Botox Has Many Uses
The Food and Drug Administration has recently approved Botox to help treat chronic migraines. This raises the question about what other conditions Botox, also know as the freezing fluid, is being or could possibly be used for. Off label use of medicines is very common, but it is more common when it comes to Botox. It has become an option to treat some cases of leaky bladders, excessive sweating, gummy smiles and involuntary ticking or winking.
Dr. Craig A. Vander Kolk is a plastic and reconstructive surgeon at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore. He claims to have recently treated a brass instrument player who received an injury while playing the horn. Vander Kolk commonly uses Botox to treat what is know as trumpet-lip. He sees people from around the country from all the major orchestras for this same condition. “It does things to smooth muscles that help many conditions. It has so many different uses that it has changed things a lot for people”. “It’s helpful for many different conditions”, says Vander Kolk.
Dr. Joseph Eviatar is a board-certified oculofacial plastic surgeon and ophthamologist; he is also the medical director of Chelsea Eye and Plastic Surgery Associates. Eviatar claims that Botox can redo a ‘gummy smile’. “The vast majority of people have no idea they can get rid of a horsey smile by dropping their upper lip a little.”
“It is also useful to treat people who have had a stroke”, says Dr. Noah Rosen. Rosen is a neurologist at the North Shore University Hospital and also uses Botox to treat involuntary tics and movements such as involuntary winking.
Dr. Peter McAllister has used Botox to treat bladder spasms and says “It can also be used to treat excessive sweating. McAllister is a neurologist in Fairfield, Connecticut and a clinical assistant professor of neurology at Yale University School of Medicine.
Vander Kolk says, “You can’t quite call it a miracle drug, but it’s an amazing medication.” Other doctors are beginning to agree with him about the many possibilities that Botox could have for patients with all sorts of different conditions.
