Botox or filler: which one do I actually need?
The most common first question about injectables, answered plainly. What a wrinkle relaxer does that filler cannot, what filler does that a relaxer cannot, which to start with, and what each one costs at Bellamarque.
Reviewed by a licensed Bellamarque injector, September 2026 · 6 minute read
Botox or filler: which one do I actually need?
Botox softens the lines your face makes when it moves. Filler restores volume your face has lost. Many plans use both, in different places, for different reasons. At Bellamarque Beauty & Lash Co in Riverton, Utah, neuromodulators are priced per unit from $13 a unit and lip filler starts at $360.
- IBotox for movement lines, filler for volume, and often a little of both
- IINeuromodulators priced per unit, from $13 a unit, with a complimentary two-week follow-up
- IIILip filler from $360 for a mini and $640 for a full
- IVA licensed injector tells you which you need, including when the answer is neither
Reviewed by a licensed Bellamarque injector. Last reviewed September 2026.
Almost everyone books their first injectable appointment knowing what bothers them and not knowing what treats it. That is a reasonable place to start, and it is a better place to start than arriving convinced you need something you do not. Here is the difference, in the plainest terms we can put it, and what we would tell you at the chair.
What does a wrinkle relaxer treat that filler cannot?
Lines made by movement. Botox and Dysport are neuromodulators: they quiet the muscle underneath, so the crease it folds into softens. Forehead lines, the elevens between your brows, and crow's feet are the classic three, because all three are made by muscles you use all day.
The test most people can run on themselves is simple. Look in a mirror with your face completely still. If the line you are bothered by disappears, it is a movement line, and a relaxer is the treatment that addresses it. Filler placed into a movement line does not stop the movement that keeps folding it.
Relaxers are also the one thing on this list that works before the problem arrives. A line that is only there when you move has not set into the skin yet. Softening the movement early is why so many women in their late twenties and thirties start here, and it is the least invasive place to start.
What does filler treat that a relaxer cannot?
Volume and shape. Filler is a gel placed under the skin to restore fullness that has thinned, or to give definition that was never there. Lips are the most requested, which is why lip filler is the filler service we have a page for.
Run the same mirror test the other way. If what bothers you is still there with your face completely at rest, a relaxer will not change it, because there is no movement to quiet. Thinning lips, a flatness through the cheek, hollowing under the eye: those are volume questions.
Filler is the bigger of the two decisions. It lasts longer, it costs more, and it changes shape rather than softening motion. That is exactly why we dose it conservatively and build gradually rather than placing everything in one visit.
Which one should I try first if I am new to injectables?
Botox, in almost every case. It is the smaller commitment and the lower cost, and it wears off on its own over three to four months, so a result you are unsure about is temporary by design rather than something to be undone.
That is our actual recommendation and not a hedge. Starting with a relaxer lets you find out how you feel about looking a bit more rested before you make a decision that lasts the better part of a year.
Book filler first instead if volume is genuinely the thing you came in about. If your lips are what you have been looking at in photographs for two years, a forehead treatment is not going to answer that, and we are not going to sell you one to warm you up.
Can I get both in the same visit?
Yes, and quite often that is the plan. They treat different things in different places, so there is no reason to space them out for their own sake. Your injector will sequence them for you and tell you if there is a reason to wait.
What we would rather you did not do is book both on a first visit before anyone has looked at your face. Come in for the assessment, hear what a licensed injector would actually do and in what order, and decide from there.
You are greeted by name, sat down, and asked what has been bothering you before anything is drawn on or discussed. If the honest answer is that you need one of the two and not both, that is what you will hear.
How much does each one cost?
Neuromodulators are priced per unit, from $13 a unit, so what a visit costs depends on how many units your treatment takes. Lip filler is $360 for a mini and $640 for a full. Your total is quoted before anything begins.
The per-unit rate is the part that confuses people, so here is the honest version: $13 is the price of one unit, not the price of an appointment. Different areas take different numbers of units, and two people asking for the same thing can need different amounts.
Nobody is treated here without hearing their number first. Your injector counts out the plan, tells you what it comes to, and you decide then, including deciding not to.
Every neuromodulator visit includes a complimentary follow-up two weeks later. That is when a relaxer has fully settled, and it is the appointment where we add a little if you want more. Starting light and adding is straightforward. Coming back down from a heavy result is not.
How do I avoid looking frozen or overfilled?
By being treated by someone whose instinct is to under-treat, and by building over two visits rather than one. The frozen look comes from too much product placed too fast. It is a dosing decision, not an inevitable feature of injectables.
This is the thing we work hardest at, and it is why the follow-up exists. We would rather you left the first visit thinking it could have been slightly more than leave it wishing it had been less.
If a licensed injector here thinks what you are asking for would not look like you, you will be told so. Sometimes the honest recommendation is a smaller amount than you came in for, and sometimes it is to wait entirely.
The questions people ask before their first appointment.
The two we place, and the guides that go with them.
- 01Botox & DysportSoften expression lines while your face still moves. Priced per unit, from $13 a unit.
- 02Lip FillerBalanced, natural definition. Mini from $360, full from $640.
- 03Botox and Dysport, comparedOnce you know it is a relaxer you want, this is how a licensed injector chooses between the two.
- 04Will lip filler look overdone?The honest answer to the hesitation nearly everyone has before their first syringe.
Book your visit when it suits you.
Book a calm, no-pressure visit and a licensed provider will talk it through with you.
No pressure, ever. Cancel or reschedule anytime.