Botox became a premier cosmetic wrinkle filler by accident. The medical term for it is botulinum toxin, and in an uncontrolled state is the most toxic substance yet identified by mankind. It has a paralytic effect on biological forms, including human muscles. In the 1950s physicians learned that it could be used to halt the behavior of spastic muscles and experimented with therapeutic uses of the substance.
A San Francisco ophthalmologist tried using a tiny amount of it to try and correct crossed eyes and uncontrollable blinking. Meeting with success, he partnered with pharmaceutical company Allergan in order to market it for medical purposes. Allergan named it Botox.
Today there are in excess of five million Botox injections given as wrinkle treatments every year in the United States. Botox is used to reduce facial lines and wrinkles in several areas of the face. The way it reduces wrinkles is by paralyzing the muscles that pull the facial tissue in such a way as to cause the wrinkling. It is a temporary fix, but makes a dramatic difference when used. The effect usually lasts three to six months.
Botox is used to reduce the wrinkles at the corner of the eyes (crow’s feet) and the furrows of the brow. When the muscles that pull on those areas are not functioning, the wrinkles where the tissue folds are greatly diminished. It is also used to diminish the frown lines that cross the forehead between the eyes.
Some doctors will use Botox for mouth wrinkles, to soften the vertical wrinkles on the upper and lower lips, but others shy away from that practice because of the possibility of making one lip or the other nonfunctional. When one portion of the mouth is unable to move it can make both speaking and eating somewhat difficult, to say nothing of the odd appearance it may create.