Not a lot of people might not know that Botox is a neurotoxin produced by a bacterium called Clostridium botulinum. It is, in fact, a potent poison. Less commonly known as botulinum toxin, it can pack quite a powerful punch. Scientists estimate that one gram of it is enough to kill a million people. Get a few extra kilograms, and that is enough to wipe out the entire human race.
What might not be realized by many is that the bacteria that produces Botox can be found in a variety of natural settings; doesn’t matter if it’s in Utah or Vietnam. It can be extracted from a variety of nature’s environments – in the soil, forests, and lakes.
Surprisingly, the bacteria also resides inside fished and mammals’ intestinal tracts, crabs’ gills and organs, as well as other shellfish. Because of this case, the bacteria that naturally spawned there are entirely harmless.
Clostridium botulinum begins to be harmful when its spores enter a vegetative state and multiply. It causes an illness called botulism. This may not just cause the individual to feel weak and exhausted, have a blurry vision, have speech slurs; it may also cause death. Symptoms progress into arm, chest muscles, and leg weakness. It will eventually make one vomit, have diarrhea and a swollen abdomen. As scary as it may seem, botulinum toxin can have a significant impact on the medical field when put into the correct use. Here are some botox uses:
1. Cosmetics
Everyone has heard of botox mainly because of this. The neurotoxin is often injected in areas that are prone to wrinkling. It temporarily paralyzes the underlying muscles of the area and thereby successfully reducing fine lines and wrinkles.
Because of its less invasive nature, Botox has become a reasonably popular cosmetic treatment. There are an estimated 6,000 botox treatments every year. Putting that into perspective, that’s over 16,348 people who afford the treatment every day. As technology advances, relatively old procedures like botox treatments are becoming cheaper and more accessible to more people.
2. Treatment for chronic migraines
Thousands of people have chronic migraines. This means that within a month, they get a minimum of 15 migraines. Crazy, right?
Studies have shown that Botox can significantly reduce the number of days within a month that these people experience this type of headache. It’s life-changing because, now, al these people can stop taking time off of work or important life events because of their migraines. The study showed that within two rounds of shots, their headache episodes were cut down by 50%, and 70% after the fifth round of botox shots.
Scientists explain that botulinum toxin might be working as a blocker for the neurotransmitters that are on their way to bring pain signals emitted from the brain.
3. Treatment for an overactive bladder
It has a 70% success rate, and the effectivity lasts for about six to 12 months. The patient will be administered with anesthesia before the procedure; then a telescope will be inserted through the urethra. The botox will be injected into the bladder wall. Do not worry; the procedure will not hurt.
Harnessing things that are abundant within our environment to advance the future of medicine is truly outstanding. Whoever thought of injecting poison to help cure the body must have been insane, but look at where we are now.
