BOTOX Cosmetic is currently the only FDA-approved treatment for wrinkles. Tested and proven, botulinum toxin as it is also known, guarantees a temporary improvement in one’s facial appearance when used as directed by a physician.
Good news is, the product has been confirmed as the newest cure for depression – which is one reason people have wrinkles in the first place.
Jason S. Reichenberg, MD, director of dermatology at the University of Texas-Austin, has given us a heart-warming news on a possible permanent cure for depression. What a miracle from science!
Reichenberg, who co-authored a study about the correlation between Botox and depression that was just published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, said in an interview with Yahoo Beauty: “One of the theories about Botox treating depression is that it doesn’t make you smile, but it stops you from frowning.”
In other words, Reichenberg says the new product will serve as a mood-changer, “it’s kind of along the lines of smiling if you’re not happy to boost your mood, or, faking it till you make it!”
His wife who is also a co-author on the project, psychiatrist Michelle Magid, gave her explanations in a different way. She says the test was carried out as a way of thrashing the myth that “people would simply feel better if they looked better.”
“Some of the patients in our studies didn’t like the way they looked with Botox, but were likely to see their depression get better,” Reichenberg says.
However, the MD added that there are many patients who felt happy with their newly unfurrowed brows but without a remarkable change in their moods.
Overall, though, the results are promising — Reichenberg and Magid found that depression scores dropped 42 percent in patients who received Botox, compared with only 15 percent in participants who had a placebo.
As Reichenberg noted, the Botox’s effect was as good as an anti-depressant.
A good reason for us to be happy with the latest discovery on BOTOX use is this, Reichenberg says that about a third of patients with depression don’t respond to several different kinds of medications and treatments.
Media reports confirm that an estimated 6.7 percent of all Americans over 18, and twice as many women as men, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, are suffering anxiety and acute depression. This is the motivation behind the adventure by medical professionals who believe an unorthodox treatment to this complex and widespread disease can be found.
In 2002, the treatment was approved for the treatment of lateral canthal lines (crow’s feet), and then again in 2010 for the treatment of migraines. It is also used to treat excessive sweating.
“It’s very exciting to have another possible tool,” Reichenberg says, “but I don’t think it’ll replace antidepressants. I think it means we need to start thinking outside the box.”
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