I saw a friend recently who I hadn’t seen for at least five years. I know she has been having Botox regularly for the last fifteen years, but I hardly recognised her. Her face was so smooth and line-free, that for her age, about 48, she looked, well, weird.
Botox has gained itself rather a mixed reputation of late. The frozen faces of celebrities such as Joan Rivers and Nicole Kidman have done little to help, but neither have they affected sales. Approximately one million Britons have Botox injected each year and the figures are rising, despite the current economic climate.
What is Botox and is it safe?
If we haven’t succumbed to the needle ourselves, we all have friends, or friends of friends who are Botox fans, and of course, we’ve been reading about it in magazines and newspapers for years - the successes, the failures, the horror stories, and the ridiculous. But what exactly is Botox?
Botulinum toxin, with trade names such as Botox and Dysport (both very similar), but generally referred to as Botox, is a toxin that weakens and inactivates muscles. It blocks neuromuscular transmission in the area in which it is to be injected, in other words, it prevents messages from being sent from a neuron to a muscle or a sweat gland, and can therefore stop the muscle or gland from performing its task. In layman terms, it relaxes the muscles.
Botox was first used in 1973 as a treatment for patients with crossed eyes in San Francisco. By weakening the overactive eye muscles, it provided an alternative to surgery, and then went on to be used to treat muscle spasms around the eyes as well as squinting.
In the late 1980s, London-based consultant dermatologist, Dr Nick Lowe, The Cranley Clinic, the man behind the rise of Botox, did some of the first rigorous studies on the possibility of using it for frown lines while he was working at UCLA School of Medicine in Los Angeles, where he is still Clinical Professor of Dermatology. This laid the ground for Botox’s approval by the US drug regulators, the FDA, in 1989, and it went from strength to strength.
As well as cosmetic uses, another important use of Botox is to treat severe, out of control sweating, especially under the arms and the palms of the hands. One of the great puzzles of Botox, according to Dr Lowe, is that when it’s used to treat sweating, it can last for up to eighteen months although nobody seems to know why. More recently it has been used to prevent teeth grinding at night, and in Japan, women have been injecting it into their calves to make them smaller. But Botox is also used in the treatment of serious conditions such as multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, spinal cord injuries, Parkinson’s disease, and facial spasms.
For lines and wrinkles, Botox is injected directly into the muscles that cause the wrinkles, using a very fine needle. Several injections are usually needed but the whole treatment only takes a few minutes. It takes effect 24-72 hours after the injections, and the complete effect may take up to two weeks. Each treatment lasts for approximately three to five months.
Another pioneer of Botox, cosmetic doctor Dr Jean Louis Sebagh, or the King of Botox, as he is known in the industry, explains that although Botox is Botox, the concentration used varies from doctor to doctor. ‘Some dilute it to such an extent that it wears off quickly, while others make it too strong which can cause droopy eyelids’, he warns.
Although botulinum toxin is exactly what it says, a toxin - or a muscle-paralysing poison, as some like to call it - because it is used in such small quantities it carries very little risk and few side-effects. Bruising, redness, swelling, and headaches can occur after treatment but should only last a few days at the most. More serious side-effects can include temporary double vision, flu-like symptoms, dizziness, and allergic reactions, but these are all extremely rare.
Dr Sebagh stresses the importance of finding the right doctor, but that even if you go to the best, negative effects, although very rare, can sometimes happen. ‘As with any procedure, there can be unforeseen side-effects, especially if the treatment is being carried out by someone who is not a qualified cosmetic doctor, and it is for this reason that is it imperative that you only ever see an experienced doctor for Botox’, he explains. (Look out for Find your Botox doctor).
Next week...Who Needs Botox?
