Woman Gets Masseter Botox for Jaw Pain, but Says She Was Left with a ‘Frozen’ Face and Unrecognizable Smile (Exclusive)

NEED TO KNOW

• Bailey Turner dealt with temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ) for years

• Around 2023, she began seeing social media posts about how masseter Botox could provide “TMJ relief and facial slimming”

• However, after getting the injections, she saw a shocking change in her smile

For years, Bailey Turner dealt with pain stemming from temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ).

“I hold a lot of tension in my masseter muscles,” Turner, 27, tells PEOPLE. The temporomandibular joint — located adjacent to the masseter muscle — connects the lower jaw to the skull, and structural issues or habitual grinding and clenching of the teeth can lead to stiffness in the jaw, headaches and more.

Turner assumed there wasn’t much she could do to improve the pain until 2023, when she “started seeing a lot of social media posts about masseter Botox for TMJ relief and facial slimming, which made me curious enough to try it myself.”

“I have always struggled with TMJ pain, and I wanted to see if it would help with the pain, and the potential facial slimming felt like an added bonus,” she admits.

After a bit more research, Turner decided to give it a go. While there are many underlying issues for TMJ, and masseter Botox isn’t a catch-all, it is frequently cited as a treatment that can help alleviate jaw tension.

The appointment was quick and easy, and Turner says “the healing process was very minimal.”

“I had some slight bruising, but no pain,” she shares.

It took about a week for her to notice a difference in her smile — and she wasn’t necessarily thrilled with the immediate result.

“My jaw pain was completely gone, which was amazing, but my smile also felt completely frozen,” she shares. “I experienced a significant decrease in jaw clenching and pain. However, my smile was directly affected. I felt and looked like I could not fully smile or laugh in a natural way.”

Turner recently shared a TikTok video of the results, writing in the caption, “I got masseter Botox for TMJ and left with a frozen face lol.”

She also shared before-and-after photos of how the procedure “changed [her] smile.” In the before photos, Turner smiled widely with ease, but afterward, her smile seemed more subdued.

In the comments, people said they experienced similar results after getting the procedure, while others thanked Turner for “deinfluencing” them. However, Turner tells PEOPLE that her smile eventually went back to normal.

While she is thrilled that the procedure reduced her TMJ pain, she admits there are a few things she would have done differently.

“I would recommend talking to a provider who truly specializes in masseter Botox,” Turner says.

“In my case, I do not think my injector was an expert in this specific area,” she shares. “If I could go back, I would have started with a smaller number of units. I do not think I will do it again because the six months of looking frozen really scarred me!”

Read the original article on People