For Dr. Frey, incorporating Letybo into her follow made loads of sense. With a few of her sufferers searching for Botox options, “I assumed it was a very good alternative for a brand new toxin to hit the market,” she says. Dr. Frey has been injecting it into the brow and the 11s, and says “its properties are primarily so just like Botox—sufferers have been fairly joyful [with the wrinkle-smoothing results so far].” As a result of the mechanism of motion is identical as Botox and its cohorts, she provides, “I believe it may very well be utilized in the entire conventional areas”—the brow, the realm between the brows, and crow’s toes.
As Letybo makes its manner into extra injectors’ arms, you would possibly hear that it may work sooner and last more than its rivals. “Anecdotally, it does work sooner,” says Dr. Kim, explaining that Letybo would possibly yield outcomes inside a couple of days. The complete outcomes of Botox usually will be seen inside per week.
Some medical doctors are skeptical of the “works sooner” claims, although. “Possibly it has a barely faster onset, however the actuality is, there is no such thing as a instantaneous onset of any of the neuromodulators,” says Doris Day, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in New York Metropolis. “They’re all going to take hours to a few days. I do not suppose the period of time to onset goes to be the essential issue that my sufferers search for.” As for whether or not Letybo’s outcomes last more than these of different neuromodulators, Dr. Day shares that from the info thus far, “longevity seems to be akin to that of Botox, typically lasting about three to 4 months.”
It’s not the primary time that we’ve heard of a brand new neuromodulator promising to last more—and medical doctors are cautious of longevity claims as an entire. Shereene Idriss, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in New York Metropolis, beforehand advised Attract that she’s tried Botox, Dysport, Xeomin, Daxxify, and Jeuveau on herself and finds that by way of efficiency, “they’re all roughly the identical.” Whereas some medical doctors have been hopeful that Daxxify’s outcomes would last more when it was FDA authorised in 2022, Dr. Idriss notes that, in her expertise, it “doesn’t final the six to 9 months because it was initially marketed.”
As for that lower cost level on Letybo, precisely how a lot medical doctors (and med spas) within the US will cost stays to be seen. However Dr. Kim guesstimates that Letybo may cost a little about $9 to $12 per unit in main cities, in comparison with the present price of Botox, which is about $12 to $18 per unit. So in the event you’re getting 25 models complete, Letybo would possibly run you $225 to $300, versus $300 to $450 for Botox. In her personal follow, Dr. Frey costs the identical for Letybo as different neuromodulators—“we cost for our ability and the outcome, not the product,” she says.
On the whole, the medical doctors we spoke with are joyful to have an alternative choice of their toolkit. “I am excited to inject it,” says Dr. Kim, who doesn’t provide Letybo but however plans to deliver it into his follow, particularly to cocktail it with filler for shallow pores and skin booster injections. (A customized mixture of hyaluronic acid and neuromodulator “works nice for delivering dewy, glass pores and skin” by decreasing pore dimension and including moisture, Dr. Kim has beforehand advised Attract.)