Botox Touch Up After 2 Weeks: Why We Wait (Video)

In this short video, Lily Zelaya, Registered Nurse, Aesthetic Injector at Catara Med Spa, explains why she waits a full 14 days before she touches up Botox. She walks through what day 1, days 3 to 7 and days 7 to 13 typically look like, and why one side can look further along than the other at day 7.

Read the full guide: Botox Touch Up: When to Get One and What to Expect

Catara’s Botox and Xeomin in Algonquin, IL page puts visible effects at 3 to 5 days and the full effect peak at 10 to 14 days. Lily’s point is that a day 7 result is not the final result, so movement or lines at day 7 do not automatically mean you need a touch up. She also explains that adding units too early can leave the forehead feeling heavy, and that units can be added later but cannot be taken away once they are injected.

Curious how long the result lasts after that? Our month by month guide to how long Botox lasts picks up where this video ends. Individual results vary, and this video is general information, not medical advice. Contact your injector about eyelid or brow drooping or vision changes, and get medical help right away for trouble swallowing, speaking or breathing.

Video Transcript

What follows is the video’s narration, word for word, recorded at Catara Med Spa in 2026.

I do not touch up seven days post-Botox treatment, and here’s exactly why. It essentially takes 14 days for your tox results to fully kick in. So, tox results on day seven are not the same as tox results on day 14. And so why I say I’m not going to touch up your day seven tox results is because you still have another seven days for the tox to fully kick in.

Let’s break down the timeline of how tox works. Day one, your tox is not kicked in at all. You’re still going to have all of your natural movement.

Now, days three to seven, this is where things can start to look a little weird. Your Botox results are essentially kicking in, but you may notice one side is starting to settle in a little bit more than the other side. Now, there’s a lot of nuance on why that could be happening. A lot of what I see, even in myself, is that one side is stronger than the other side. For me personally, my left side takes a little bit longer to kick in than my right side.

At days three to seven, that is not the final result. So, if you’re noticing one side still moving or lines that are still there, that does not automatically mean that you need a touch up, especially if we’re still between days three and day seven.

So, now at about day seven to day 13, the effect of the toxins still continues to settle. So, something that looks like it needs a couple of units touched up on day seven may look different by day 14. And so, to avoid adding more units prematurely, which can often end up leading patients feeling very heavy, especially in the frontalis muscle, we wait for the full 14 days to touch patients up. I can always add more Botox, but I cannot take away units that have already been administered.

Read the full guide on Botox touch ups