The careful, concentrated injection of the botulinum toxin A into wrinkle-causing muscles can halt the further formation of those wrinkles and can reverse their course.
What is BOTOX?
You’ve probably heard a lot about BOTOX since 2002, when the Food and Drug Administration approved it as a method for reducing the appearance of facial wrinkles.
Indeed, it’s the cause of much controversy – both medical and ideological. It’s the cause of ideological controversy because BOTOX is meant to decrease the signs of aging. It can be a subject of medical controversy because of how it works: BOTOX uses the neurotoxic protein botulinum toxin A to temporarily paralyze facial muscles that cause wrinkling.
That’s right: The basis for BOTOX is a neurotoxin – a derivation of the same neurotoxin, in fact, that’s used to treat muscle spasms.
In addition to BOTOX, the botulinum toxin is used commercially, and as a cosmetic corrective, under these brands: BTXA, Dysport, Myobloc, Neurobloc, and Xeomin.
Since 2007, BOTOX has been the most commonly used anti-wrinkle injection treatment in the country. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, 4.6 million BOTOX treatments given in 2007 alone.
So what does BOTOX do, and how does it work?
BOTOX smoothes out wrinkles by paralyzing the muscles that cause wrinkles. Muscles by the eyes and at the center of the brow tend to crease repetitively, so that over time they cause furrows to form at the exact places where they crease the skin.
The dermatologist will rub on a prescription-strength cream that numbs the skin. Then the BOTOX is given in small, concentrated doses, through a small needle. It’s injected directly into the exact spot (as determined by the dermatologist) that is found to be the starting point of the targeted wrinkles.
In April 2009, the Food and Drug Administration is reported to have increased the level of severity required on the warning label for BOTOX drugs. As of this writing, BOTOX continues to carry the FDA’s most stringent safety warning.
Who would want BOTOX treatment?
Rather than inject substances like hyaluronic acid under the skin to stretch out wrinkles, people choose BOTOX because it does not leave a substance sitting under the skin. Instead, it paralyzes wrinkle-causing muscles for four to six months at a time.
