Botox May Find More Popularity With FDA Approval

Botox May Find More Popularity With FDA Approval

Health Care: Market for Trendy Wrinkle Remover Expected to Expand

BY MARION WEBB



Senior Staff Writer






The recent Food and Drug Administration approval of the purified poison Botox for removing frown and wrinkle lines could further its appeal.






Botox, which is a purified form of the neurotoxin that causes botulism, was first approved in 1989 for treating strabismus (crossed eyes) and blepharospasm (uncontrollable blinking of the eye) in the United States.






But in recent years, plastic surgeons have increasingly injected Botox into the skin to remove frown and wrinkle lines.






The agency’s approval gives the maker of Botox, Allergan Inc. of Irvine, the green light to market the drug for cosmetic use.






But Botox treatments are already the most popular cosmetic treatment in the United States, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. They made up 1.6 million of the 8.5 million procedures performed last year, the society said.






That translated into $310 million in Botox sales for Allergan last year and analysts predicted sales have the potential to double thanks to its widening popularity.






The average cost for a single Botox treatment is $400, but the effect lasts only a few months.






The procedure takes about 15 minutes and requires injecting the drug directly into the face muscles to paralyze them and reduce or eliminate wrinkles.






Doctors tout the procedure as “softening” facial lines that make people look tired or grumpy.






Allergan expects it will be used mainly by women ages 35 to 64.






Nuria Farrar, a 57-year-old caseworker for the county, recently paid her plastic surgeon $650 to smooth her furrowed brow.






“I am very happy,” Farrar said about the result. “People tell me I look different , they don’t know why , because before with the lines, I looked like I was angry all the time.”






Her doctor, Dr. Marek Dobke, chief of the division of plastic surgery at UCSD, said he’s used Botox for more than five years as a wrinkle buster with success.






“Botox in the proper dosage is an extremely safe medication,” Dobke said. “I have treated over 300 patients and (none) had long lasting complications.”






Typical Side Effects Minimal






The effects of Botox typically begin within 24 to 48 hours and last between one month and five months, said the society for plastic surgery.






Possible complications include allergic reactions, local numbness, swelling and bruising, or a burning sensation during injection. Headaches or nausea can also occur. But most side-effects are temporary and subside within a few hours or weeks, the society said.






Still, Dr. Don Kikkawa, chief of the division of ophthalmic plastic and reconstructive surgery at the UCSD Shiley Eye Center, cautioned, “the FDA approval is not a stamp for every doctor to give (Botox).






Dr. Malcolm Paul, president of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, echoed this view in a written statement. “People may think that the procedure is only a simple injection and not realize it requires an in-depth knowledge of the facial muscles,” he said, adding “A skilled aesthetic plastic surgeon will use Botox to enhance a person’s appearance, not create an unnatural or ‘mask-like’ quality of the face.”






Inaccurate Botox shots can cause double vision or drooping eyelids.






Kakkawa said most drooping eyelids subside after a few days.






But he’s done corrective eye surgery on patients whose Botox treatments done elsewhere had gone awry and thus, urges people do some careful investigation.






That may be good advice given that Botox is likely to become even more popular. By year-end, Allergan is expected to spend some $50 million to promote the drug.






Not Covered By Insurance






Mohit Ghose, a spokesman for the American Association of Health Plans in Washington, D.C., said reimbursement of cosmetic Botox use by health plans is unlikely.






But for some people, paying several hundreds of dollars a year for vanity is money well spent. “I think this is a good way to make you look younger without having plastic surgery,” Farrar said. “I probably will get more.”






Dr. Davis Bronson, a plastic surgeon with a private office in La Mesa, said American women probably feel more pressured to do something about their aging faces than men whose frown lines tend to be more accepted in this society.






Bronson however, expressed some concern about the widening practice of “Botox parties” where doctors line up patients in a relaxed setting for Botox shots.






“There is a greater risk involved in doing it that way,” Bronson said, citing reasons of alcohol consumption and a lagging personal doctor-patient relationship.






“I am not being disparaging to my colleagues who do it, but I am not interested in doing it myself , not at this time,” Bronson said.