Botox is the Fountain of Youth! Botox makes you look 20 years younger! Botox will solve all your problems! Who knew!
Well, the answer is, no one knewโฆbecause none of it is true.
Every new and exciting medical advance has its share of misconceptions. The hype grows just as the popularity, new discoveries and new uses grow and gain greater success with the public. And Botox IS an anti-aging cosmetic phenomenom.
Botox injections are painful. Botox is too expensive. Really?
Not real at all. Just as the benefits of Botox wrinkle-removing injections are frequently exaggerated, so are the fabrications. So letโs examine the facts.
Botox is the brand name for a drug that is derived from Clostridium botulinum, a bacteria that is usually associated with food poisoning. In large doses it causes paralysis. But for its cosmetic purposes, Botox is so diluted and administered in such small doses that it is completely harmless.
As for interfering with natural facial expressions, letโs add a few expressive exclamation points to our response – it doesnโt!! The Botox treatment consists of a series of tiny injections placed directly into the muscle that is contracting (frowning, furrowing, glowering) and creating the wrinkle. It does not affect other muscles or nerves.
Botox blocks the nerve signal to that muscle and relaxes it to soften it. With each subsequent treatment, the wrinkle returns but is much less severe since the muscle is being trained to relax.
Painful? Hardly at all. Of course, it always depends upon the area being treated. But Botox is most often used on frown lines, between the eyebrows or across the forehead where the sensitivity is considerably less than the lips or neck area. At any rate, the discomfort is minimal.
And too expensive? Actually, Botox is probably the least expensive of all the anti-aging procedures available. With the cost as low as $9.00 per unit and, perhaps, 30 units for the average frown line treatment, why wait?
