A Botox® face chart maps the face into treatment zones — showing which muscle drives which wrinkle, roughly how many units that muscle typically takes, and how many injection points are usually needed to cover it. It is the reference tool patients use to understand what a provider is proposing, and the mental model every injector works from before a needle comes out of the tray.
This guide is that chart, built as a usable text reference. Each facial area below lists the target muscle, the typical unit range, the usual number of injection points, and the purpose. Read it as a starting framework, not a prescription — muscle mass, gender, age, and treatment history all shift the numbers.
How to Read a Botox Face Chart
A face chart looks like a map of the face, but what it is really mapping is muscle. Botox does not treat a line directly; it blocks the nerve signal to the muscle that folds the skin into that line. So every zone on the chart is shorthand for a muscle or muscle group, and the unit range attached to it is a function of that muscle’s mass.
Four variables drive everything on the chart:
- Muscle mass — the single most important variable. Bigger, stronger muscles need more units. The masseter and platysma take far more than the fine muscles around the eye.
- Proximity to the neuromuscular junction — placement relative to where the nerve meets the muscle affects how efficiently a given dose works.
- Extent and depth of the lines — a treatment zone that spans the whole forehead needs more product than a compact zone treated once.
- Patient-specific factors — gender, age, prior response, and goals.
Two things a chart cannot show you: injection depth and the vascular and nerve structures sitting underneath each point. Those are learned with hands on real anatomy. A chart tells you where and roughly how much. It does not tell you how. For the full technique-level breakdown of each site, see our companion Botox injection sites guide.
The Botox Face Chart: Cosmetic Treatment Areas
The zones below cover the standard cosmetic map, working from the top of the face down. Unit ranges are typical published ranges and vary considerably by patient.
Forehead — Horizontal Forehead Lines
- Muscle: Frontalis
- Typical dose: 10 to 30 units
- Injection points: Commonly 4 to 8, spaced across the treatment zone
- Purpose: Softens the horizontal lines that appear when the brows raise
The forehead takes higher dosing than other fine-muscle treatments for a simple reason: the frontalis is large, and forehead lines often span the entire region. The frontalis is also the only muscle that lifts the brow, which is why over-treating it produces a heavy, dropped brow. Forehead dosing is almost always balanced against the glabella rather than decided in isolation.
Eyebrows — Brow Shaping and Brow Lift
- Muscle: Depressor fibers of the orbicularis oculi and adjacent brow depressors
- Typical dose: 2 to 5 units per eyebrow
- Injection points: Typically 1 to 3 per side
- Purpose: Lifts and reshapes the brow by selectively relaxing the muscles pulling it down
A finer procedure involving smaller muscle groups, in a treatment area usually confined to the length of the eyebrow above the upper orbital bone. Small dose, high precision — a unit or two placed wrong here is visible.
Glabella — Frown Lines Between the Eyebrows
- Muscle: Corrugator supercilii and procerus
- Typical dose: 10 to 25 units
- Injection points: Commonly 5 — a classic pattern of one central and two per side
- Purpose: Softens the vertical “11s” between the brows
The glabella is a compact zone that occurs only once on the face, yet dosing runs well above brow shaping. The corrugator and procerus are surprisingly massive for their footprint, and frown lines tend to be deep. This is also the area with the highest ptosis risk if product diffuses toward the levator palpebrae, so depth and placement discipline matter more here than almost anywhere else.
Eye Corners — Crow’s Feet
- Muscle: Lateral orbicularis oculi
- Typical dose: 5 to 15 units per side
- Injection points: Commonly 3 per side, arranged vertically lateral to the orbital rim
- Purpose: Softens the fan of lines radiating from the outer eye when smiling
One of the smallest facial treatment zones, involving some of the finest muscles safe to treat with the medication. Even so, crow’s feet can be extensive and deep, which pushes dosing higher than the muscle size alone would suggest.
