Botox is a prescription medicine made from botulinum toxin type A. Small doses are injected to relax, for a few months, the muscles that cause frown lines, crow's feet and forehead lines. The FDA, the US medicines regulator, has approved it for these lines in adults, when moderate to severe. Its label carries a warning that the effect can spread beyond the injection. You start with a consultation with Dr. Charles Rockhead.
No obligation · Every consultation is in-person with Dr. Rockhead.
Botox at a glance
Dr. Rockhead
Your consultation is with him
In person
Consultation before anything is booked
In writing
Your quote, given at consultation
9 Devon Road
Kingston, Jamaica
No obligation
You decide after the consultation
WhatsApp
Questions answered privately
Every visit, without exception
Four things that are true of every visit
A consultation first
You meet Dr. Rockhead in person before anything is booked.
Leaving it is an option
He explains your choices, and leaving things as they are is one of them.
Your doses in writing
The areas and units for each are written down before any injection, and kept for your next visit.
One written quote
Priced by the unit, in writing, before any injection.
Treatment Details
What to know before you book.
The main warning on the US label is that the effect can spread beyond the injection, and that trouble swallowing or breathing can be life-threatening. At the label's dose for frown lines, it reports no confirmed serious case of that, and MedlinePlus, the US government's medicine guide, says no one has yet had those symptoms at recommended doses for wrinkles. Private question first? Message us on WhatsApp.
Medical Director: Dr. Charles Rockhead · Last updated: · Sources: the US label, published by the US National Library of Medicine, and MedlinePlus.
01Botox 101
What is Botox, and what is it approved for?
Botox stops the nerve signal that tells a muscle to tighten, so the lines that muscle makes soften. It starts to work one to two days after the injection and builds over the first week. For frown lines it lasts about 3 to 4 months, the label says.
What is approved
For adults, the label covers moderate to severe frown lines between the brows, crow's feet, forehead lines and vertical bands on the neck. Its cosmetic use for frown lines was approved in 2002.
Underarm sweating
A separate label covers severe underarm sweating in adults, when products put on the skin have not helped.
What is not
Jaw slimming, and early doses for lines that have not formed (sometimes called Baby Botox), are not on the label. The label reports serious problems, some fatal, after unapproved uses. Ask Dr. Rockhead what using a medicine outside its label means for you.
Keep in mind
The label's main warning.
The effect of Botox and every botulinum toxin can spread from the injection, hours to weeks later. Trouble swallowing or breathing can be life-threatening, and deaths have been reported.
The warning signs in chapter 04 apply after every injection.
02Your consultation
Who do you meet?
Dr. Charles Rockhead, in person, at 9 Devon Road in Kingston. He goes through your health and your medicines, watches your face as you frown, smile and raise your brows, and explains your choices. In the US, MedlinePlus says, a doctor injects Botox. At Oshun, Dr. Rockhead gives your injections himself.
Dr. Charles Rockhead, Medical Director — Oshun Cosmetic Services, Kingston.
Dr. Charles Rockhead
Medical Director · Board-Certified OB/GYN · 30+ years of practice
Dr. Charles Rockhead is a board-certified Obstetrician and Gynaecologist with more than thirty years of practice in Kingston. He is the Medical Director of Oshun Cosmetic Services and the founding physician of Amadeo Medical Group, the parent clinical practice.
Tell us every medicine, vitamin, herb and bush tea you take, any botulinum toxin injection in the last four months, for any reason, and if you are, could be or plan to be pregnant. We ask you to avoid alcohol for 24 hours before, and aspirin and anti-inflammatory painkillers for about a week. If you take any of these regularly, or a blood thinner, do not stop on your own: tell us, and your doctors decide.
ii.
The injections
The skin is cleaned, and a numbing cream can go on if you ask. A few small injections go into the chosen muscles with a fine needle. Allow 15 to 30 minutes in all.
iii.
Going home
Most people go back to work the same day. We ask you to stay upright for 4 hours, and to avoid exercise, hot tubs, saunas and facials for 24 hours. Do not drive if you feel weak, your eyelids droop or your sight blurs. We see you again at two weeks.
For frown lines, the most common problem in the trials was a drooping eyelid, in 3 people in 100; for forehead lines, headache and a drooping brow. Problems like these usually start in the first week and can last several months or longer. Pain, swelling, bruising or infection at the injection sites can also happen. Call us if any of these happens.
Go to a hospital at once
For trouble swallowing, breathing or speaking, a hoarse or lost voice, chest pain, an uneven heartbeat, or swelling of the face or throat. Do not drive yourself. Tell them you had botulinum toxin, and when.
Call us straight away
On (876) 676-6297, for weakness all over the body, double or blurred vision, drooping eyelids or brows, or loss of bladder control. These can start hours or several weeks after the injection. If we are closed or do not answer, go to a hospital.
Your two-week visit
We check how it has settled. The label says doses less than 3 months apart have not been studied, so ask Dr. Rockhead before any extra dose.
05Risks
The risks, and who should not have it.
Other risks
Allergic reactions, including a severe one; dry eye; and heart problems, some fatal, the label says. The risk of the effect spreading is probably highest in people who have, or have had, trouble breathing or swallowing. Tell us about any heart disease.
Who should not have it
We don't inject in pregnancy or while breastfeeding, where the label has no adequate data; with an infection where the injection would go; after a reaction to any botulinum toxin or its ingredients; with a nerve or muscle disease such as myasthenia gravis; or under 18. Tell us first about trouble breathing or swallowing, asthma or emphysema, a bleeding problem, drooping eyelids, seizures, heart or lung disease, or a toxin injection in the last four months. If you are over 65, ask Dr. Rockhead what to expect for you.
06Cost & booking
How is Botox priced?
What it costs
Botox is priced by the unit, and the units depend on the areas treated. Your written quote gives the units for each area, and the total, before any injection. The label says units of one botulinum toxin cannot be compared with another's, so ask which product a price is for.
When we are open
Monday and Wednesday, 10 AM to 6 PM. Tuesday and Thursday, 10 AM to 4 PM. Closed Friday to Sunday.
Paying
Cash, debit card, credit card or approved financing. Cosmetic treatment is not usually covered by health insurance.
If this sounds right
The next step is a conversation, not a commitment.
Start with a private consultation. Nothing is booked until you decide.
