The Botox Effect

The Botox Effect

Botox: Are facial expressions a thing of the past?

 

I found this today on an Internet site about longevity and had to ask myself more than once if I was reading a straight article or advertisement about the many splendors of Botox or if I was reading a satire that might have fit better as an advertisement in National Lampoon’s Mad Magazine back in the day. I couldn’t quite tell, so I’ll share a little bit of what I read and let you be the judge. 

 

This is the opening line from HERE and definitely caught my attention:

 

Rid your complexion of those pesky frown and expression lines from frowning, squinting, raising your eyebrows, and puckering your lips.

 

What audience is this particular Botox advertisement and website intended for? Is it really a site intended to tout the many benefits of Botox for poker players? Are facial expressions a thing of the past? Is it wrong to indicate how we feel through our faces? If this Botox advertisement is any indication, it’s easy to eliminate all of those “pesky” facial expressions from our faces in a safe and effective manner. What, you may ask, is Botox actually made of? Again, the same online advertisement has the answers to all of your most pressing questions about Botox, what Botox actually does, and what the origins of Botox are.

 

In effect, this SITE claims that Botox is a toxin and that the: 

 

The toxin is a substance that is made from these bacteria that has the effect of relaxing the muscles.

 

I don’t know about you, but to me, this explanation about Botox makes it sound almost as if Botox is little more than a toxic Ex-Lax for the face. Is Botox really something that we need injected into our faces every two to four months? Wouldn’t it be easier (and considerably more cost-effective in the long run) just to practice a permanent poker face for our public personas, appearances, and photographs? 

 

After the explanations on the website, there is what basically amounts to an informercial on the benefits of Botox. All of the women are in their forties and fifties and all report that the Botox treatment was short, but that it took a few days for the treatment to take effect. The funny about the “informercial” is that the women who supposedly received the treatment are most impressed that they still have the ability to use facial expressions and that they can even appear angry when it’s necessary. Fortunately, the women in question who appeared in the Botox informercial did not experience what is known in the medical community as the Nicole Kidman effect, which has given Botox and many of the doctors who perform Botox injections a bad name.