How Long Does Dysport Last? Units, Cost and Duration

The Dysport prescribing information states plainly that treatment reduced the severity of glabellar lines for up to four months. That sentence is the label's own summary, and it is more useful than any marketing claim because the trial data behind it is published in the same document.

In study GL-1, 158 previously untreated adults received either placebo or 50 Units of Dysport delivered as five 10 Unit injections, and were followed for 180 days. Investigators rated frown line severity at maximum frown as none or mild in 88 percent of treated subjects at day 30, 64 percent at day 60, 43 percent at day 90, 23 percent at day 120 and 9 percent at day 150. Subjects rating their own results were generally more conservative: 74 percent at day 30, 36 percent at day 90 and 19 percent at day 120.

Read that curve rather than the headline. It is not a cliff at four months. Roughly half the effect investigators could see was gone by day 90, and most of it was gone by day 120. That matches what patients describe in practice, which is a gradual return of movement rather than a sudden switch.

The label also sets the floor on how often you can repeat it: re-treatment should be administered no more frequently than every three months. If a practice offers to redose you at eight or ten weeks, that is outside the labeled interval and worth asking about directly.

Dysport units and Botox units are not interchangeable, and the Dysport label says so in its own words. Section 5.2 of the prescribing information states that the potency units of Dysport are specific to the preparation and assay method used, that they are not interchangeable with other preparations of botulinum toxin products, and that units of biological activity of Dysport cannot be compared to or converted into units of any other botulinum toxin product.

The Botox Cosmetic label carries the mirror image of that statement. Its section 5.1 is titled Lack of Equivalency Between Botulinum Toxin Products, and it states that units of biological activity of Botox Cosmetic cannot be compared to nor converted into units of any other botulinum toxin products assessed with any other specific assay method.

A unit is a measure of biological potency defined by a manufacturer's own assay. Two companies running two different assays can both label a vial in units without those units meaning the same thing. This is why a per unit price comparison across brands is close to meaningless, and why the number on a menu board tells you nothing on its own.

Clinicians do still work with approximate conversion conventions, because they need a starting point when moving a patient from one product to another. Those conventions come from published clinical literature, not from either label, and no regulator has endorsed them.

Dysport has exactly one approved aesthetic indication in the United States: the temporary improvement in the appearance of moderate to severe glabellar lines, meaning the frown lines between the brows, associated with procerus and corrugator muscle activity, in adults under 65. For that indication the label specifies a total dose of 50 Units divided into five equal 10 Unit injections.

Every other aesthetic use of Dysport is off label. There is no labeled dose for horizontal forehead lines, for crow's feet, for the masseter or for a full face treatment, because those uses were not part of the applications the FDA reviewed. Off label prescribing is legal and common in aesthetics, but it means published dose figures for those areas come from clinical practice and published series rather than from a regulator reviewed trial.

That distinction matters when you go looking for a number. A chart telling you how many units of Dysport go into a forehead is describing what injectors commonly do, not what the label authorizes. Treat it as a conversation opener with the person examining your face, not as a dose to request.

The product also comes in larger vials than people expect. Dysport is supplied as 300 Unit and 500 Unit single dose vials of lyophilized powder, which the practice reconstitutes with sterile saline. A single vial therefore covers several patients, which is one reason handling and sourcing questions matter as much as dose questions.

The table below compares only what the two FDA prescribing documents state. It is deliberately narrow: it does not compare onset speed, spread or patient satisfaction, because those comparisons require head to head trials in cosmetic use that the labels do not contain.

Look closely at the dose row. For the same approved indication, in the same five injection sites, Dysport's labeled total is 50 Units and Botox Cosmetic's labeled total is 20 Units. That ratio is the single most useful fact for anyone trying to compare two price quotes.

Both products carry the same boxed warning about distant spread of toxin effect, and the labeled adverse reactions for glabellar treatment overlap heavily. Neither label positions one product as gentler than the other.

If you want a working ratio, the honest version is this: published clinical literature supports an onabotulinumtoxinA to abobotulinumtoxinA conversion somewhere between one to two and a half and one to three, and neither label endorses any ratio at all.

