Wrinkles on the forehead, crow’s feet on the eyes, wrinkles around the corners of the mouth. Nobody wants that and especially women have big problems with it and would rather have the wrinkles disappear today than tomorrow. Not infrequently, the men and women concerned invest thousands of euros in anti-wrinkle creams, fillers, face masks and last but not least in injections or tightening procedures.
Botox® has long been known to many people seeking advice. Actually a bacterial toxin (=toxin), which often had a deadly effect in the course of food poisoning caused by spoiled canned food, the botulinum toxin has also been used successfully in medicine since the 1980s. Botulinum toxin is available on the market today under many names.
Nevertheless, the short form “Botox®” has been widely spread by the media, among others, and is now used synonymously for the many other preparations. The “career” of Botox® began in neurology, where it was used to treat movement disorders. As a nerve poison, Botox® blocks the transmission between the nerve fibres and the muscles.
It prevents the muscle from receiving the signal to contract (= contraction) and it therefore remains relaxed. However, the effect is not long-lasting and so the effect is limited to several months and follow-up treatments are the consequence. In neurology, diseases with muscle spasms are still successfully treated today, e.g. eyelid spasms, torticollis, Parkinson’s disease, oesophageal diseases (e.g. achalasia) etc. It is also used in cases of increased sweating (hyperhidrosis) and relieves those affected from their often high level of suffering due to the enormous production of sweat.
Plastic Surgery
In cosmetic surgery, the treatment of so-called mimic or dynamic wrinkles was derived from this. These are supposed to disappear due to muscle paralysis. Therefore, we are only concerned here with the wrinkles that are caused by our facial features: laugh lines, the wrinkles around the eyes and eyelids, on the bridge of the nose or even on the chin.
Initially, the wrinkles can only be observed when using the facial muscles, but as the skin ages, they no longer disappear. Wrinkles caused by weakened connective tissue or years of sun exposure cannot be treated. In 1992 the treatment was started in the form of Botox® injections.
However, the dose of Botox® here is many times lower than in neurological applications and severe side effects are much less frequent. However, the procedure is not painless and risk-free and therefore the hurdle for many patients is still not insignificant. Recently, many creams promise the same effect.
Simple creams promise to replace the painful injection and scalpel and complications such as bruises and asymmetrical faces should be a thing of the past. Many affected people thus regain hope for a wrinkle-free face and bravely apply the products to the affected skin areas day after day. Unfortunately, however, the creams cannot keep their promise.
There are several reasons for this. Creams do not penetrate all layers of the skin. The skin is an effective protection of the body against its environment.
The skin is very “picky” about which substances it lets through to the inside of the body. Unfortunately, creams are not among them. Creams work very well by moisturising the skin, making it look smooth and firm and some products can actually rejuvenate the skin by containing vitamins and plant hormones and many other ingredients.
Novel proteins in creams have been shown to penetrate deeper into the skin and actually tighten the connective tissue. However, they cannot fight the causes of expression lines, i.e. laughter lines or wrinkles on the forehead or around the eyes, as they cannot reach the site of the wrinkles because it is much too deep under the skin. Furthermore, Botox®, despite all its positive effects, is a very effective nerve poison and active ingredient.
In Germany, these are subject to the drug law and therefore also to the so-called “prescription requirement”. This means that only a doctor can prescribe this medication. So if Botox® is to be used in a cream in an effective dose, this cream would have to be available only on prescription.
The creams currently available often contain the Botox®-like ingredient Argireline as a backdoor solution, but it cannot achieve the same effect. What remains after all these treatments is the desire and the ambition of the person to grow older and older without age being visible. This desire is so strong that a lot of energy will continue to be invested in the search for a patent remedy for rejuvenation and the tireless search for the Fountain of Youth will continue. Unfortunately, Botox® creams are not yet able to offer a solution to the riddle and the search must continue so that the Eternal Youth can be reached at some point.
