The Beverley Hills Botox brigade and the champagne set in the UK who have their wrinkle-banishing injections at afternoon parties are warned today by a senior doctor that something as yet unguessable but unpleasant may one day happen.
Writing in the British Medical Journal, consultant clinical neurophysiologist Peter Misra said that the long-term effects of Botox are unknown. Although the injections with a potent toxin to paralyse frown-causing muscles in the face are licensed in the US, the treatment has only been widely available for a couple of years.
While side-effects have been rare and largely restricted to the occasional droopy eyelid, inevitably no studies have been done to observe the effect on women who have had regular injections for many years.
Botulinum toxin used to be known, says Dr Misra from the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London, as "one of the most potent biological neurotoxins", which can cause fatal muscular paralysis.
Now its muscle-paralysing properties have turned it into a glamour drug and it is making vast profits for its manufacturers, Allergan Pharmaceuticals. Global sales rose from $25m (£16m) in 1993 to $430m (£274m) this year.
"Popular magazines and newspapers regularly report its use by celebrities from the film, television and music industries," says Dr Misra. Given such hype, he says, it may not be surprising that some of the patients seeking Botox to transform their faces may have psychological problems.
Many celebrities are rumoured to have gone under the needle, but only a few such as veteran comedienne Joan Rivers and Hollywood actress Annie Potts have admitted it.
A recent study "found that 23% of patients seeking treatment with botulinum toxin at a dermatology clinic had body dysmorphic disorder, and psychotherapy was considered the more appropriate treatment for them," he says.
"In this atmosphere of 'Botox parties' (where champagne sipping socialites are injected with botulinum toxin), it is easy to forget that botulinum toxin is a potent neurotoxin and that its very long-term effects are still unknown."
