Botox wrestle with wrinkles

We spend billions of pounds worldwide every year on lotions, potions and anti ageing creams in the search for younger looking skin. The beauty cosmetics industry is a huge animal, churning out pot after pot of cream that promises to make you look years younger, reduce wrinkles and smooth out your skin. Some pretty amazing claims are made, many of which prove out to be far less effective in the real world than in the airbrushed world of advertising posters and glamorous models. Disappointment often goes hand in hand with the hefty price tag that some of these anti ageing treatments carry. So what are the alternatives to a bathroom cupboard full of abandoned creams?

Botox - the modern alternative

Cosmetic procedures have often been seen as the preserve of the wealthy. Plastic surgery, although highly effective in treating the signs of ageing, is still expensive and not everyone wants to go under the surgeon's knife. But an effective anti wrinkle treatment has been around for over 20 years now, and it's much cheaper than a face lift or a nip and tuck thanks to the surgeon. Botox originally developed to treat a condition known as Blepharospasm (a continuous squinting of the eye), has become an effective and commonly used anti wrinkle treatment. And not just by the rich and famous.

Botox is actually a toxin (botulinumtoxin), but is about as toxic as alcohol. It has no known permanent affect on the body, but its primary use is the remarkable affect it has on the texture of the skin. A Botox injection relaxes the muscles, which stops them from creasing the skin when we smile or frown, for example. By preventing the skin from being continuously creased by the movement of the facial muscles underneath the surface, the skin becomes smoother and lines and wrinkles less noticeable. The popularity of Botox as an anti ageing treatment has exploded in recent years, as prices come down and accessibility becomes easier. No longer do those looking to turn back the clock have to seek out high society and celebrity doctors to carry out a Botox treatment - it is now available at most high street beauticians and skin treatment clinics.

Comparing the cost

The immediate advantages of Botox are obvious - it works. The effects of a Botox injection are almost instant - within a few hours the skin appears smoother and lines and wrinkles are less noticeable. The best creams can only offer an improvement after continual use for at least four weeks. The other major benefit of a Botox treatment is the cost. Once expensive, a Botox anti wrinkle injection is now affordable for almost everyone, and its effects can last for several weeks. When you compare the price of a course of Botox injections over a period of a year to the amount you might spend on creams (that have no guarantee of success), pound for pound a Botox treatment is more cost effective than a bag full of anti ageing treatment creams.

In a society that still wants to maintain its glamorous image but is looking closely at the economics of anti ageing treatments, the numbers are starting to stack up in favour of Botox. Although the cosmetic cream industry is far from dead, it now has some serious competition in the form of this simple but very effective anti ageing treatment. Botox is here to stay, and it looks like its popularity is on the rise.