Notes

Botox is used for a number of cosmetic and medical procedures, and is also known by the name Botulinum toxin. Clostridium botulinum is believed to be the most powerful neurotoxin ever discovered, and has a variety of different effects when used for cosmetic purposes.
In the late 1960s, Alan Scott, M.D., a San Francisco ophthalmologist, and Edward Schantz began to work on a way to standardise botulinum toxin so that it could be used for therapeutic purposes. By the 70s, botulinum toxin type A (BTX-A) was being used in experiments on monkeys, with BTX-A used first on humans in 1980. The initial use of botox (Botulinumtoxin Berlin) on humans was to treat crossed eyes, a condition which is known as strabismus. The medical use of botox later spread to cosmetic applications, which has now become one of the most widespread reasons for botox use.

The cosmetic effects of using botox on wrinkles was originally documented in 1989, by a plastic surgeon from Sacramento, California, called Dr. Richard Clark. When he published his findings in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in 1989, the world sat up and paid attention to the cosmetic potential of Botulinum toxin. A number of studies were published throughout the 1990s, the first of which came from Canadian husband and wife ophthalmologist and dermatologist physicians Carruthers JD and Carruthers JA. Their study into the use of botox on frown lines in 1992 was the first of many into this subject, with formal trial to use botox beginning in the USA in 2002. Since this time, botox use has become normalised in many parts of society, and plays a big role in cosmetic procedures around the world.

Botox forces the muscles to contract by blocking the nerve impulses, with the end result that the muscles can no longer contract. For many people, this allows natural wrinkles to relax and soften, which gives them the cosmetic benefits they are looking for. Botox is administered through an muscular injection, through a fine needle to minimise discomfort and maximise accuracy. Botox procedures typically only take a few minutes, with the effects lasting for a few months for each injection. While there are a number of possible side effects to the use of botox, the use of this substance for cosmetic reasons has become more normalised in parts of society over the last few years.