Category Archives: Did You Know?

Botox: A Medical Wonder Par Excellent

Did you know that Botox, that ultra popular anti-wrinkle cosmetic compound has other amazing uses in the medical world?

Here are some lesser known benefits of the anti-wrinkle wonder.

Botox for Eyelid Spasms

Known as blepharospasms, it’s a movement disorder of the eyelid muscles. Persons are not able to control the excessive twitching and as a result eyelids can droop affecting daily activities. If severe one will be unable to see properly, less so to drive a vehicle. Botox is used as a blockade at the neuromuscular junction where the nerves communicate with their muscles. Botox blocks the receptor and cuts off access to the nerves paralyzing the eyelid muscles and preventing twitches

Botox for Crossed Eyes

Called strabismus, it can be a childhood congenital issue or can occur from trauma. It responds to surgery but many people would not like to go under the knife for this. Sometimes people get Botox first to relax the muscles and see how the uncrossed eye will look. Botox is also a longer term solution for the condition.

Botox for Spasmodic Dysphonia

It’s a condition where vocal cord sounds are shaky, strained, or hoarse. It’s more of a neurological disorder as the brain receives abnormal signals and affected persons have uncontrolled spasms in their voice. Botox is injected into the vocal cords to slightly weaken the muscles so as to smoothen and steady the voice.

Botox for Drooling

It’s called hypersalivation, too much production of saliva. A few injections of Botox into the salivary glands can treat drooling. Botox will paralyze the nerves of the glands and stop them from over-producing saliva.

Botox for Excessive Sweating

Hyperhidrosis of the armpits, hands, feet, head, or face. Botox injections have been shown to be a safe and effective treatment to decrease sweating in those areas by as much as 87%, and 90% effective for hand sweating. Sweating maintains healthy body temperatures but Botox treatments are safe, affecting only a small percentage of the body’s sweat glands.

Botox for Migraines

Approved for chronic migraines, Botox injections to the back of the neck and at the base of the head, relax the muscles in the area and ease the pain.

Botox for Bell’s Palsy

It’s a facial nerve paralysis that causes one half of the face to droop. Although Bell’s palsy is usually temporary, Botox injections can relax the paralyzed facial muscle to help aid recovery.

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Better than Other Drugs for Migraines?

There have been studies claiming the effectiveness of Botox in reducing migraine frequency, and hence the popular product has garnered approval. Nonetheless the studies have mixed results, and now a new review of studies are claiming that the compound have only few benefits and side effects, though both are significant.

There were 17 studies in a meta-analysis of prophylactic treatment for migraine that were analyzed by researchers, involving more than 3,000 participants, 86% were women in whom chronic migraines were affecting 43%. The trials were randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled that compared patients receiving botulinum toxin versus placebo injections in the head and neck muscles. The primary outcome was change in the number of headache episodes per month from baseline to 3 months.

Overall analysis reported a tendency in favor of botulinum toxin over placebo at 3 months. The reduction in frequency of chronic migraines was significant. Analysis of chronic migraine frequency was also significant after 2 months. The findings also highlighted an improvement of the patient’s quality of life at 3 months in the botulinum toxin group. Further adverse events were traced in the botulinum toxin type A group with a statistically significant risk ratio. There were no severe side effects reported but Botox did have more side effects than a placebo, including a greater incidence of muscle weakness, double vision, drooping eyelids, neck pain and muscle tightness.

Data showed that the patients were treated with usually a range of 15 to 20 shots around the head and neck given once every three or four months. Overall, compared to placebo, Botox injections resulted in an average 1.6 fewer attacks per month for chronic sufferers, who have more than 15 migraine attacks per month. The study concludes that botulinum toxin type A injections are superior to placebo for chronic migraines after 3 months of therapy. For the first time, a real benefit in patient quality of life is demonstrated with only few and mild adverse events.

Are there other drugs for the prophylactic treatment of chronic migraine?

Yes, there are, but their side effects can be more severe than Botox. This meta-analysis appeared in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the Journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons in January 2019.

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Saving Lives with Botox

A couple of studies showed that Botox, that cosmetic compound that can reduce wrinkles and enhance lips has another very special use, a life-saving one.

From the SMG Arrhythmia Center at the Summit Medical Group in Short Hills, N.J., Botox injections were given during surgery to temporarily freeze nerve bundles in the heart, preventing the dangerous complication called, atrial fibrillation, or a-fib. Atrial Fibrillation is a common, often deadly, post- operative complication of heart surgery; it is linked to stroke and heart failure.

In the New Jersey study, 60 patients undergoing heart bypass surgery were randomly assigned to either Botox or an inactive placebo. All received implantable cardiac monitors that tracked occurrence of atrial fibrillation. Risk of a-fib dropped immediately after surgery in the Botox group, and fell fivefold to ninefold each year of the three-year follow-up. During follow-up, significantly fewer botox recipients were hospitalized for a-fib or needed treatment for it compared to the placebo group. In heart surgery, Botox appears to interrupt “cardiac neural traffic.”

