Botox ®
According to legend, Ponce de Leon wandered around present-day Florida and the Deep South in search of the legendary “Fountain of Youth” back in the 16th Century – but chances are he was carrying it with his provisions all along.
Botox, or botulism toxin, is really the simplest, least expensive and safest rejuvenation treatment available today; millions of people in the United States have availed themselves of these wrinkle injections since it was finally approved for cosmetic use by the FDA back in April of 2002.
Botulism?!?
Yes, that’s correct…the same botulism that causes food poisoning. It is the nature of this toxin that makes botox so effective for the treatment of wrinkles, however.
There is also precedence for using a potentially harmful microbe as a beneficial treatment. In fact, many vaccines for deadly diseases are based on the very bacteria and viruses that cause the disease in the first place; injecting someone with a very small amount of pathogen stimulates the immune system so as to “train” antibodies to fight the same pathogen – making that person virtually immune to the disease.
Of course, this is not exactly how botox works.
The Botox Story
The bacteria that causes botulism was first identified in 1897. This bacteria thrives in meat that has been improperly handled (in fact, it was tainted meat from Armor Meat Company that caused most U.S. casualties during the Spanish-American War). Thirty years later, two doctors managed to produce a purified version of the toxin.
Why? Because of what the toxin does. When a person contracts botulism, the poison attacks the nervous system, effectively paralyzing the muscles of the respiratory system. Doctors realized the potential for treating neuromuscular conditions that caused uncontrolled spasms. It wasn’t until 1949 however that doctors actually came up with a practical way to administer the toxin for such patients.
Fast forward forty years. In 1989, a Sacramento cosmetic surgeon published a paper in a medical journal describing how botox could be use to erase wrinkles by paralyzing the facial muscles that cause them. A few years later, a pair of ophthalmologists in Canada published their own independent findings on the use of botox for erasing “frown lines.”
By the spring of 2002, the FDA was convinced of the safety of botulism for cosmetic treatments and approved the drug for this purpose.
Your Botox Treatment
Getting a botox treatment is quick and easy – and only takes about twenty minutes. Your doctor can administer it right there in the office, and recovery time is minimal. Don’t be disappointed if you don’t see a difference right away – the effects usually take about 7 to 10 days to show up in the mirror, and will last up to four months.
Be aware that some people do experience short-term side effects; you may have headaches, or all the symptoms of the flu such as nausea. This usually passes in a day or two, however. Also, do not have a botox treatment if you are a woman who is pregnant or nursing.
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