Can Botox Really Affect Your Brain

Botox can get into your brain.  Literally.  Scientists from Pisa, Italy have been injecting rats with Botulinum Toxin Type A and watching what happens. This research was rather shocking. 

 Botox stops the release of neurotransmitters from specific nerve endings.  When it is injected into the skin, it is taken up by the nerves, and over time stops the release of neurotransmitters, shutting down those nerves. 

 In dermatology, we use botox treatments to close off the nerves that control muscles in your face, like your forehead and brow.  With those nerves blocked, you cannot contract the muscles, so they stay flat. Very much like your having wrinkles shorts.  While you are upright, the pants hang loosely and are smooth.  When you sit, your thighs and hips crinkle the material, forming creases or wrinkles.  In the same way, when your facial muscles contract, they crunch up, creasing the skin and forming wrinkles. 

So what about the head? 

Results from this Italian study refute the idea that botox stays locally in the epidermis.  They revealed that the botox injected into the rodenst followed the nerves back to the rodents brain, shutting offnerves there. 

 What does this mean? 

 This is a important question.  The study was focused in rats, not people.  We do not know if it would do the same thing in people even if some Botulinum Toxin Type A did get into the brain, there is no evidence at all that it has any meaningful effect, bad or good.  For instance, we all know that smoking kills brain cells and stops other cells from developing.  Does that suggest that smokers or ex-smokers have any pointed brain effects from their habit? 

 Botox is a fabulous and powerful drug.  In treating wrinkles and fine lines, there are just a few if any treatments short of aggressive surgery that may compare to the results that botox offers.  It is a drug and has side effects and has the potential to be misused and even abused.  Botox has been used safely in millions of men and women, but there are risks.  It is also dear and its effects are transient, so botox is not for everyone. 

 If you are not happy with assuming risks of botox, or your financial position doesn't allow for it, then consider this viable alternative : use a night cream that contains tretinoin or ROC.  No facial cream is more effective at reducing fine lines than tretinoin. 

 Use an cold pack to help prevent swelling and bruising at the injection sites.  Topping your face before and after the process can be useful in this regard.  Your Physician should have icepacks available for you to use. 

 Plan to go back on a regular basis.  Most Botox injections last at least 3 months and some last as long as a year.  There will be a point however , at which the toxin wears off and you'll have to have the process repeated in order to maintain results.

 If you recently had botox and look in the mirror one morning and think that you are a decade younger, don't worry, it's not brain damage, it's just your face on botox.