What's in a name?
Have you ever wondered why the word "Botox" sounds like it has the word "toxin" in it, and the first two letters...could that be "botulism"?!
Botox is the brand name for the drug BTX-A: "Botulin Toxin Type A". Botulin is the bacterial toxin by-product that is excreted from the bacteria (C. botulinum) that causes botulism. Fascinating! (source: www.neatorama.com)
In other words:
Essentially, science has taken a serious, life-threatening and disease-causing bacteria, and manufactured it's excretions ("poop") to make us look pretty!! Oh, the irony!!
C. botulinum occurs naturally in soils around the world (and, is the reason why honey can not be fed to infants: bees naturally gather the bacterium spores with the nectar, and mix the bacteria in with the honey they create. Adults' immune system can handle C. botulinum, whereas infants can not. In fact, 65% of botulism cases occur in infants).
The question, then:
Why (on earth!) is the botulism bacteria's excretions used in Botox?!
The answer:
They both work in the same manner.
- Botulism has many symptoms, and towards the end of the infection the bacteria causes the breathing muscles to become paralyzed, causing death.
- Botox works by paralyzing the face muscles (to make them flatten out and appear less wrinkled).
What do you think of this? I also read that botox is used in medical treatments, including cross-eyes (again, likely to relax muscles).