Botox’s arch-nemesis, Reloxin® , is expected to meet Botox® wrinkle-to-wrinkle in the U.S. cosmetics ring at any moment; whether U.S. injectors will readily embrace this new and slightly unfamiliar European cousin remains to be seen, but the incentive to, in the way of a significant potential cost savings, is certainly provocative.

In this corner: An aesthetics golden-boy, with an excellent record of patient safety and reliable results; Botox® has earned its bragging rights, currently dominating the U.S. aesthetics market — the uncontested champion hands-down in numbers of procedures performed against all other cosmetic treatments, surgical and non-surgical.

In the far corner: Already popular outside of the U.S. under the name Dysport® , fans claim that Reloxin® lasts longer, is stronger, and can produce more natural-looking results than Botox(R). But what makes Reloxin® a triple-threat to Botox® is that, once mixed to the proper injection strength, Reloxin® should cost U.S. cosmetic physicians less than what they’re currently paying for Botox(® . Will the U.S. champion wrinkle-reducer be able to hold its ground against this foreign brute?

Doctors who have worked extensively with both Botox® and Reloxin® (Dysport® ) have reported that while the two are relatively comparable at their relative dilutions, injectors tend to prefer one over the other for various facial areas, due to differences in the onset of, and spread of effect. Reloxin® is decidedly faster-acting and has a greater ’spread’; while Botox® tends to remain more localized, allowing for greater precision and predictability in the treatment area, but may require more injections during a treatment.

via Botox(R) vs. Reloxin(R) — the Wrinkle Titans Poised for Battle.