Botox (onabotulinumtoxinA) aftercare instructions typically aim to minimize your risk of bruising and prevent the toxin from spreading to the surrounding muscles.

Botox injections are safe, as only a diluted volume of toxin is necessary for therapeutic and cosmetic uses.

While Botox does not require any formal recovery time, proper aftercare can help prevent complications and protect long-term results.

If you receive Botox injections on your face, it’s important to avoid touching your face, including washing it, to allow the injection sites to heal fully. This typically takes at least 6 hours.

If you need to wash your face within 24 hours of the procedure, use only clean hands and sterile water.

Healthcare practitioners typically use an aseptic technique throughout the procedure. This may include wearing sterile gloves and a gown to minimize the risk of infection at the injection sites. They will also clean your face with a sterilizing solution before and after the Botox injections. This is why touching your face or rubbing it against any surface is not recommended.

If you arrive at the procedure wearing makeup, the practitioner will remove it before giving the injections.

Afterward, it is important to follow the practitioner’s instructions. They typically recommend avoiding makeup for 24 hours after Botox injections. If you apply makeup after facial injections before the injection sites have healed, it may increase your risk of developing an infection.

The practitioner may also provide a sterile SPF 50 sunscreen to protect your healing skin from UV light. Sunscreen helps reduce your risk of developing:

Medical Perspective

“You should seek immediate medical care if you experience red-flag symptoms such as chest pain, shortness of breath, intense headache, or significant difficulty breathing.”

— Alex Nguyen, PharmD, RPh, CPh

Read more: Botox common and serious side effects

Quotes represent the opinions of our medical experts. All content is strictly informational and should not be considered medical advice.

To avoid complications, avoid doing strenuous exercise for 2 days after you receive Botox injections.

Exercising increases blood flow to your skin. While it benefits your cardiovascular system, exercising too soon after Botox injections can place you at risk of complications.

Increasing blood flow around newly injected Botox can cause it to migrate from the original injection site. This can lead to paralysis of the surrounding, non-target muscles.

Exercise also increases your blood pressure, which can lead to bruising and swelling at injection sites.

In general, lying down within 4 hours of the Botox procedure is not recommended. Staying upright prevents Botox from spreading to non-target muscles.

If in doubt, always follow the practitioner’s instructions, especially in the hours after the procedure.

Research about the link between alcohol consumption and Botox treatment is limited. Your healthcare professional may recommendthat you avoid drinking alcohol for 24 to 48 hours after the procedure.

The effects of drinking alcohol after a Botox treatment will vary between individuals. So, it is safer to avoid alcohol after the injections.

You may also want to avoid drinking alcohol for 24 hours before the procedure. This is because alcohol may act as a blood thinner, which can increase your risk of bleeding and bruising after the treatment.

Other important precautions after a Botox procedure include:

  • avoid other skin treatments, such as facials, for 10 days
  • stay away from the sun for 48 hours to avoid facial flushing or scars
  • do not massage, press, or sleep on the injection sites for at least 24 hours
  • Avoid extreme heat, including saunas, hot tubs, tanning, and similar for at least 24 hours

It is important to follow the aftercare instructions given by the practitioners treating you. If you have any questions on what to do after the procedure, ask your practitioner or a medical professional.

After Botox injections, your practitioner may advise you to avoid activities that could increase the risk of Botox migrating from the target muscle to surrounding muscles. This includes strenuous exercise, massages, sweating, facials, and lying down on injection sites for at least 24 hours. You may also need to wait a few hours before washing your face or the injection site, and for 1 day before applying makeup or lotion.