Why Does Botox have to be so Toxic?

Its purpose is to temporarily paralyze the muscles in certain parts of your face. And it is one of the most toxic substances known to man–botulism toxin. The same toxin that kills scores of unsuspecting diners each year. Why does Botox have to be so toxic? Wouldn’t something less toxic be just as effective, and less dangerous on top of that?

Thank you in advance to all who reply :slight_smile:

I’m having trouble parsing this. It’s sort of like saying, “why does green paint have to be so green?” It paralyzes muscles *because *it’s toxic - toxicity is what makes it useful. Luckily for emotive-challanged people everywhere, it also stays more or less put in the muscles it’s injected in, so it doesn’t kill you.

A less toxic substance wouldn’t paralyze the muscles, so it wouldn’t work.

Well if they didn’t make it from botulism toxin then it wouldn’t be Botox, would it!

On a slightly more cynical note, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were billions of dollars being poured into the paralyze-people-without-killing-them industry.

Of course not. If it were less toxic, you would have to apply more of it to get the same effect on the nerves. So you would really just have exactly the same effect on the body. Botulism’s toxicity is due to its effect on the nerves - if it were less toxic, small dosages wouldn’t work as well.

This is like asking why not use gunpowder instead of TNT to blow something up. Gunpowder is less powerful, so you just have to use more of it to do the same job.

I’m waiting for the day when the long-term health effects of Botox surface. I’ve got a mental image of hoards of older people whose facial muscles are permanently paralyzed. Medical supply houses will produce laminated cards with various emoticons like :frowning: , :mad: , and :eek: for victims of Facial Paralysis Sysdrome[sup]TM[/sup]

But what are you really trying to say here—that if we took the bones out they just wouldn’t be crunchy?

Well, we use it because it stays local and lasts for a long time.
The other muscle paralysers are either permanent, short acting or would become systemic.

You don’t want it permanent in case it goes wrong, but it’s pointless if it wears off within a day.
Getting rid of wrinkles is one thing, being unable to move or breathe is another.

Botox is like Lignocaine (Lidocaine), if injected into tissue, it’s a short acting local anaesthetic, if injected into a vein it can cause a fatal arrythmia in a normal heart, or cure an arrymthmia in a damaged one. You trust your medical professional with that stuff, why would Botox be different?

(Personally, I think Botox is like every other kind of plastic surgery, if you know what to look for, you can tell who has had it, and they don’t look younger, they look like they’ve had surgery. To me, Botoxed people look like people with Parkinson’s disease, and that’s not a good look. YMMV.)