Can Botulism Toxin Seriously Damage Your Brain
Friday, October 23rd, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed
Botulinum Toxin Type A can get into your brain. Literally. Researchers from Pisa, Italy have been injecting rodents with Botulinum Toxin Type A and watching what occurs. The following results were a little surprising.
Botox stops the release of neurotransmitters from precise 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 off those nerves.
In dermatology, we use botox injections to close off the nerves that control muscles in your face, like your forehead and brow. With those nerves blocked, you can’t contract the muscles, so they stay flat. It is analogous to having wrinkles in your pants. 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 bunch up, creasing the skin and forming wrinkles.
So what about the brain?
Results from this Italian study refute the belief that botox stays locally in the epidermis. They found that the botox injected into the rodenst followed the nerves back to the rat’s brain, shutting offnerves there.
What does this mean?
This is a critical question. The study was focused in rats, not actual users. We don’t know if it might do the same thing in humans even if some botox did get into the brain, there is no evidence at all that it has any meaningful effect, bad. 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 meaningful brain effects from their habit?
Botox is a fabulous and robust 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 capability to be misused and even abused. Botox has been used safely in millions of men and women, but there are risks . It’s also expensive and its effects are transient, so botox is not for everyone.
If you are not ok with presuming risks of botox, or your position doesn’t make allowance for it, then think about this effective alternative : employ a night cream that contains tretinoin or ROC. No facial cream is more effective at reducing fine lines than tretinoin.
Use an ice 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 doctor should have icepacks available for you to use.
Plan to return on regularly. Most Botox injections last at least a quarter of a year and some last as long as a year. There’ll be a point however , at which the poison wears off and you will have to have the procedure repeated 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.
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