How Long Before an Event Should You Get Botox?
By Sasha, Founder & Head Practitioner, Ministry of Faces, Leeds · October 2026 · 6 min read
If you want to look rested for a December night out, the booking you need to make is in October. That is the whole article. The rest is me showing you the dates.
Party season treatments in Leeds get booked in a particular pattern. September is quiet. October fills. By the second week of November I am ringing people back to say there is nothing left before Christmas, and I have done that every year since I opened.
The cut-off is not a medical one. Filler does not stop working in December. The cut-off is my diary, and when it is full it is full.
I don't think people leave it late because they can't be bothered. I think most have never been told a skin booster needs eight weeks to do anything, because that is not a comfortable thing for a clinic to say in October.
If a clinic will inject your lips three days before a wedding, they are selling you an appointment, not a result.
THE REVERSE CALENDAR
How far ahead should you book before an event?
Book anti-wrinkle injections 3 to 4 weeks before your event, dermal filler 4 weeks before, and any skin booster or polynucleotide course 10 to 12 weeks before, because those run as a course of 2 to 3 sessions rather than one appointment. A facial is the only thing I would do in the final week.
The long version of the timings for the slower party season treatments is in my piece on Profhilo, Seventy Hyal and Jalupro compared. Find your date, count backwards, ring me.
How far ahead | What to book | Why that long |
|---|---|---|
12 weeks | Three sessions, 2 to 3 weeks apart, still improving a month after the last | |
10 weeks | Profhilo is two sessions four weeks apart and peaks 8 to 12 weeks from the first | |
8 weeks | 2 to 4 sessions a month apart, and you swell 3 to 5 days after each | |
4 weeks | Lip filler, cheeks, chin or the jawline | Worst swelling on day two, gone by day seven, settled at two weeks. Room for a review |
3 weeks | Starts at 3 to 5 days, full effect at 14 days, and I review at two weeks | |
2 weeks | Dark for 5 days, then it flakes, then it settles over 4 to 6 weeks | |
5 days | Nothing to recover from, and skin is best 2 to 3 days afterwards | |
The night before | Nothing at all | Water and an early night. I am being serious |
Rule of thumb: add two weeks to whatever you think you need. Nobody has told me they booked too early.
THE ONES I SAY NO TO
What I will not do in the month before an event
Every one of these is a booking I am turning away, which is why you rarely see them written down.
First-time dermal filler. Not in the final four weeks, anywhere on the face. A first appointment is a judgement call and it usually wants a review at two weeks. For lip filler before Christmas, November is the month, not the week of.
Dissolving. Dissolving old filler swells for 2 to 3 days and the area then sits flat for a fortnight before anything goes back in. I used to dissolve and refill in one appointment. I stopped that years ago and split it by two weeks, so a December dissolve means a January face.
Fat dissolving. Starting in November means being puffy at the Christmas do and seeing the result in February. It is a brilliant treatment in the wrong month.
A first forehead treatment. A muscle relaxant in the frontalis can drop a heavy brow in somebody who has never had it, and I cannot tell you who until I have treated them once. A baby dose in October, then we both know.
Tear trough filler on a first-timer. It is the area most likely to hold water for a fortnight, and under-eye swelling is the one thing makeup will not hide.
I would still rather turn the booking away in October than fix it on the 20th of December.
LATE TO THE PARTY
What still works ten days before an event?
Somebody asks me this most weeks in December, usually on a Tuesday about a Friday. Here is the honest answer, in order of how much difference it makes.
A Hydrofacial, 3 to 5 days before. Cleanse, exfoliate, extract and hydrate in about 45 minutes, nothing to recover from, and skin looks best 2 to 3 days later. The one I would book for myself.
A lip flip, 10 to 14 days before. 2 to 4 units, showing at 3 to 5 days, peaking at two weeks. At ten days you get most of it. Any closer and your top lip is still arriving on the night.
Vitamin B12. No swelling, no recovery, no timing problem. I cannot measure what it does and neither can the people quoting numbers at you, so I will say only that those who feel a difference feel it within days.
Nothing, at 48 hours. No needles, however small. The cheap ceramide moisturiser from Boots on a damp face will do more on the night than anything I could inject on the Thursday, and you do not need the ninety pound one.
