“I don’t think I need any cosmetic surgery – maybe Botox when I’m older,” said my 
26-year-old friend over drinks last weekend. Her opinion is probably very typical, but it begs the question, what age is “old enough” for Botox?
For most people, the average age to pursue an injectable treatment likely depends on when they attain a certain level of income and when they begin to notice prominent frown lines or wrinkles. But does that mean you need to be past a certain age?
According to Bay Area plastic surgeon Sirish Maddali, “many [of his] patients understand that using Botox at a younger age can be preventative and therefore start earlier.” But how many 20 or 30-somethings actually take these steps to maintain their appearance?
According to statistics from the ASAPS:
2,464,123 Botox treatments were performed in 2008*
- 0.3 percent of patients were 18 and under
- 15.4 percent of patients were 19-34 (379,582 procedures)
- 49.1 percent of patients were 35-50
- 27.3 percent of patients were 51-64
- 7.9 percent of patients were over 65
