Botox Benefits

Botox is a neurotoxin that paralyzes muscles of the body and cosmetologists use it to prevent or slow down the creation wrinkles. New research is showing that Botox can also decrease migraines (Lipton et al., 2016) and lower feelings of depressions in individuals (Finzi & Rosenthal, 2015). There are some risks to using Botox, such as the toxin spreading throughout the body, but to some the benefits can far outweigh the risks. Zimmer (2008) argues that the use of Botox can make others happier because there is less frowning but does not broach the subject of understanding emotions that accompanies making facial expressions.

Pharmacokinetics is the study of the movement of drugs as they are absorbed, distributed, metabolized, and excreted. Pharmacokinetics is used when testing and developing drugs to determine how the drug interacts with the body. With respect to Botox (botulinum toxin), the toxin works by entering the neurons and destroying the SNARE proteins that bind vesicles filled with the neurotransmitter Acetylcholine (ACh) to the membrane, blocking the release of ACh. ACh an important neurotransmitter for the stimulation and movement of muscles, so with

The mechanisms of action provide a risk of paralyzing muscles in the face, such as the ocular muscles, or spreading throughout the body and causing botulism poisoning (Van et al, 2017). With the use of Botox, there is also the side effect of having less facial expressions, which correlates to a decrease in recognizing expressions in others (Zimmer, 2008). The decrease in recognition of emotions is linked to a decrease in emotional experience (Davis et al., 2010), which is a side effect that can correlate to a decrease in negative emotions associated with depression, but if Botox gets injected into lip muscles that allow people to smile, it could diminish the positive emotions such as