In another study, at the Cardiomyopathy Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, 130 patients received an injection of either Botox or placebo while undergoing heart bypass surgery. Doctors injected botulinum toxin into fat pads surrounding the heart during cardiac surgery to reduce atrial fibrillation after the surgery. The reduction in a-fib risk was not significant in the botox group, but the episodes were shorter and less severe; may be due to the small size of the study.

The new studies are small but there’s the potential to develop effective and safe strategies to lower a-fib risk post-surgery. Additional studies involving larger numbers of patients are needed. The reports were recently published online in the journal Heart Rhythm.

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The Go-To Place for Botox in Tacoma

Over at Botixue in Tacoma, we use the widely accepted and approved indications of Botox. However, it’s great to know that Botox may also be life-saving for heart surgery patients. See us at Botixue soon!

Studies Bring Hope of Relief

Studies say that at least one in ten people suffer from Rosacea, a condition which manifest as red areas on the center of the face – forehead, cheeks, chin and nose.

What exactly is Rosacea?

Rosacea is a rather common skin condition that causes redness and visible blood vessels in the face. It’s persistent swelling and redness. Many may have swollen red bumps that can look like acne, and sometimes contain pus. It usually affects middle-aged women who have fair skin. More than half can have eye problems – irritation, dryness -and rarely large noses. It has no known cure but treatment consists of controlling the symptoms.

What causes Rosacea?

It is not known, but heredity and the environment may be factors. It is not due, though, to poor hygiene. Some conditions may exacerbate the redness by increasing the blood flow to the areas, such as alcohol, high temperatures, hot drinks and spicy foods, sometimes, emotions. Some treatments can minimize the symptoms – antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, creams – but they don’t work for all. Some claim that Botox can help.

The Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology reports a study in India where botulinium toxin was able to significantly reduce facial redness in less than two weeks, and improvements lasted up to four months. Patients in the study were rosacea-infected, and researchers believed Botox targets compounds in the skin, which in turn stops blood vessels dilating. It may also block immune cells that are involved in the inflammatory response that worsens the condition.

There’s a second study, from the University of California, that found botulinum toxin was able to block immune cells called mast cells and prevent inflammation in rosacea patients. Mast cells play a key role in triggering compounds called cathelicidins, which are released by the immune system found at higher levels in patients with rosacea.

Some experts are glad for these relatively bigger studies that are demonstrating the positive effects of Botox on rosacea, however, anecdotal incidents have already been reported by doctors that the toxin can be used cosmetically to relieve symptoms. Patients may be reluctant to have multiple injections on their affected facial areas, but the long-lasting effects may be more convenient than other treatments.

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Bright Future for Botox in Tacoma

While we may still need more studies to support Botox treatment for Rosacea, consider our facial treatments as your most reliable options for wrinkles. Look young again in Tacoma at Botixue.

Different Types of Botox

Botulinum toxin type A, known commercially as Botox, has had a number of therapeutic applications over the past 20 years. It’s been used for treatment of migraines, overactive bladders, excessive sweating, and cardiac conditions. Botulinum toxin Type A, as we know, is a neurotoxic protein with the ability to remove wrinkles yet cause food poisoning. Derived from Clostridium botulinum and its relatives, this protein is often found in soil and untreated water.

This time a new source of the botulinum neurotoxin was discovered, the first time that an active botulinum toxin has been identified outside of Clostridium botulinum and its cluster. Canadian and American scientists found it in a strain of animal gut bacteria known as Enterococcus faecium.

This has implications in several fields, from emergence of new pathogens to the development of new protein to be used in therapeutics. The discovery came out of the University of Waterloo, Ontario, and Harvard University and the Boston Children’s Hospital.

Originally, the study was about investigating why there is antibiotic resistance in Enterococcus faecium. The species can be both friendly and harmful. It can coexist with other bacteria in human and animal gut and can also be pathogenic, causing diseases such as neonatal meningitis or endocarditis. If disease-causing, the bacterium is very difficult to eradicate as it has capabilities to mutate, causing multidrug antibiotic resistance. It has its own genome sequencing or DNA sequencing that can make science better understand how it develops and maintains.

In this study, the researchers were able to sequence the genome of the E. faecium bacteria that came from cow feces, and when run through computer programs in the lab, they found the gene for botulinum toxin in the bacterial strain. It must have been likely transferred from C. botulinum bacteria in the environment into the E. faecium bacteria in the cow’s gut, showing that the toxin can be transferred between very different species. More studies are needed to expand the usage of this strain of botulinum toxin, now confirmed to be a powerful and versatile protein therapeutic, and there might be more versions of the toxin in nature.

Seeing More Applications of Botox in the Future

The Botox strain is indeed a powerful and versatile species, with still more undiscovered therapeutic benefits. The future looks bright for Botox and our staff at Botixue in Tacoma are just as excited about future developments.