Botulinum toxins, commonly known as Botox, sometimes get a bad press, despite increasing use. On Europe 1, in Without an appointment, Doctor Benjamin Ascher, plastic and aesthetic surgeon in Paris, clears up misunderstandings about this product with multiple uses. “It is a drug, which has the function of blocking the junction between the nerve and the muscle, it decreases the muscular activity and therefore the wrinkle created by the muscle”.
On the aesthetic level, “there are three beautiful indications: the forehead wrinkles, the vertical wrinkles of the lion, and those of the smile, that of the crow’s feet.” But beyond aesthetic medicine, Botox has about thirty “serious” uses, among which: “spasm of the pylorus, in gastroenterology, spasm of the bladder, in urology, the treatment of migraines or reduction of sweating in the armpits and hands “.
400 euros for the entire injection sequence
According to Doctor Ascher, 100,000 to 150,000 are injected with Botox every year in France. The average price is “400 euros for the entire injection sequence”. The product degrades after six months, which can justify two interventions per year, “but for a certain number of our patients, one session per year is more than enough” to prevent aging. The practice is not painful, “we have no anesthetic to put on” and “never leaves any after-effects”.
No question, however, of injecting people who are too young warns Doctor Benjamin Ascher: “when they are 20 years old it has no interest. You have to know how to refuse them. They have neither the problem nor the age to justify that. ” Indeed, the wrinkles that allow the botulinum toxins to treat “will appear after thirty years”, a treatment can thus be envisaged from “35 to 55 years approximately”. Better not to wait too long for wrinkles to form, however, “the more the muscle contracts, the more it will cause a depth of the wrinkle”.
Only speak to healthcare professionals
Some precautions remain to be taken. First, only three categories of professionals have been trained to use these toxins, as Dr. Benjamin Ascher recalls. “Plastic surgeons, dermatologists and cosmetic doctors are the practitioners who can inject all of these products.” To find the health professional to whom to entrust this operation, the best remains, according to him, word of mouth, that of “a friend in whom we trust and her general practitioner”.
Out of these professionals, it is essential to remember that cosmetic medicine at home, “is completely prohibited in France. The deliveries on Internet make it possible to circumvent the law, but what seems sympathetic can be dangerous. There have been deaths with fraudulent toxins. ” In Great Britain, “60% of injections are given by non-doctors, there are more and more accidents”.
Upcoming innovations
For the moment, there are three reliable products on the French market: Dysport, Botox and Xéomin. “These are drugs that work very well.” Three new products will arrive from Korea in the coming years, “which are of good quality but which will mainly affect the price of injection.” But the innovations will also arrive on the existing products with in particular “a liquid form, rather than in powder currently, ready to use and with a constant dose, allowing identical results” explains doctor Ascher.
Work on the effects is also underway, with the Fast-acting, allowing an effect of “faster toxins, against 15 days currently”. But also the long-acting, increasing the duration of action to “twelve to fifteen months”.
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