How has Botox evolved?
The most noticeable enhancement of Botox is its results. The injectable—which received FDA approval as the first aesthetic treatment on April 15, 2002, 13 years after it hit the market—has received a major facelift in recent years.
That’s not to say that gone are the days of a stiff appearance, but Dr. Lee shared practitioners take more artistic liberties than before.
“When we started using Botox,” she continued, “we probably had a different look than we have now because we realized there are things you can do with the concentration and the location—and it allows providers to be creative with it.”
How does Botox go beyond beauty?
If you look back at the history books, between 1817 and 1822, German poet and physician Justinus Kerner published the first comprehensive study of what we now know as botulism, per the National Library of Medicine. By 1897, Belgian bacteriologist Emile van Ermengem made the connection that the bacterium was responsible for botulism after studying a deadly outbreak of contaminated ham served at a funeral.
Fast forward to the 1960s, when Dr. Daniel B. Drachman uncovered botulinum toxin was capable of paralyzing the muscles of a chick, therefore, inspiring ophthalmologist Allan Scott to research it for strabismus. His studies in the 1970s led to FDA approval for conducting human research for treating the eye condition.
Dr. Lee summed up the injectable’s lasting power best, saying, “Botox revolutionized medicine in a lot of ways.”
But it’s also been a huge game-changer for the beauty industry. “It has really transformed aesthetics because it made it attainable,” she added. “The use of plastic surgery or procedures was for a certain subset of patients or type of person, but it brought aesthetics to the everyday person.”
Dr. Sarbaziha echoed similar sentiments, sharing, “I don’t think there will ever be a decline in Botox. Even people that you think wouldn’t want to get Botox, get Botox.”
