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Ladies, you may be surprised to know what men talk about on “guy’s night out,” besides women and sports — “Brotox,” also commonly known to the rest of us as Botox (botulinum toxin A). The long-time cosmetic enhancement procedure, often linked to women, has now reached a wide group of men who desire to appear more youthful. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the number of men undergoing Brotox has gone up 10 percent from last year, but why? Amid fear of competition with younger folk in the workplace and in their personal lives.
“Any man’s afraid he’s gonna get bumped by somebody younger in business or personal life too. I think once he gets over the stigma of it being something feminine, I could see more men being drawn to it,” said an unidentified man to CBS Atlanta. Male patients express concern about their “employment and how it affects them in their job with their co-workers and with clients and people they meet.”
A multitude of men are currently making more appointments to “freeze” time and hold onto their eternal youth through this age defying treatment, but does the “freezing” effect work? Botox injections contain the bacterium Clostridium botulinum that can block signals from the nerves to the muscles so the muscle can no longer contract, preventing the onset of wrinkles when injected, says the Mayo Clinic. The treatment is used on forehead lines, crow’s feet, or lines around the eye, and frown lines.
The Botox procedure takes about a few minutes, with no anesthesia required. Patients will start to see results anywhere from three to seven days when the procedure begins to take effect. It is advised to avoid alcohol at least one week before treatment, and to stop aspirin and anti-inflammatory medications two weeks before treatment in order to reduce bruising associated with Botox.

Men have begun to adopt a more open attitude toward cosmetic procedures and have become more aware of the treatments available to them, as the age range of men being treated has widened. The BRO culture has fostered recent trends like the Hipster beard transplant, and now Brotox. The desire to climb the career ladder and keep up with the “younger-looking” has become the crucial reason why men opt for Botox — it’s surgery-free. Now, both men and women, vie to be the youngest and most desired of them all.

 
This News is brought to you courtesy of Dr. Bishara and The Paragon Plastic Surgery & Med Spa

The emergence of new formulations of botulinum toxin and other neuromodulators in the pipeline awaiting approval by the Food and Drug Administration signal a need for clinicians to stay abreast of the various uses and potential adverse events.
Since the start of its therapeutic use in the medical arena decades ago, the utilities for botulinum toxin have been expanding for clinical as well as cosmetic indications.
“Botulinum toxin has shown to be a very useful therapeutic tool in medicine employed for the treatment of varying indications including eye disorders, pain and neuromuscular disorders, but perhaps its most popular applications are seen in the field of aesthetic medicine for the treatment of frown lines,” says Alastair Carruthers, M.D., clinical professor, department of dermatology and skin science, Vancouver, British Columbia. “Despite its extensive use for numerous medical and aesthetic indications, I believe that we have only scratched the surface of its potential.”
Currently, four botulinum toxin serotype A (BoNTA) and B (BoNTB) formulations are approved by the FDA, namely onabotulinumtoxinA (Botox, Allergan), abobotulinumtoxinA (Dysport, Medicis), incobotulinumtoxinA (Xeomin, Merz) and rimabotulinumtoxinB (Myobloc, Solstice Neurosciences). Of these, the BoNTA preparations are the most widely used worldwide and the only ones FDA-approved for aesthetic use.
Bright future
The future of botulinum toxin therapies is very exciting, as new and innovative toxin delivery modalities are developed, such as the topical RT001 cream (Revance Therapeutics), which has yet to be approved by the FDA. This uncomplexed BoNTA topical product has been shown to traverse intact skin and achieve a result, Dr. Carruthers says, that could open doors for novel clinical applications, such as the reduction of redness, oiliness and sweating after a brief application of the neurotoxin.
“A topical neurotoxin that can target the sweat glands, sebaceous glands and vasculature could help to treat numerous dermatologic conditions. Although I don’t think that this is going to significantly impact the injectable market, such a topical modality may expand the market dramatically,” Dr. Carruthers says.
Injectable neurotoxins have been shown to be effective in the treatment of headaches and migraines, and topical neurotoxin products such as Revance have also been shown to improve this condition, representing a novel treatment option for patients.
Other evolving indications for neurotoxin therapy in medicine could be the treatment of depression. According to Dr. Carruthers, there is an increasing number of studies being reported demonstrating that the use of botulinum toxin in frown lines can help improve depression in many affected individuals. Other changes being made to the botulinum toxin molecule could result in radical changes in the treatment of pain syndromes in the future. Novel neurotoxin formulations in the works could significantly help alleviate the pain typically associated with those syndromes, he says.
“I have had experience with all of the available neurotoxins and though there are fine differences among them, I find them all to be effective. As we get to know these products better and learn from personal experiences and future studies, we may begin to distinguish areas for which one may be more suitable than the other for a given indication,” Dr. Carruthers says.
This news is brought to you courtesy of Dr. Mark Bishara and The Paragon Surgery & Med Spa