Day 58

So while I'm in the zone...

What is Botox?


Botox is an injection which contains a muscle relaxant obtained from the bacterium Clostridium botulinum.  It works by temporarily relaxing overactive or spastic (contracting) muscles. Amongst other more medically based treatments, Botox is also used to improve the look of vertical frown lines that appear between the eyebrows, lines around the eyes and on the forehead.  Improvement in the severity of the lines generally occurs within one week after the injections and has been shown to last for up to 4 months. This will vary between individual people and may depend on the severity of the frown lines.

Botox contains albumin, an extract of human blood. Based on effective donor screening and product manufacturing processes, it carries an extremely remote risk for transmission of viral diseases. A theoretical risk for transmission of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) also is considered extremely remote. No cases of transmission of viral diseases or CJD have ever been identified for albumin.

Possible side effects of Botox include pain, tenderness and/or bruising at the site of injection, sometimes patients can generally feeling unwell lasting up to six weeks after the injection.  Common effects reported in clinical trials include drooping of the eyelids, headache, face pain, redness, swelling at the injection site, bruising, skin tightness, muscle weakness, and numbness or a feeling of pins and needles or nausea.

Botox was approved to reduce frown lines and furrows between the brows by the FDA in the United States in 2002 .  Although the drug has been around for years mainstream awareness of the drug only soared after the thumbs-up for cosmetic use.

There is stacks of information good and bad about Botox, and for me I'm not going to go into the debate.  It's a personal choice thing.  I'm not saying never and I'm not saying maybe.  But if you see me looking smooth skinned, tight faced and looking the age I feel, then you're onto me!