Botulinum toxin, better known as botox (the brand name for the first drug of this type to be marketed), is actually the toxin that botulism produces. However, its ability to produce muscle paralysis is used for medical purposes in the treatment of certain neurological diseases and in aesthetic medicine for expression wrinkles, which is what it is best known for. Its numerous medical applications include: botox
- Strabismus.
- Dystonias.
- Blepharospasm
- Vertebral pain.
- Migraine.
- Hyperhidrosis.
- Urinary incontinence in paraplegics.
When it comes to the elimination of facial wrinkles, botox offers clear advantages:
- Avoid surgery.
- It can be applied at any time of the year.
- It is a practically painless technique.
- Its effects are immediate and last between five and six months.
- It has hardly any contraindications.
- It rarely produces adverse effects, such as allergic reactions, facial stiffness, or nausea.
The technique consists of infiltration by means of an extra-fine needle of botulinum toxin into the muscle of the area to be treated, causing it to relax and inhibiting its movement. Hence, its fundamental application in aesthetics is the treatment of expression lines, that is, those that appear between the eyebrows, the forehead, the corners of the lips or the contour of the eyes.
It is very important that this treatment is applied by a specialist who knows facial anatomy, since a botox prick in the wrong place can generate an unwanted expression.
Botulinum toxin or botox has, however, other applications in medicine. Currently, for example, it is being used to:
- The treatment of hyperhidrosis, that is, in people with excessive sweating in the armpits, hands and feet. With it, it is possible to reduce the activity of the sweat glands.
- Control of blepharospasm, that is, the intermittent and involuntary contraction of the eye muscles.
- Other dystonias and spasms.
- It is finally offering good results in paraplegic people with urinary incontinence problems.