How Much Does Botox Cost per Unit?
Botox is $25 per unit at Dr. Cat Plastic Surgery, the figure on the practice's published non-surgical pricing page, and the price is the same whichever provider injects: Dr. Cat, our board-certified facial plastic surgeon, or a supervised nurse injector when one is engaged. A unit is a fixed measure of the drug's activity set by the manufacturer, so a unit at one office is the same amount of Botox as a unit at another; what varies between offices is the price per unit, the number of units the injector actually places, and the skill of the placement. You are quoted the units for each area after your injector has watched how your muscles move, and the total is confirmed before anything is injected.
Next step: read about Botox in Beverly Hills with Dr. Cat, who injects the forehead and the area around the eyes herself, or book a free discovery call and our Patient Concierge will arrange your appointment.
How Much Is a Syringe of Botox?
Botox is not sold by the syringe, and a clinic that quotes one is quoting a unit count in disguise. The drug arrives as a freeze-dried powder in a vial of 100 units (50-unit vials also exist), and the injector mixes it with sterile saline before drawing it into a syringe. How much saline goes in varies by injector, so a syringe holds whatever the injector chose to draw: 10 units for a first-time frown-line patient, 50 units for a forehead, frown lines and crow's feet together. Two syringes of the same size can contain very different doses. When you hear a syringe price, ask two questions: how many units are in it, and what is the price per unit. At Dr. Cat Plastic Surgery every quote is in units, at $25 each.
What 20, 40, 50, 64 and 100 Units of Botox Cost
The arithmetic is units multiplied by $25. These are the totals for the plans patients ask about most:
- 10 units: $250. A light touch on one small area, or a first-time dose to test how a muscle responds.
- 20 units: $500. The label dose for frown lines between the brows, and a common single-area treatment.
- 30 units: $750. Frown lines with a light forehead, or crow's feet on both sides with a little forehead.
- 40 units: $1,000. Forehead lines and frown lines together, a common two-area plan.
- 50 units: $1,250. Forehead, frown lines and light crow's feet, or two areas in a patient with strong muscles.
- 64 units: $1,600. A full upper face: forehead, frown lines and crow's feet at the higher end of each range.
- 100 units: $2,500. A whole vial. More than most upper-face treatments use; a plan reaches 100 units when large muscles such as the masseter or the neck bands are added, or when a man with strong muscles treats three areas.
A first treatment is dosed conservatively and adjusted at the two-week check, so the first visit often costs less than the numbers above and the second settles the dose that suits you.
How Many Units Each Area Takes
The units below are typical ranges; your count is set at the appointment from how your muscles move, and men usually need more because their muscles are thicker. Our post on how many units of Botox you need goes area by area.
- Forehead lines: about 10 to 30 units, $250 to $750
- Frown lines between the brows (the 11s): 10 to 20 units, $250 to $500; the label dose is 20
- Crow's feet: 5 to 15 units per side, $250 to $750 for both eyes
- Bunny lines on the nose, and a lip flip: small doses of a few units each
- Masseter, for a slimmer jaw or clenching: larger doses on each side, quoted at the appointment
- Platysmal bands of the neck: larger doses across the bands, quoted at the appointment
Dr. Cat performs Botox of the forehead and around the eyes, which covers the first three areas. Bunny lines, lip lines and the lip flip, the masseter, the chin and the platysmal neck bands are treated by our board-certified facial plastic surgeon. When a nurse injector or physician assistant is engaged, they treat the forehead and around the eyes only, under the practice's supervision, and never inject filler. The price per unit does not change with the provider.
The forehead, the frown lines and crow's feet are the three areas most Botox plans cover, at about 40 to 64 units for all three.
Why Botox Prices Vary Between Providers
Per-unit prices in the United States range widely, and the spread has three causes. The first is who injects: a board-certified surgeon who maps your muscles before placing a unit costs more per unit than a medspa injector working from a template, and the difference shows in whether the brow still lifts afterward. The second is the dose: a low per-unit price that then needs more units, or a quote that omits an area, ends up costing the same or more, and a price far below the market usually means diluted product or an injector who is learning on you. The third is location, since rent and staffing on Rodeo Drive are higher than in most cities. What does not vary is the drug: authentic Botox comes from one manufacturer, Allergan Aesthetics, and a unit is the same measure everywhere.
Three questions cut through most price confusion: How many units will you use, and where? What is the price per unit? Who is holding the syringe, and what is their training? A provider who answers all three before you sit down is pricing plainly.
Dysport Cost: $8.50 per Unit, and Why the Units Differ
Dysport is $8.50 per unit at the practice, and its unit is a smaller measure of the drug than a Botox unit: about 2.5 to 3 units of Dysport do the work of one unit of Botox. Frown lines therefore take about 20 units of Botox ($500) or about 50 to 60 units of Dysport ($425 to $510), which is about the same money for the same area. Dysport often shows its first softening a day or two sooner and spreads a little further from each injection point; Botox stays closer to where it is placed. The product is chosen at your appointment from your muscles and your history with each, and our Botox vs Dysport comparison sets the two side by side. The rule for comparing any two neuromodulator prices is the same: compare the cost of the treated area, never the cost of a unit.
Botox or Filler: Which Costs More?
Botox treats lines that appear when you move; filler treats volume and lines that are there at rest. Juvederm and Restylane are $1,250 per syringe at the practice, in full syringes, so a single filler visit costs more than a single Botox area, but filler lasts 6 to 18 months by area and Botox three to four months, so over a year one Botox area and one syringe of filler cost about the same. If your lines are there when your face is still, read the Botox vs fillers comparison and our page on facial fillers before you book; many faces over 35 do best with both, in different places.
How Long Botox Lasts, and What It Costs per Year
Botox shows its first softening at three to five days and its full effect at about two weeks, then holds for about three to four months before the muscle wakes up and the line returns; our post on how long Botox takes to work follows it day by day. Most patients treat three to four times a year, which puts one 20-unit area at $1,500 to $2,000 a year. Regular patients tend to need fewer units over time, because a muscle that has been relaxed for a year is smaller and weaker than it was, and a treatment booked before the lines fully return usually needs less than one that starts over. Staying upright for four hours, skipping strenuous exercise for 24 hours and leaving the treated areas alone protect the result; our post on making Botox last longer covers the rest.
Insurance, Financing and What Is Included
Cosmetic Botox is not covered by insurance and is paid out of pocket; Botox prescribed for a medical condition such as chronic migraine is a different treatment through a different physician. Your quote at the practice is the units multiplied by $25, confirmed before injection, and the two-week check is part of the treatment. To pay over time, the practice partners with Cherry, its primary financing partner, and also accepts CareCredit and Alphaeon Credit; see financing and payment plans.
Book Botox With Dr. Cat
Dr. Cat, a board-certified plastic surgeon, injects the forehead and the area around the eyes herself at the office on Rodeo Drive, after a facial muscle analysis that decides where every unit goes; the masseter, the chin, the neck bands and the areas around the mouth are treated by our facial plastic surgeon. Start with a free 15-minute discovery call with our Patient Concierge, or book a free discovery call online; injectable visits are booked directly. Your appointment is reserved with a $500 deposit credited to your treatment; new patients are evaluated and treated at the same visit, and the $500 stays as a credit if treatment is not right for you.
