Botox Competition Is Heating Up — Meet Neubelle

Botox utilizes type A or B toxin to block the release of neurotransmission between nerves and targeted muscles, a few days post injection the muscles are temporarily paralyzed and wrinkles are erased for 3-5 months. Neubelle is one of the newer treatments, that aims at providing effects similar to Botox, but by utilizing a completely different mechanism of action. Neubelle works by utilizing radiofrequency to create a small thermal injury almost the size of a grain of rice, which serves as a roadblock for the nerve to conduct to the muscle.

A Treatment With Neubelle

The treatment begins by the prepping the skin with numbing injections. Next, a doctor stimulates the muscle that needs to be treated with a TENS device in order to target specific injection placement sites on the temples. The TENS device helps to pinpoint the treatment sites by giving the muscle a mild electric shock, the muscle contraction points are marked as injection sites. A tiny probe is then injected under the skin to create a small thermal injury around the nerve pathway to deactivate its motor action. Neubelle's teeny probe can single out a specific nerve, allowing a doctor to really focus on the exact nerve that you want to block, for wrinkle smoothing customization. 

Although Neubelle uses an alternative path to gain Botox-like results, one thing remains the same — it requires needles and may cause some uncomfortable pain too, so needle-phobes, do not rejoice.

Who are the ideal candidates for Neubelle treatment? —People who don’t want a toxin injected into their bodies and those, who are looking for a longer lasing treatment than botox. It could also be a solution for the Botox resistant cases, as after years of use, the neurotoxin doesn't take well for some anymore.  

Another thing to consider — Unlike Botox, Neubelle can only be used to tame the forehead horizontal lines and partial frown lines. Currently crows feet; the wrinkles around the eyes cannot be treated with this technology. One session costs way higher than the going rate for Botox—depending on where you are in the world, the cost of one treatment can run anywhere around $3,000. But some are saying that price could be well worth it, as the results are immediate, and should last at least eight months up to last a year or longer — in some cases, up to two years wrinkle reduction is possible.

Million-dollar question, that the aesthetic industry would love to know the answer to at this stage is — how many of you would be willing to give this new technology a go?