Botox: An Overview about Botox Injections
For the last few years if you have wanted to eliminate the signs of aging like wrinkles, sagging skin and other lines then it is more than likely you would consider using botox; despite how often this treatment is used, few people understand the method it uses. Before this can be done we need to go back a little in time to when this was originally discovered. The first research into Botulinum toxin was carried out over five decades ago; it was used to treat patients with neurological problems.
In 1989 it was finally approved by the FDA to treat eye muscle disorders; these included people with eyes that were not aligned correctly and those that suffered from uncontrollable blinking called blepharospasm. By the new millennium it had been approved for a number of other conditions including cervical dystonia; this eases the pain from serious contractions in the shoulders and neck, but it was also given the ok to be used on another more unusual eye condition. 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; after further tests in 2002 the FDA allowed it to be used for the first cosmetic enhancement and the drug finally had a new field of use.
You see botox is a neuro toxin, meaning it paralyses the muscles it is injected into and makes them relax; given sufficient treatments, frown lines that the person has lived with for many years will gradually fade. With continued use, the frown lines in most instances will completely vanish but the same effect can be found in lines at the sides of the eyes, mouth and other forehead lines. To allay any fears about injection toxin into our bodies these injections only contain a diluted and purified version of the poison; if it were not for the purification process this treatment could make us very sick.
Unfortunately, lines and creases form whenever we laugh (especially as we get older) or make any other facial gesture; they are caused by muscles contracting. After years of making these expressions the wear and tear on your face begins to be noticeable and the lines start to become permanent; many ’skin age reduction cream’ manufacturers have tried to produce creams that reduce facial line but this is the only treatment that works, currently. Because botox paralyzes the facial muscles, normal movement, expressions and gestures are almost impossible to make; people who have regular treatment often look as though they are dummies because they cannot smile properly or make other facial gestures that we tend to rely on.
Depending on the amount of treatments, a person can look fairly normal but their facial gestures will be restricted so that the creases and lines do not show. Injections of this very popular cosmetic treatment are still costly; often considered something only celebrities can afford because a single injection can cost anywhere from a few hundred to over a thousand dollars. It may be a few years yet before we see the result of long term use of botox but that doesn’t seem to concern those people who are using it at this moment.
