Doctor only injects one half of her face with Botox to show its true impact

A doctor injected just one half of her face with botox to show the real difference it makes.

Dr Bita Farrell volunteered to be her very own 'lab rat' to show people the power of the prescription drug, botulinum toxin 'for the sake of science and education'.

Drawing a line down the middle of her face, she was able to clearly show the results and explained how each side differed.

The neurotoxic protein is used medicinally for various purposes, but most of us are more aware of the wonders it can work cosmetically.

Instead of growing old gracefully, many hold onto youth and prefer to get Botox injections to temporarily paralyse the muscles in the face.

This blocks signals being sent from nerves to the muscles, so that they can no longer contract, giving the appearance of smoother-looking skin.

The results aren't permanent and only last for months at a time, meaning it requires a lot of upkeep.

Taking all that information in is all well and good, but most of us simply want to see what the stuff can do with our own eyes - which is where Dr Farrell comes in.

The board-certified physician, who trained and practised as a Clinical Professor at UCLA, has over 20 years of injecting experience, so even though they were her own, she was in safe hands.

Two weeks prior to filming the results video, she had injected the lower muscles on the right side of her face with Botox.

Dr Farrell explained she had targeted the DAO muscle, which pulls down the corners of the mouth, and the platysma muscle, which contributes to facial expressions and mouth movements.

"Now for you, two weeks later, I present my results as I try and contract my lower face muscles," the California-based content creator told social media users.

The medic, who boasts a whopping 101,000 Instagram followers, was seen struggling to get any movement out of the right side of her face, although her left side appeared to be a lot more expressive.

"You can see that the platysma muscle on this [left] side is really contracting and pulling my jawline down, and so is my DAO, pulling the corner of my mouth down," Dr Farrell said.

Referring to her right side, which she injected with Botox a fortnight earlier, she added: "I'm really trying to pull this side!"

Speaking of the difference between each side, she said of the injected area: "See that this cheek rides a bit higher, this nasal labial fold seems softer and so does my shadow at the marionette on this side."

Dr Farrell explained the impact of Botox further in the caption, saying: "Muscles of the face either pull up or pull down. When the muscles that pull the lower face down (platysma and DAO) are injected and relaxed with a Neuromodulator such as Botox, the muscle that pulls the mid face up (zygomaticus or cheek muscle) dominates and pulls the face up!

"This can help reduce the appearance of marionette lines, jowls, frown (rbf, or sad face), and the nasolabial folds. It also lifts the neck and can sharpen the jawline and make the cheeks appear a bit fuller and more lifted."

"Results last average 3-4 months, and any of the FDA approved Neuromodulators can be used," she said, before joking: "Now, I better go inject the other side to even things out!"

The majority of viewers were left wowed by Dr Farrell's demonstration and flooded the comment section of her post with their thoughts.

One said: "Wow... a doctor willing to show a test comparison on themself? That just gained a lot of my respect. Thank you Doc!"

Another wrote: "I could not deal with my face not moving. It freaks me out."

A third added: "Un-injected side looked way better! I was surprised when she said the other side. Thanks for the demo!"

While a fourth commented: "This is an amazing demonstration of the effects of Botox. It really is amazing! Thanks for doing this. I am actually shocked to see how big of a difference it makes."