The Truth About Botox

We have all seen them on TV by now. The current batch of aging female celebrities mostly who all have that familiar swollen face botox look. Probably the most noticable among them would be people like Meg Ryan and Nicole Kidman but there are in fact a universe of stars who use the drug in an attempt to lessen the wrinkles and laugh lines that appear on ones face as they age and can often be fatal to an actresses movie career. What they may not know is that the drug that they are turning to in order to turn back the hands of time is in fact one of the more seriously dangerous poisons out there.
Botox, (A.K.A. Botulinum toxin) is a neurotoxic protein and a powerful bacteria that can cause sickness and death. It also has the brand names Dysport and Myobloc. It does have the ability to improve the appearance of wrinkles around the eyes and face and because of this has become popular as a cosmetic treatment. The way it reduces wrinkles is by paralizing the muscles underneath the skin at the injection site. When it does this it reduces and diminishes the appearance of laugh lines and frown lines on the face causing a more youthful appearance. The effect is temporary however usually lasting about 4 months or so. After that time the treatment has to be repeated to maintain the desired effect.
There are side effects. Among them are the fact that for some reason the botox treatments may in some cases cause the patient to have droopy eyelids. This usually lasts a few weeks. It also causes Flu like feelings which may last a few weeks as well. Headaches may occur and also upset stomachs. The biggest risk is that of botulism (poisoning). If the doctor injecting the botox is not careful enough and injects too much of the stuff it will lead to a life or death illness known as botox poisoning which when aquired makes it hard for the patient to move their arms or legs (paralasis). Usually however the cause of death in these instances is due to the fact that the patients lungs become effected and they lose their ability to breathe and this causes death. This has occured in some patients in a few reported instances.
A form of botulinum toxin has also been used as a terror weapon in an attempt to kill a large number of people in a rather famous incident of bio-terror in Japan that took place in March of 1995. A religious group that had declared war on the government of Japan went down into the subway of Tokyo and released a poisonous gas that containd a neurotoxin that is related to botulinum toxin. The attack killed 12 people and injured 6000. It could have been much worse. The reason it was not was because the group that lauched the attack failed to properly weaponize (prepare) the neurotoxins and as a result the gas when released into that subway was not nearly as effective as it would have been had it been prepared correctly. Instead of having thousands dead you had thousands who were badly effected but lived. The only people that died were the 12 people who were in the immediate area where the gas was initially released. The U.S. has even studied the possibility of using Botulinum toxin as a chemical weapon for use in war but they abandoned the idea in favor of easier, cheaper, and more proven poisons.