One of the most popular minimally invasive treatments for wrinkles, Botox, is coming under scrutiny as a new study indicates that it may actually lead to more lines. Botox has been well known for not only its uses in curtailing the formation of wrinkles, but also as a treatment for those with excessive sweating and patients suffering with cervical dystonia, a painful condition which involves spasms of the neck muscles.
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According to FoxNews.com, assistant professor of dermatology at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, Dr. David Becker, wrote that the muscle groups that have not been injected with Botox will still find a way to make expressions, leading to more lines. He says, "Paralysis of a set of muscles might lead to recruitment of other muscle groups in an attempt to reproduce the conditioned activity being blocked - resulting in more prominent muscle activity in adjacent regions."
Dr. Johan Brahme of the La Jolla Cosmetic Surgery Centre in San Diego, CA recently denounced this claim. He wrote on the website, www.ljcsc.com that, "there is no evidence of this in the scientific literature or in anyone's clinical experience." He goes on to point out that what is critical is finding an experienced physician. "What is important however is that your injector, whether dermatologist or plastic surgeon, has a thorough familiarity with your face, and your muscles. This precise anatomic knowledge is really best appreciated by those who have studied facial anatomy in detail and know the appropriate and safe injection spots."
New York dermatologist Dr. Neil Sadick told FoxNews.com, "Theoretically, you could have some local affect of accentuating a wrinkle associated with adjacent muscle that has not been treated," he said. "But it's really the overall global improvement that you see with Botox treatments that leads to lesser lines on the entire face - and that's really what the patient wants to accomplish."
