Botox: Smooth Your Lines with a Pretty Poison

Filed in archive Botox on March 26, 2010

© EverJean

By now almost everyone considering plastic surgery or injectable cosmetic surgery procedures knows the "miraculous" affects of Botox injections on deep expression lines in the face. But many people don't know what exactly it is that they're injecting into their faces, nor why it works.

Botox is the trade name for Botulinum toxin, a powerful neurotoxin that in the past was associated with food poisoning often resulting from improperly handled meats, especially pork. But believe it or not, over the years this toxin has been tried and tested for a variety of medical uses other than the main one popular culture acknowledges-smoothing facial lines.

How it works cosmetically:
Botox basically paralyzes the facial muscles cause expressions that form wrinkles. It's classified as a neurotoxin because it blocks nerve signals that cause muscles to contract.