Can Botox Really Affect Your Brain
Botox can get into your brain. Literally. Researchers from Pisa, Italy have been injecting rodents with Botulinum Toxin Type A and watching what occurs. The afore mentioned results were a big shock.
Botox stops the release of neurotransmitters from precise nerves. When it is released 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 to shut 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 jeans. While you are standing, 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 crunch up, creasing the skin and forming wrinkles.
So what about the botox?
Results from this Italian study refute the idea that botox stays locally in the skin. They revealed that the botox injected into the rodenst followed the nerves back to the rodents brain, shutting offnerves there.
What does this mean?
This is a important question. The study was focused in rats, not humans. We do not know if it would do the same thing in humans even if some Botulinum Toxin Type A did get into the brain, there's no evidence at all that it has any meaningful effect, bad or good. For instance, we 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 superb and tough drug. In treating wrinkles and fine lines, there are not many if any treatments short of invasive 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 thousands of people, but there are hazards. It is also expensive and its effects are transient, so botox is not for everyone.
If you are not ok with assuming hazards of botox, or your budget doesn't allow for it, then consider this effective alternative : employ a night cream that contains Retin-A or retinol over the counter. No facial cream is better at reducing fine lines than tretinoin.
Use an ice pack to help forestall swelling and bruising at the injection sites. Putting an Ice Pack on your face before and after the procedure can be helpful in this regard. Your doctor should have cold packs available for you to use.
Plan to return on regularly. Most Botox treatments last at least a quarter of a year and some last as long as a year. There'll be a point , at which the toxin wears off and you will have to have the procedure repeated in order to maintain results.
If you recently had botox and look in the mirror one morning and think that you're 10 years younger, don't worry, it's not brain damage, it's just your face on botox.