There is an old story about a town of people running for their lives from an approaching asteroid. They ran to the outskirts of the city and came across a cliff and a large drop. Seeing the asteroid behind them, they all jumped off the cliff. On the way down, one person yelled, “Do you think we’re going to survive the fall?”
Such is the case with less extreme people and circumstances, like when you look in the mirror and see that you have wrinkles on your forehead, crow’s feet and God knows what else. They scream in horror saying, “OMG! Where’s my Botox?” and go directly to the doctor. Then after getting the injection, they ask the doctor, “Um, doc, is this safe?”
The truth is that, thus far, no one has proven that Botox is harmful in any way. But one has to ask some questions and compare the situation with other things in medical history that seemed perfectly safe at first and then turned out to be total disasters, resulting in mass lawsuits. To illustrate an example of this, one need go no further than Vioxx. Lawyers are having a field day with it.
Since Botox is made from botulism, even though it is in a purified form, one has to wonder how safe this product really is, especially if taken over a long period of time. To start our suspicions, we need go no further than a few studies that were done on doctors who perform procedures like Botox injections.
Research shows that many doctors do not take a person’s medical history into account even before giving these injections. That’s something that should be standard procedure. Then there are the so-called “lunchtime treatments,” in which patients simply stop by a doctor’s office to get a shot on a walk-in basis, much like getting an allergy shot. There are currently attempts to place more stringent restrictions on these emerging treatments.
Then there are those reports of actual failed treatments where the doctor injected the wrong area on the patient even though it was clearly stated in the patient’s chart which areas needed to be injected for that particular visit.
While none of this proves that Botox itself is dangerous, it tends to make a person wonder. If treatments involving Botox are so lax and regulations so weak or non-existent, then there is certainly too much room for abuse by money-hungry doctors who don’t care about the well-being of their patients. The simple answer of “It’s perfectly safe” just doesn’t fit with everything that happens and is reported every day.
The only thing we know for sure about Botox is that it can cause side effects such as bruising, headaches, double vision, or temporary drooping of the eyebrow or eyelid. In addition, it can leave the face without expression. And the medical profession has admitted that if more than 2,000 units are injected it can be toxic. A normal session is about 50 units.
Well, at least it’s a start. Now the world just sits and waits for the other shoe to drop like with Vioxx.
