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Botox

Product Summary

Currently the number one non-surgical aesthetic treatment in the U.S., Botox® is also the leading brand of botulinum toxin type - A in terms of documented clinical trials and practical use around the world.

Botox® was the first botulinum toxin to gain a cosmetic licence endorsing its use for glabellar lines and wrinkles. It is approved for this indication in the U.S. and around twelve other countries in the world, and was licenced for this use in the U.K. in March 2006 under the brand name Vistabel®.

Generic name of Botox®

Clostridium botulinum type - A neurotoxin complex.

How is it manufactured?

Botox® is made from purified type - A neurotoxin produced by the bacteria Clostridium botulinum.

How does Botox® work?

It temporarily prevents the release of acetycholine from sympathetic nerve terminals. To learn in detail how Botox® injections work, please click on Botulinum Toxin Treatment FAQ.

Licenced status

Prescription only medicine

Who can perform Botox® treatment?

It should be used by trained members of the medical profession only. 

Please go to our Find a Clinic section to find a practitioner specialising in this treatment.

 

Licenced UK indications for Botox®

Botox® is licenced in the UK for blepharospasm, hemifacial spasm, cervical dystonia, severe hyperhidrosis of the axillae, dynamic equinus foot deformity due to spasticity in ambulant paediatric cerebral palsy patients, two years of age or older, and for wrist and hand disability due to upper limb spasticity associated with stroke in adults. 

Who should not have Botox® treatment?

Individuals with a known hypersensitivity to any component of the formulation.

Patients who have generalised disorders of muscle activity (e.g. myasthenia gravis).

Patients where aminoglycoside antibiotics or spectinomycin are already being used or are likely to be used.

Patients who have bleeding disorders of any type.

Pregnant or lactating women.

Reported side effects associated with the cosmetic use of Botox® include

Bruising or bleeding at the site of injection, headache, and rarely eyelid ptosis or diplopia, and brow droop.

Click on Botulinum Toxin Side Effects to learn more about the risks or side effects associated with Botox®. 

Botox® Costs

Most clinics and practitioners charge by area of the face treated.

These areas are usually defined as crow’s feet, forehead lines, and glabellar lines (frown lines between the eyes).

Practitioners may charge from around £175 - £300 per treatment area.

A discounted rate is usually employed if more than one treatment is required, so that crow’s feet, forehead lines, and glabellar lines may cost £500 or less for the complete package.

Botox® clinical results

Most of the literature on Botulinum Toxin, and hence the clinical evidence and statistics, are based on Botox® as this brand represents around 80% of the world’s use of Botulinum Toxin.

Because it is a prescription only medicine; it had to undergo strict clinical trials in the U.S., where it is approved for cosmetic use, in order to gain a license. Remember, the drug has been licensed in the U.S. since the late 1980s.

The graph below shows the results of a study published in 2001.

• 500 patients were injected three times in a year with Botox®.
• They were injected on days 0, 120 and 240.
• The graph shows that over 70% of the patients showed significant improvement in their glabellar frown lines (i.e. the appearance of their wrinkles when trying not to frown) 30 days after their first injections.
• This improvement continued after repeat Botox® injections at days 120 and 240.

Data taken from Carruthers, Lowe, & Menter; One year study on the safety and efficacy of Botulinum toxin in Patients with Glabellar Lines; Presented at the AAD March 2001.

On the basis of this evidence, most practitioners would now recommend an initial course of Botox® treatment every 3 or 4 months for the first year. It now appears that after this, the time between future injections may lengthen, with practitioners reporting that some patients may only need to return twice a year to maintain results.

Before and after Botox®

40 year old patient frowning before first Botox® treatment.	Patient trying to frown 7 days after the injections.
Female raising eyebrows before Botox®  injections.	Raising eyebrows 7 days following the  treatment.

Wrinkles around the eyes before Botox	Reduction in wrinkles following treatment
Frowning before Botox treatment	Trying to frown after Botox

Before and after photographs are real patients, your results may differ.

Photographs courtesy of Dr David Eccleston at Medizen .

Botox ® is a registered trademark of Allergan Inc.