Everyone knows botulism, a disease that occurs due to food poisoning and can lead to death due to paralysis and disruption of the heart rhythm. The main instigator is the poisonous substance Botulinum toxin. This has been used in medicine in small doses for some time to cure a number of ailments. Recently, the cosmetic industry has also discovered the substance under the name Botox.

What is Botulinum?

Botulinum toxin type A is a naturally purified protein produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum . The other ingredients are albumin and saline solution . It is a substance that has a paralyzing effect on the muscles, because it blocks the impulses from the nerves to the muscles. An alternative to the well-known Botox is the English dysport.

History

In the 1950s, researchers already discovered that the injection of small amounts of Botulinum toxin significantly reduced muscle activity, causing the muscle to become unable to contract for 3 to 6 months.It was the American ophthalmologist Alan Scott who first used the substance in very small quantities in 1980 to treat strabismus and blepharospasm (see below). Before approving the drug, he entered into a business partnership with the pharmaceutical company Allergan Incorporated , which specializes in eye medications and ophthalmic lenses. After this the end of the story was over and the applications of the substance increased.

Applications

Botulinum toxin is used both medically and cosmetically. In medicine, it is especially useful in treating neurological muscle diseases and the consequences of a cerebral hemorrhage, all kinds of spasms such as spasticity after a stroke, congenital spasticity such as hemifacial spasm (twitching of part of the face), dystonia in which an arm or a leg is in an unnatural position, torticollis or tilt of the head, blepharospasm (squinting and blinking of the eyes), achalasia (spasm of the esophagus), strabismus or crooked vision, also in the case of spinal cord damage as a result of Multiple Sclerosis or trauma and urinary incontinence. Excessive sweating can also be treated with this, with the injections acting on the sweat glands of the armpits, palms or soles of the feet.Experiments are currently also being conducted on pain syndromes in the neck or back and on migraines and other chronic headaches.

Ripple thief

Botox is of course best known for removing facial wrinkles. We are mainly thinking of the horizontal wrinkles on the forehead, the vertical wrinkles between the eyebrows, the crow’s feet along the eyes and the small wrinkles on the side of the nose. By eliminating the underlying facial muscles, the face takes on a relaxing appearance and the skin becomes beautifully smooth again.In order not to fundamentally change the facial expressions, Botox injections are not done in the cheeks or around the mouth. Wrinkles caused by the sun are also not treated and can be camouflaged using other techniques such as filling, peeling or mesolift .Botox is used by both men (25%) and women (75%) in the age category between 35 and 70 years, but increasingly younger people have also discovered the substance and are now having it injected preventively.

Precautionary measures

After the injections, it is recommended to let the treated facial parts rest for two hours and certainly not to massage them. One should also not lie down during this time in order to exclude as much as possible the limited risks that do exist.

Safe and virtually painless

Botox looks like a white powder in a vial. Before being injected, it is dissolved in a sterile saline solution. The injection is done with a very fine needle so that the treatment is virtually painless. Several injections are often required one after the other.There are almost never any side effects other than a painful bruise and in very exceptional cases a closing eye (ptosis) can occur, which resolves itself after a while. Exceptionally, there are also mild flu symptoms that also disappear quickly.

Inadvisable

Botox treatment is not recommended for certain categories of people:

• pregnant women
• persons allergic to botulinum toxin
• persons with an infection at the sites to be injected
• persons with a rare muscle disease or a rare nerve disorder