Sides of the Nose — Bunny Lines
- Muscle: Nasalis
- Typical dose: 5 to 10 units per side
- Injection points: Often multiple points per side
- Purpose: Softens the diagonal lines that crinkle across the nose
Bunny lines can extend from the nasal flare up through the nasal bridge, so multiple injection sites are often needed and dose scales with how far the lines run.
Sides of the Mouth — Gummy Smile
- Muscle: Levator labii superioris alaeque nasi and adjacent lip elevators
- Typical dose: Usually no more than 4 units total
- Injection points: Typically 1 per side
- Purpose: Reduces excessive upper-gum show when smiling
This complex of fine, shallow muscles does not require high volumes to remediate a gummy smile. It is one of the clearest cases on the chart where more product is simply worse — overshooting here flattens the smile.
Upper Lip — Lip Lines and Lip Flip
- Muscle: Orbicularis oris
- Typical dose: No more than 8 units
- Injection points: Typically 2 to 4, superficially along the vermilion border
- Purpose: Softens vertical lip lines (often called smokers’ lines) and, at low dose, everts the upper lip for a subtle lip flip
The lines above the lip tend to be fine and shallow even when pronounced, so dosing stays moderate. Function is the constraint here, not aesthetics — the orbicularis oris does the work of speech and drinking, and too much product shows up as slurred consonants and trouble with a straw.
Chin — Marionette Lines and Chin Dimpling
- Muscle: Depressor anguli oris (marionette lines); mentalis (chin dimpling)
- Typical dose: Rarely exceeds 6 units for marionette lines, often less; 2 to 6 units for dimpled chin
- Injection points: Typically 1 per side for marionette lines; 1 to 2 for the mentalis
- Purpose: Lifts the downturned mouth corner; smooths the “orange peel” or “golf ball” chin texture
Botox is indicated or used off-label for several related chin treatments. Chin dimpling is an age-related condition exacerbated by collagen loss, which is why it often responds better to a combined approach than to neurotoxin alone.
Anterior Neck — Platysmal Bands
- Muscle: Platysma
- Typical dose: 20 to 50 units per treatment
- Injection points: Multiple points spaced along each visible band
- Purpose: Softens the vertical cords visible on the front of the neck
The muscles on the anterior neck are vulnerable to age-related banding visible in both frontal and profile views, above the neckline of most clothing. Because the platysma is more robust than most facial muscles and the bands can be deep and numerous, higher dosing is often required — up to 50 units, though as little as 20 units may achieve the desired result in milder presentations.
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The Chart Beyond Cosmetics: Therapeutic and Off-Label Zones
Several of the highest-value zones on a face chart are not about wrinkles at all. Botox is FDA-approved or used off-label for a range of conditions involving muscles of the face and head, including hyperhidrosis, bruxism, TMJ dysfunction, and chronic migraine.
Masseter — Bruxism and Jawline Contouring
- Muscle: Masseter, the large muscle on the lower sides of the face
- Typical dose: 20 to 30 units per side
- Injection points: Commonly 3 per side within the safe masseter zone
- Purpose: Relieves involuntary jaw clenching and teeth grinding; slims a square jawline as a secondary effect
Dosing here varies significantly with the extent of the issue and patient-specific factors. Relaxing the masseter interrupts the clenching cycle that drives symptoms. See our guide on Botox for jaw clenching and bruxism for the full protocol.
Temporalis and Pterygoid — TMJ Dysfunction
- Muscle: Temporalis and pterygoid muscles of the side of the head and face
- Typical dose: Varies significantly by presentation
- Injection points: Varies by presentation
- Purpose: Addresses temporomandibular joint dysfunction
Head and Neck — Chronic Migraine
- Muscle: Various head and neck muscle groups
- Typical dose: Follows a fixed, published protocol rather than an aesthetic map
- Injection points: Distributed across head, neck, and shoulders per protocol
- Purpose: Reduces headache days in chronic migraine
Injection sites vary based on the patient’s pain sites and individual presentation. Some migraine treatments require injections to the forehead, side of the head, and neck; others are limited to the shoulders and posterior head and neck — meaning some migraine injections do not involve the face at all. See our guide on Botox for migraines.
