Anti aging botox treatments

Anti Aging Botox Treatments – Are They Really Safe?

Botox has taken the beauty industry by storm. Botox works by paralysing the facial muscles used to frown, squint or smile, allowing the wrinkles caused by these natural facial mannerisms to relax and become less noticeable. So what actually is botox?

Botox is short for Botulinum Toxin, a natural poison found in decomposing food. Botox is 40,000,000 (yes that’s million) times as powerful as cyanide. Not something you’d want to fool around with if you don’t have to!

That said, millions of people use botox every year to remove wrinkles. It does work but isn’t cheap – about $300 to $500 for each injection. After the botox treatment, expect to feel some tenderness and soreness. Some bruising may show up as well.

So after all this, what can you expect? Well when your face settles down your skin will look smoother and less wrinkled for a while. Four to six months in fact. Then the whole process has to be repeated. In fact there are people who are afraid to stop their botox treatment for fear their face will collapse in a web of wrinkles.

Botox side effects

So how safe is botox really? Well there have been some serious reactions and even deaths that have been attributed to botox. Symptoms such as difficulty breathing and difficulty swallowing can be, and sometimes are, deadly. These side effects are caused by the toxin migrating from the site of the injection and affecting other muscles in the body.

I should say here that not all these side effects have been caused by the cosmetic use of the toxin (Botox Cosmetic). Botulinum is also used for medical purposes such as cerebal palsy. At the time of writing, it has yet to be approved by the FDA for these other uses.

There is also a danger of an unqualified person administering the botox injections. Because botox is so popular, new clinics are popping up all over the place. While these inexperienced people have to start somewhere, do you really want them practicing on your face?

If you really want to try botox, make sure your practitioner is experienced and is able to access medical help quickly in case you have a bad reaction to the toxin.

Botox cream

There are creams on the market which claim to work as well as botox injections. They are a lot cheaper and safer. Do they work? I can’t say I’ve ever seen any evidence of it, but it’s pretty unlikely.