‘Botox Store’ Hopes To Eliminate Lines – and Waiting
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A new walk-in “Botox store” near Bloomingdale’s offers patients the promise of youthful-looking faces in the amount of time it takes take to grab a sandwich.
Plastic surgeons Michael Rose and Andrew Elkwood are behind the new SmoothMed, whose concept is to provide patients with quick injections in a fraction of the time and cost it once took.
Dr. Rose, who practices in New Jersey and Manhattan, said he and his co-founder wanted to provide a new way to view Botox.
“We want SmoothMed to be the gold standard; for people to say, ‘This is how it should be,'” he said.
Botox, a derivative of botulism toxin, is used to paralyze facial muscles that cause fine lines and lasts four to six months. The actual injections generally take about 10 minutes, but patients often find themselves waiting for their doctors to finish more extensive procedures first.
For patient Linda Evanich, 60, who first had Botox two years ago, the allure of a fast procedure done close to her work was appealing.
“Rather than make a doctor’s appointment weeks in advance, I popped in on a lunch break,” the Bloomingdale’s sales employee said. “It was very convenient.”
At least one doctor is concerned about offering Botox as a convenience.
“It’s not a five-minute procedure,” dermatologist Francesca Fusco said. “Everyone has a different face and muscles that move differently. It’s not just that easy.”