What Shifts the Numbers on the Chart
Actual dosing needs only become clear after intake and consultation. Four factors move a patient off the standard range:
- Gender. Patients who present as male generally have greater muscle mass and often require higher doses to achieve comparable results. This is the most common reason a chart’s midpoint under-delivers. See the most common Botox areas for men.
- Target muscle. More massive muscles — jaw, neck, shoulder — require higher doses. Finer muscles require less, all else equal.
- Age. Muscle mass generally declines with age, so older patients may need less product for a similar effect.
- Prior outcomes. True resistance is uncommon, but tolerance can develop. A patient who needed higher dosing before should be expected to need it again.
Worth noting on the chart’s limits: nasolabial folds and many marionette lines are frequently listed as Botox concerns, but they are largely volume-driven rather than muscle-driven. Neurotoxin addresses dynamic lines from movement. Static lines etched by sun damage and collagen loss belong to fillers and resurfacing. Our guide to facial wrinkle names and types covers which is which.
Planning a Treatment from the Chart
A chart is where planning starts, not where it ends. Before treatment day, a provider should:
- Evaluate facial structure and muscle dynamics at rest and in animation, including existing asymmetry
- Listen to the patient’s specific concerns and desired outcome
- Set realistic expectations about what neurotoxin can and cannot correct
- Build a personalized plan accounting for age, skin condition, muscle strength, prior response, lifestyle, and occupation
- Execute with precise placement and appropriate dosing
Common side effects include bruising, temporary headache, mild discomfort, and transient eyelid drooping. Serious complications are rare but can occur when injections are placed incorrectly — which is the argument for treating a chart as a reference, not an instruction manual. If you’re new to the subject, start with what Botox is and how it works.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many units of Botox per area?
Typical ranges: forehead 10 to 30 units, glabella 10 to 25, crow’s feet 5 to 15 per side, brow shaping 2 to 5 per brow, bunny lines 5 to 10 per side, gummy smile up to 4 total, upper lip up to 8, chin 2 to 6, platysmal bands 20 to 50, masseter 20 to 30 per side. These are starting ranges. The actual dose depends on the mass of the muscle in front of you.
Is there a standard Botox dosing chart?
There are widely used conventional ranges, and FDA-approved cosmetic indications carry specific labeled dosing. But there is no single authoritative chart that applies to every patient, because dosing is driven by individual muscle mass and line depth, not by a fixed number per zone. Treat published ranges as guardrails.
How do you read a Botox face chart?
Read each zone as a muscle, not a wrinkle. The zone tells you which muscle is producing the line; the unit range tells you roughly what that muscle’s mass demands; the point count tells you how the dose is distributed across it. What the chart cannot tell you is injection depth or the anatomy beneath — those come from training.
Do men and women use different unit amounts?
Frequently, yes. Patients who present as male generally carry more muscle mass, particularly in the glabella, forehead, and masseter, and often require higher doses for equivalent results. Aesthetic goals also differ — male brow shaping usually aims to preserve a flatter brow rather than create an arch.
What are the standard Botox injection points?
The most established patterns are the glabellar complex (commonly five points across the corrugators and procerus), crow’s feet (commonly three points per side lateral to the orbital rim), and the forehead (commonly four to eight points across the frontalis). These are conventional patterns, adjusted for each patient’s muscle pattern and asymmetry.
Learn to Map and Inject the Face Properly
Every number on this chart is a starting point that a trained injector adjusts within seconds of assessing a real face. Reading muscle mass, choosing depth, controlling diffusion, and recognizing when the standard pattern is wrong for the patient in front of you — that is the actual skill, and no reference chart transmits it.
Empire Medical Training has trained healthcare professionals in aesthetic medicine since 1998. Our Botox Training & Certification course is CME-accredited and hands-on, with live-patient injection under expert supervision — because you learn facial mapping with a syringe in your hand, not a diagram on your screen.
