Botox smooths away wrinkles... and your worries

Jabs reduce anxiety levels by up to 72%

IT’S the injection hailed by millions for smoothing out worry lines.

But Botox can also alleviate the worries themselves, a study revealed yesterday.

The medication can reduce anxiety by up to 72 per cent, researchers said.

Botox, first introduced to the market in 1989, is predominantly used for cosmetic purposes but is also effective at easing migraines, muscle spasms, excessive sweating and incontinence.

Researchers have now discovered another potential use, after analysing data on 40,000 Botox patients who had the treatment for a variety of reasons.

The study revealed that four categories of Botox treatments resulted in significantly less anxiety when compared with nonBotox treatments for the same conditions.

Researchers said anxiety levels were between 22 and 72 per cent lower in Botox patients.

The four categories are: cosmetic Botox injected into facial muscles; injections in the face and head to ease migraines; jabs in limbs to quell muscle spasms; and jabs in neck muscles to help with torticollis, or twisting of the neck.

Botox, short for Botulinum toxin, is derived from a bacterial toxin. Cosmetic treatments can cost from £100 to £350.

Injections can relax muscles and temporarily prevent them from moving by blocking chemical signals from nerves.

The treatment takes only a few minutes and is most often used on forehead lines, crow’s feet and frown lines.

The authors, from the University of California San Diego, said there are several possible reasons why it can also reduce anxiety. One is that Botox could be transported to the regions of the central nervous system associated with mood and emotions.

Alternatively, the sites at which Botox is administered may communicate directly with the brain, they said.

And finally, because Botox is commonly used to treat chronic conditions, its success in relieving the underlying problem may indirectly relieve anxiety.

Writing in the journal Scientific Reports, the academics said: ‘Though there are effective treatments for [anxiety] disorders, there is a need for further therapeutic options and Botox may be one of them.’

More than a million Botox injections are carried out in Britain each year and the procedure is even more common in the US. The potential dangers of Botox – includno

‘Effective at easing migraines’

ing pain, swelling or bruising at the injection site, headaches, droopy eyelids, drooling and eye dryness – have been well documented.

Study author Professor Ruben Abagyan said most Botox research concerned harmful side effects.

‘However, our idea was different,’ he said. ‘Why don’t we do the opposite? Why don’t we find beneficial effects?’

The team has previously discovered that Botox can reduce depression too.