A systematic review by Dashtipour and colleagues in Movement Disorders Clinical Practice examined randomized trials that compared the two products directly. It concluded that a conversion ratio between 1 to 2.5 and 1 to 3.0 provides comparable safety and efficacy, and that a 1 to 4 ratio produced higher efficacy but an excessive rate of intolerable side effects. A separate review by Scaglione in Toxins reached a similar place, suggesting a Dysport to Botox ratio of 3 to 1 or lower and warning that a higher ratio risks overdosing.

Two caveats are essential. Both of those reviews describe therapeutic use rather than cosmetic glabellar treatment: the four trials Dashtipour analyzed covered cervical dystonia and blepharospasm, and Scaglione discusses spasticity, cervical dystonia, blepharospasm and hemifacial spasm. And both describe population level conventions, not a calculation any patient should perform on a quote.

The label doses point in the same general direction without contradicting the non interchangeability language: for the one indication both products are approved to treat, the labeled totals are 50 Units of Dysport and 20 Units of Botox Cosmetic. Using the published ratios, 100 Units of Dysport sits loosely in the range of 33 to 40 Units of Botox Cosmetic. Read that as a rough planning convention clinicians use, never as an equivalence the FDA has blessed.

Where a practice advertises a lower price per unit for Dysport than for Botox, that is what you would expect from a product whose labeled dose for the same job is two and a half times higher. The per unit number is lower because the two products are measured in different units, not because the treatment is a bargain.

Run the arithmetic on the one indication where both labels agree. Treating glabellar lines takes 50 Units of Dysport or 20 Units of Botox Cosmetic. If a practice charges you a Dysport rate that is anything less than two and a half times lower than its Botox rate, your Dysport treatment costs more, not less. The advertised discount has to clear that ratio before it becomes real savings.

This is why a menu board comparison across brands is close to useless. Ask instead for the total cost of your specific plan: the product name, the number of units it calls for, and the resulting price. Compare two totals, not two rates.

A price that is far below the local norm deserves a question rather than a booking. In April 2024 the FDA warned that counterfeit botulinum toxin had been found in multiple states, and noted that the incidents occurred when counterfeit product was injected by licensed and unlicensed individuals and in non medical or unlicensed settings. Deep discounting is not proof of anything, but it is a reasonable prompt to ask which authorized distributor the practice buys from.

Four things move the number more than anything else, and none of them is the brand on the vial. The first is how many units your anatomy needs. A dense, heavily recruited glabellar complex takes more product than a light one, and that is decided by examination rather than by a price list.

The second is how many areas you treat. The labeled glabellar dose is a single region. Adding forehead, outer eyes or other off label areas multiplies both units and cost, and those additional areas have no labeled dose to anchor against.

The third is who injects and who supervises. Botulinum toxin is a prescription medication that requires an examination by a qualified medical professional before it can be dispensed. Practices carrying physician oversight, experienced injectors and proper adverse event protocols carry that cost in their pricing.

The fourth is structure. Some practices price per unit, some price per area, and a per area price only helps you if you know how many units it includes. Ask what the flat fee covers before you agree to it.

What you will not get from this page, or any honest page, is a national dollar figure. Published national averages for injectable treatments rarely state what they include or which year they describe, and local market, injector credentials and promotional cycles move the number enough that a single figure would mislead you more than it helps.

Ask which product is being used and how many units are planned, area by area. A clear answer lets you compare quotes and gives you a baseline to repeat or adjust next time.

Ask whether the area being treated is the labeled glabellar indication or an off label use, and what the practice's experience is with that specific area. Off label use is routine in aesthetics, and a practice that can say so plainly is easier to trust than one that implies every use is FDA approved.

Ask where the product is sourced. Federal law requires providers who administer prescription drugs to buy them only from authorized sources, and a practice should be able to answer that question without hesitation.

Ask what happens at follow up. Botulinum toxin results are fairly judged around two weeks, and you want to know in advance whether a small adjustment at that point is included, discounted or billed in full.

Finally, ask about the boxed warning. Both Dysport and Botox Cosmetic carry an FDA boxed warning that toxin effects may spread from the injection site, with symptoms reported hours to weeks after injection, and that swallowing and breathing difficulties can be life threatening. A provider who can explain that warning calmly and tell you what symptoms should prompt a call is a provider paying attention.