Botox accounts for millions of cosmetic facial injections each year in the U.S. due to its tremendous effectiveness at reducing forehead furrows, the appearance of crow's feet, and softening smile lines. The average cost of a Botox treatment will vary across the country but generally ranges from $300 to $550 for a single treatment session that may use 20 to 35 units. Despite the excellent benefits of Botox, many people can not afford the cost of treatment or their cosmetic budgets have been squeezed. As a result, people do 'shop' for Botox pricing and opportunities to get Botox at a discount. Many bargain prices and opportunities do exist from various doctors, spas, and home party events.



Cheap or discount Botox is widely available in many cities. I regularly see many advertised specials for as low as $6 to 7$ a unit and around $150 to treat a specific area, usually from some spa or unknown practitioner's office. But the question is....how can they do it...and is it too good to be true? In my opinion, it probably is too good to be true. Most likely they are using overdiluted Botox, seemingly giving you a good number of injections and units. But it is diluted so far down that each injection may only be 1 unit. Such a low dose may have some minor effect but it may not last very long.

Off of the internet, you can purchase Botox bottles. A prescription is needed but some companies will deliver the actual vials to your home. It is missing, of course, someone to inject it but you are on your own for that part of it. I don't know whether you are supposed to do the injections yourself or ask your local doctor to do it for you. Either way, selling a toxin over the internet directly to patients seems a bit risky.

There are numerous reasons why someone sells Botox at a significant discount...and overdilution is just one of them. The other reason is that their overhead costs are significantly less, because they are not as qualified or trained. An esthetician, cosmetologist, nurse, family doctor, or any injector working out of a spa or hair salon doesn't have any of the overhead that a board-certified plastic surgeon does in his own office for example. Nor do they have any training or expertise in facial anatomy...nor can they tell you if Botox is even right for your concerns or provide any other treatment options should they be better.

Cheap or heavily discounted Botox often translates into....unethical administration. What you save in treatment dollars is usually done at the cost of value and expertise. Whether this is a good trade-off will be determined by your ultimate experience and results. Eventually, there will be competitive products to Botox and when that happens prices will drop. Until then, the plethora of Botox specials and discount incentives will continue to abound. The question remains...are they worth it? Like so many things in life...you usually get what you pay for.