botox could be doing more than just reducing wrinkles, researchers at the university of california san diego say.
in addition to the lesser known uses, such as migraine treatments, a new study suggests that people who receive botox injections report feeling anxious significantly less often than patients receiving different treatment for similar conditions. botox can also be used to treat muscle spasms, sweating, and incontinence, not just as a cosmetic.
data collected from nearly 40,000 people was published in
scientific reports
earlier this week. researchers were looking for signs of positive side effects in the drug.
“a large number of diverse adverse effects are being reported to the fda and the main objective usually is to find those harmful side effects that had not been identified during clinical trials,” ruben abagyan, a professor of pharmacy at skaggs school of pharmacy said in a
statement
. “however, our idea was different. why don’t we do the opposite? why don’t we find beneficial effects?”
participants were asked about any reduction or reduced frequency in anxiety or anxiety-related disorders when they were taking botox and compared to a control group. the researchers found that reports of anxiety dropped between 22 and 72 per cent in botox patients, depending on the area of the body where it was injected. the more effective areas include facial muscles for cosmetic use, head muscles for migraine treatment, limbs for spasms, and the neck for torticollis (neck twisting). other areas of injection that did not have enough data collected to form a conclusion include the eyelids, palms, salivary glands, and bladder.
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