The uses of botox seem to be increasing all the time but despite all the hype over its use, there is still a great deal of ignorance about how it achieves the results it does. In order to appreciate just what botox is we need a brief history lesson into its discovery, quite a while ago now.

The original intent for the research into Botulinum toxin was to try and treat disorders of the mind in the 1960’s. A few decades later after much research, the FDA granted permission for it to be used medically and the first patients to make use of the drug were those with eye conditions that included people with eyes that were not aligned correctly and those that suffered from uncontrollable blinking called blepharospasm.

In the year 2000 it was approved to treat cervical dystonia which is a disorder that causes severe neck and shoulder contractions and also a very unusual side effect of eye disorder treatments. In all the research that was going on with botox, doctors had found that it was effective at reducing frown lines around the eyebrow area and following this the FDA finally recognized the implications and agreed its commercial use in 2002.

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When Botox is injected into the muscles of the forehead, it blocks nerve impulses which results in the weakening of the muscles that cause frowning and eventually over a period of several months, given enough of these injections, the frown lines start to soften. The lines will to the casual observer, disappear but the same process can now be used on laughter lines around the eyes and forehead lines as well.

Botulinum toxin can be deadly and at the very least make us unwell but when it is used in cosmetic procedures, the form used is one that has been cleaned up and diluted, posing no threat. The problem is that when we laugh, cry or make any facial gesture, lines and wrinkles appear caused by the muscles that have helped create the expression and botox can eliminate these lines.

Botox is able to take back for a temporary period all those years of lines, creases and wrinkles that have formed from the use of our facial muscles; a problem we do not have when we are young. Because botox paralyzes the facial muscles, people who have regular treatment often look as though they are dummies as they cannot smile properly or make other facial gestures fully that we tend to rely on when we communicate.

A person who has undergone this treatment still has enough movement to provide some expressions but they are limited and because most of the wrinkles and creases have all but disappeared, it appears that the person is younger than their true years. Botox treatments are still costly though with some single injections costing in the low to high hundreds of dollars.

Whether there are any long term effects from continued use of botox is still unknown as the treatment is still to new but for those people who do use it, it doesn’t seem to matter.

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