Botox, the Aesthetic Industry Rock Star
- Posted on: Aug 15 2019
In a little over 17 years, Botox has become one of the world’s most famous brand names. How is this possible considering that Botox is made basically from the bacteria that cause botulism?
Because Botox is the master of wrinkles on the upper third of the face, that’s how. Every year since its approval by the FDA in 2002 for treatment of crow’s feet, the 11s, and forehead lines, Botox has been the most popular cosmetic procedure, surgical or non-surgical, worldwide.
Dr. Coleman uses Botox to erase wrinkles for his San Antonio patients.
What is Botox?
Botox consists basically of the botulinum toxin type A, the same bacteria that cause botulism. That sounds scary, but it’s not. That’s because way back in the late 1940s, scientists researching the botulinum toxin found that when the toxin was injected in minute amounts into a muscle it temporarily caused that muscle to stop contracting. Botox was a direct result of that early research.
Botox originally was used to treat involuntary eyelid spasms. In fact, Botox’s first FDA approval was for this use in 1992. But Botox became a legend when it was approved for aesthetic use in 2002.
How does Botox work?
Botox works by blocking communication between the muscle it is injected into and the brain. Think of an old western and the telegraph office. The desperados would cut the telegraph line to keep messages from getting out of the town they were about to ransack.
Botox works the same way. When injected into a muscle, it blocks the nerve messages sent from the muscle to the brain. The brain never receives the message to contract the muscle, so it stays at rest.
This matters on the upper third of the face, the expressive area. When we make certain expressions, such as frowns or showing surprise, we engage all of the muscles around our eyes, our brows, and on the forehead. Over time, after making hundreds of thousands of these expressions, wrinkles begin to form on the surface skin. These are called dynamic wrinkles. When Botox is injected into the muscle that forms one of these wrinkles, it keeps the muscle relaxed so the wrinkle never forms on the surface skin above. It does this usually for around four months before the body absorbs the now-inert Botox and the muscle starts to contract again, reforming the wrinkle above. Another Botox session with Dr. Coleman will maintain your results.
As mentioned above, Botox only works on dynamic wrinkles. These occur on the upper third of the face: crow’s feet on the outside of the eyes, the 11s between the brows, and forehead lines.
Want to erase those irritating crow’s feet? Call Dr. Coleman at (210) 251-4362 to schedule your Botox session.
Posted in: Botox
