Botox

What is Botox?

Botox is the more commonly known trade name of a muscle relaxant and the forms currently in use are called Vistabel, Azzulare and Dysport. These are all relaxants which are slightly different molecular formations of Clostridium botulinum.

All muscle relaxants work in the same way. They are naturally purified proteins that temporarily block chemical signals in order to relax overactive muscles.

All muscle relaxants currently in use in the UK have a very high safety margin and, due to their minimal side effects and effectiveness, they are being more regularly used in both the medical and the cosmetic field.

How does it work?

Botox prevents the muscles in the forehead, the side of the nose, eyes and chin from creating wrinkles. Over time, the brain starts to reduce the signals it sends to these muscles. This results in the muscles that make you frown and that cause worry lines gradually becoming smaller and wrinkles improving or disappearing in some cases.

The result is obvious within 24 hours as a smoother less lined face.

As the Botox works by weakening and reducing the size and power of “frown creating” muscles, for the patient, this can mean fewer treatments with wider gaps between each treatment in the long run.

IPSA offers a range of treatments including Botox for facial wrinkles, jaw reshaping, tension headaches and hyperhydrosis.

Research

Botox has a strong background of 20 years of established medical use with a high safety margin.

In clinical trials, nearly 90% of men and women rated the improvement in their appearance as moderate to better, one month after treatment. A large clinical study has shown that Azzulare maintained its duration of action at 20 weeks.

How safe is it?

Botox and similar agents are widely used all over the world and have been for many years. They are used safely in both the medical field and the cosmetic industry.

It is safe enough to use in the treatment of children over the age of 2 for medical conditions like cerebral palsy. Other medical conditions it has been used to treat include blepahrospams (overactive eye muscles) and strabismus in ophthalmology patients.

Medically it has been used to treat hyperhidrosis, bladder over activity, cervical dystonia and it has recently been licensed for use in migraine sufferers.

It is approved by the FDA for cosmetic use. In cosmesis, the Botox is used in extremely small quantities to target specific areas and there have been no known cases of adverse reactions to Botox or similar agents.

Prices

Botox is quite an affordable and non-invasive treatment when compared to other surgical alternatives. When started early, it should delay the lines and wrinkles that people associate with aging.

The purification of the Botox product is a lengthy and expensive process, which raises the cost of the medicine, however when bought in bulk, the costs can be minimized slightly. This allows IPSA to offer affordable prices for group booking or recommendations.