By Dr. Keswani, MD — Forever Medspa & Wellness Center
“I just want Botox.” I hear it every week — and it’s a perfectly good answer. But Botox is one of six botulinum toxin brands available in the US, and we carry five of them: Botox, Dysport, Xeomin, Letybo, and Daxxify. Here’s how they actually compare, how I choose between them, and why we price them the way we do.
One mechanism, five brands
All five are botulinum toxin type A. They work at the junction between nerve and muscle, blocking the release of the signal (acetylcholine) that tells the muscle to contract. The muscle relaxes, and the skin above it stops creasing.
Because they all work by the same mechanism, their effect — once established — lasts a comparable length of time. The differences lie in the proteins surrounding the toxin that carry it to the nerve-muscle junction. That’s mainly a story about speed of onset: Daxxify, which is peptide-based, works the fastest; Dysport is next. And Dysport is a strong overall contender on both effect and value.
Units: the thing everyone gets wrong
A “unit” is not a universal measure like milligrams. Each brand’s unit is its own yardstick, defined by that brand’s own clinical studies — so one brand’s unit is not another brand’s unit, and needing more units of one brand does not mean it’s weaker. It is not more injections, either. It’s simply how that brand measures.
The rough conversions, using Botox as the reference only because it’s been around longest: Dysport runs about 2.5–3 units per unit of Botox — in our clinic we use 3, and in my experience that ratio gives slightly more effect, not less. Daxxify runs about 2 to 1, and again at that ratio slightly outperforms the Botox unit in my experience. Xeomin needs a touch more than unit-for-unit, and Letybo slightly more than Xeomin — that’s our clinical experience converting clients between brands, and it’s exactly why we fine-tune at the follow-up rather than trusting a formula.
The practical point: “cheaper per unit” means nothing without the conversion math. Ten units of Botox is roughly 25–30 units of Dysport — same treatment, different yardstick. That’s why we quote by treatment area and program, not by asking you to do unit arithmetic. (And yes — you can switch brands between visits; different brands at different times is completely fine.)
So which one is “best”?
Honestly: there is no wrong choice among the five. In skilled hands the differences come down to onset speed, dosing, and value — even the way one brand spreads versus another is evened out by adjusting injection points and reconstitution. If you ask for Botox by name, you’ll get Botox, happily.
If you ask what I’d suggest: for clients who’ve tried treatments elsewhere and never felt quite satisfied, I often reach for Daxxify — it works very fast, it can succeed on stubborn lines, and at its conversion dose it genuinely outlasts Botox. For value, our Xeomin and Letybo program tier is the best-priced path to the same mechanism.
Why we built the All-Inclusive Tox Program
Here’s the problem with how tox is usually sold. The treatment takes 7–10 days to show its full effect, and the exact amount a new client needs simply cannot be known at the time of injection — muscle strength, skin thickness, and what you’re trying to achieve all differ. My rule is to dose slightly less, never more: more can always be added, but too much can’t be removed.
Under per-unit pricing, that honest approach creates friction — every added unit is a new charge, and every touch-up is a negotiation. So we removed the meter:
- One fixed price per brand, with a unit allowance set high enough to cover about 99% of people.
- Your follow-up is included — come back within about three weeks (full effect takes 7–10 days, then you need time to get in; follow-ups get scheduling priority), and whatever refinement you need is covered.
- For the rare person who needs more than the allowance, additional units come at a much-reduced rate.
- The math favors you: even clients who use 60–70% of the allowance pay less than they would per unit — and because the price covers the result rather than a meter, a lower program price simply means more value.
Why does a touch-up policy matter so much? Because no treatment lands identically twice. A car drives the same road home every day, but the tires never follow exactly the same path — and tox never lands in exactly the same spots. Needing a small adjustment isn’t a failure of the treatment; it’s the nature of it. The program means you never have to wonder whether that adjustment is covered. It is.
What counts as an area?
The three classic areas — and the most common plan — are the forehead, the frown lines (the “11s”), and crow’s feet, available as one-, two-, or three-area plans; the per-area value improves as you add areas. Smaller treatments — lip lines, bunny lines, nasal flare, downturned mouth corners, chin dimpling — can join as a fourth area. Masseter treatment for jaw clenching and facial slimming is its own program, as is treatment for neck bands.
Manufacturer rewards stack with all of it: Allē points on Botox, ASPIRE on Dysport, and Merz Xperience+ on Xeomin all apply toward program visits — we’ll help you enroll and redeem.
“Will I look frozen?”
Only if you ask to. Dose is the dial: more dose means less movement, less dose keeps your expressions while softening the lines. The first visit calibrates your personal dose — one more reason the included follow-up matters — and from then on we know exactly what gives you the look you want.
The bottom line
Pick by what matters to you: fastest onset and staying power, best value, or simply the name you trust — and let the dosing philosophy and the follow-up do the rest. Every tox treatment here is physician-administered, and the honest recommendation is part of the service.
Questions or pricing? Text us at (201) 340-4809 — current offers are always on our Promotions page — or book a consultation online.