ONE PLAN I WROTE IN SEPTEMBER
What does a realistic December plan look like?
A woman of 47 came in at the end of August for a wedding on the 19th of December. She had eleven products in her routine, four of them actives, including two retinoids from different brands she had not realised were both retinoids.
We stopped nine. Polynucleotides from the first week of September, three sessions 3 weeks apart. A Profhilo course for the lower face, second session on the 1st of November. Anti-wrinkle on the 21st, review on the 5th of December. Hydrofacial on the 16th.
No filler at all. She did not need any and I told her so in August, which I suspect is the only reason she trusted the rest of it. The eleven products are still in a bag in her bathroom, where I imagine they will stay.
Stopping retinoids: off for 5 days before an injectable and 7 days after a facial. That is all. Nobody needs the three week purge they get told about.
WHO SHOULD WAIT
Who should wait until January
If you are reading this in the last week of November and have never had an injectable, wait. January is quiet, I can go slowly, and your review is not squeezed between two others.
WHAT GOES WITH WHAT
Which treatments are worth pairing before an event?
If you do one thing, do a skin booster course and nothing else. Texture photographs better than volume, and most people chase the wrong one of the two.
If you do two, anti-wrinkle injections plus Seventy Hyal, 2 to 3 sessions 2 to 4 weeks apart. The full anti-wrinkle guide has the dosing detail.
If you do three or more, look at a filler package rather than booking one at a time, and if you are buying for somebody else then a gift card beats guessing. I have had people buy their mum lip filler as a surprise. It did not go well.
The one I would skip is a facial and an injectable on the same day to save a trip. The facial brings blood to the surface and you bruise more for it. Leave 5 days.
People drive over from Horsforth, Guiseley, Yeadon and Ilkley rather than taking the train to London, and they are right to. The injecting coming out of Leeds and Yorkshire is as good as anything on Harley Street, and the parking outside is free.
ASKED EVERY DECEMBER
More questions about booking before an event
How long before an event should I get lip filler?
Four weeks, and not under three. Swelling is worst on day two, gone by day seven, and lips settle fully at two weeks, which leaves room for a review. Inside three weeks, have a flip instead and save the filler for January.
How long does filler take to settle?
Two weeks for most areas, closer to four for lips and the under-eye. The shape on day one is not the shape you keep, which is why I will not judge my own work until the review.
Can I have anti-wrinkle injections two weeks before a party?
You can, but you lose the safety net. The injections I use start at 3 to 5 days and peak at 14, so at a fortnight there is no room to adjust. Three to four weeks is the booking I would make.
What treatments can I have the week before a night out?
A Hydrofacial treatment at 3 to 5 days, a facial with a mask at 2 to 4 days, or nothing. No needles in the final week, including small lip top-ups. The party season treatments that work at short notice are facials, and that is the honest answer rather than the one that sells more.
When is the last date to book before Christmas?
For filler, around the 10th of December if your event is the week before Christmas. In practice my diary closes sooner, and mid November is when December goes. Get in touch now if you have a date.
Where can I get party season treatments in Leeds?
Ministry of Faces, Realtex House 2, Leeds Road, Rawdon, Leeds LS19 6AX. Minutes from Horsforth, Yeadon, Guiseley and Bramhope, twenty minutes from Leeds city centre, straightforward from Bradford, free parking outside. Consultations are free and you can book online or ring 0113 517 8178.
BEFORE DECEMBER GOES
Book a free consultation in Leeds
If you have a date in December, the useful thing today is a consultation, not a treatment. Most party season treatments need 3 to 4 weeks and some need twelve, so fifteen minutes now saves the whole thing.
Ministry of Faces, Realtex House 2, Leeds Road, Rawdon, Leeds LS19 6AX. Ring 0113 517 8178 or book online. Free parking, free consultations, review appointment included.
Have a look at the treatment list if you are not sure yet, or the skin side of it if it is texture rather than shape. Gift cards are here, and the diary is here.
Written by Sasha, Founder & Head Practitioner at Ministry of Faces in Rawdon, Leeds. Recognised as Best Aesthetic Practitioner UK, and the clinic has been awarded Best Salon.
General information, not medical advice. Individual results vary.
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