Yes, we are all vain…we all want to look young and vigorous! Medical professionals perform all kinds of procedures and surgeries to make us look younger…including face lifts, tummy tucks, body contouring, liposuction, collagen, and on and on.
Botox injections are popular as well. These injections are marketed as a simple, non-surgical, physician-administered treatment which can temporarily smooth moderate to severe frown lines between the brows in people from 18 to 65 years of age. But they don’t tell you these injections can also cause serious, even life-threatening, problems!
Botox, and a similar injection (Myobloc), should come with strong warnings following reports of 16 deaths and other serious problems after the botulinum toxin spread inside the body, according to Public Citizen, a U.S. consumer group. Public Citizen reviewed 180 reports submitted to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by manufacturers involving patients injected with Botox or Myobloc. The reports detailed cases of muscle weakness, difficulty swallowing or aspiration pneumonia, a serious condition caused by breathing a foreign material into the lungs.
Sixteen of the cases reported were fatal, including four involving children under 18. Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group, said such problems can occur if botulinum toxin spreads from the injection site to the esophagus, causing partial paralysis.