A procedure that is commonly called Botox is in fact a set of poison (literally) injections. The poison’s scientific name is Botulinum Toxin. This kind of toxin is used to paralyze facial mimic muscles that are responsible for  facial expression and mimic wrinkles – notorious crow’s feet, horizontal forehead creases, frown lines. Botox helps to make this mimicry less expressive, which further results in partial straightening (temporary) of those wrinkles.

This cosmetic effect of Botox was discovered randomly. Originally Botox was used to treat eye tic and one of the doctors noted that toxin had a weird side effect of wrinkle straightening.

If you take a cotton rag and crumple it you’ll surely see some creases. Same thing happens with our face when we go through different expressions. In younger age when skin has a great degree of elasticity those creases go away almost immediately but as skin starts to lose its elasticity, mimicry traces become more and more visible.

Botox can temporarily relax our muscles so that new wrinkles are not formed and old ones straighten. Its impact is short term and in about 6 months when the initial effect wears out, muscles regenerate and start to produce new wrinkles again.

Picture: you can see the results of Botox implementation to crow’s feet area.

News that one can get rid of wrinkles without surgery just with a help of small injections was pretty inspiring. The word “Botox” entered staple contemporary lingo and the procedure became a regular ritual for show biz folks, actors and models.

There even appeared so-called “Botox parties”: Botox is produced in ampoules of a specific size which is usually excessive for one client. So it became more economically viable to do Botox together with friends or relatives. There is nothing wrong about Botox or Botox parties by the way. Multiple research shows that Botox is pretty safe to use though it needs to be administered by a professional. Botox does have side effects. If you put too much of it a patient can end up with swollen eyelids, sagging brows that move sporadically in different directions and occasional drooling for the period of 3 months. There are special drops made to relieve those symptoms but they are not very effective. So the best strategy in the end is just to wait when the effect wears out.

You should not do Botox if:

you take muscle relaxants

you suffer from muscle irregularities (like atrophy)

you are pregnant

you are breastfeeding

you were recently drinking alcohol

Posted under: Antiaging