Botox™: Not just for Beauty

Botox™: it’s not just for beauty. Never has been. This is Dr. Steven Andrew Davis, Speaking of Health. Sure, Botox™ is the rage for reducing wrinkles and frown lines, but a report by doctors from New York Medical College and Columbia University’s medical school lists at least 72 therapeutic uses for botulinum toxin, ranging from disorders of the nervous system to the eyes, voicebox, gastrointestinal and urinary tracts. First used to treat strabismus, or “misalignment of the eyes” - Botox™ has since been tried, with some success, to treat certain forms of eyelid (blepharo) spasm, restricting and involuntary eye movements.

Dental specialists have used Botox™ to treat some cases of jaw-clenching (that’s bruxism), over-developed jaw muscles, and the sometimes disabling disorder called temporomandibular disorder of TMD. In the stomach and intestinal tract Botox™ has been used for some patients with spasms and contractions of sphincters and muscles from top to bottom; it’s been successful in some disorders of salivary glands, and is being tried in pain syndromes ranging from migraine headaches to low back pain. Remember though, Botox™ is not FDA-approved as safe and effective in all these cases, but such “off-label” uses are not inherently illegal or unethical.

Botox™ - for patients with some disorders, beauty is, indeed, more than skin deep. For a copy of this script and journal reference, access our web site, speakingofhealth.com. Speaking of Health, I’m Dr. Steven Andrew Davis, for CBS News Radio.

Ref: Bentsianov, B, et al: Noncosmetic uses of Botulinum Toxin. Clinics in Dermatology 2004; 22:82-88.