Botox has been around for a long time. You can get Botox shots at a dermatologist's office, and also at most medical spas. With as popular as the substance has become, you might wonder why DIY Botox injections are not a thing — at least, not a thing that doctors support. As it turns out, Botox, while safe, really is best used in the hands of a medical professional. Here's why it's so important to have Botox professionally injected, and why a DIY approach hasn't come up. 

Botox needs to be injected into the muscles beneath your skin

People often think Botox is being injected into their skin. But really, it is being injected into the muscles just below the skin. Here, it interacts with the nerve endings that trigger muscles to contract, which eases the appearance of wrinkles. It takes education and practice in order to inject the Botox into just the right area. If you don't know what you're doing and just get the Botox in the skin, you won't see the effects you want. Rather than inject it yourself and hope for the best, you're better off trusting a doctor to put the injection in just the right place.

You need to use the right amount

It's hard to say exactly how much Botox you need. It will depend on the depth of your wrinkles, the location being injected, and how much you want your look to change. A doctor who has injected many patients can do a really good job of determining how much Botox you need, and then injecting that correct amount. But you, as someone who has not injected Botox before, may under or over-estimate. Even if you get the injection into the right place, using too much can leave you looking stiff and plastic, which probably isn't what you're going for.

Botox is not always the most effective choice

Patients often assume that Botox is the best choice for resolving their wrinkles. Sometimes, it really is. But other times, you may show up to a dermatologist's office expecting to receive Botox, only for the doctor to tell you fillers or another treatment are better suited to your needs. DIY Botox, if it did exist, would not come with this consultation, which is an important part of the process.

In a world that loves DIY, the idea that DIY Botox is not widespread really means something. These injections really do work best when given by a medical professional. A company like Mansfield Plastic Surgery LLC has more information.