long one, but it would be extremely rare for anyone to experience all of them. And following these six tips will minimize or prevent most Botox side effects:

Make sure your practitioner is very experienced at Botox injections and is a respected medical professional. A salon stylist, for example, is not an appropriate person to administer Botox, because he or she would not have emergency equipment or sufficient medical knowledge if something went wrong. Some disreputable people have reportedly administered injections that were over- or under-diluted with saline, as well as counterfeit solutions that didn’t contain Botox at all.
Before having injections, tell your practitioner about any health problems you have.

Also tell your practitioner about medications, vitamins, herbal preparations or other supplements you take, since some combinations of these supplements with Botox could cause serious side effects. It’s especially important to mention having taken injected antibiotics, muscle relaxants, allergy or cold medicines and sleep medicines.
Follow your practitioner’s pre- and post-injection instructions very carefully.

Report all side effects — especially those that are bothering you or won’t go away.

Beware of Botox injections at a “Botox party” at someone’s house. You need to be in a medical setting, where any side effects can be treated immediately. You may not see the final effects of the injections during the party anyway, as they usually take a few days. A Botox party isn’t such a bad idea if it’s held by a doctor in a medical setting, but even then there’s a risk of the doctor’s attention being divided between you and the other attendees.