MIAMI (CBS4) – How young is too young to get Botox?

Some South Florida 20-somethings say it’s doesn’t hurt to get a leg up on aging.

“Very few people grow old gracefully nowadays,” said April Donelson, 24, as she prepared for her first ever Botox treatment. “Joan Rivers, she’s 80 something and she looks like she’s in her 60′s. I don’t want to look fake, but I don’t want to look old and wrinkly.”

April told CBS4’s Cynthia Demos she spent her high school and college years in a tanning booth, that’s why her forehead has wrinkles. So she decided she wanted to intervene before the wrinkles got too deep.

“If you’re over 18 you can make your own decisions,” said Donelson.

In the past year, teens have gotten 12,000 Botox procedures, up 800 percent in the past three years.

For 20-somethings, the use in the last year is up 11 percent.

“I actually turn away quite a few people,” said Aventura’s Dr. Adam Gropper who says he won’t do Botox on people who don’t need it but he admits his clientele has gotten younger and younger. “Everybody’s different, everybody has their own desires about how they want to look.”

This “do it now so I don’t have to deal with it later” mentality isn’t always a good thing. There are cases of Botox being overused and at times, permanently killing the muscles in areas not intended to be motionless.

Still, April says she’ll take the very slight risk and is looking forward to seeing her results.

“Personally I think my age is a good age to start getting it,” she said.

Botox is not covered by insurance and will run you about $200 per area so the cost depends on how much you want to do.