Botulin toxin, sold commercially under the brand name Botox, is an exceptionally potent neurotoxin that has found a variety of remarkable uses in modern medicine. It is also the most popular nonsurgical medical cosmetic treatment in the UK and USA.
Researchers discovered in the 1950s that injecting overactive muscles with minute quantities of botulinum toxin type A decreased muscle activity by blocking the release of acetylcholine at the neuromuscular junction, thereby rendering the muscle unable to contract for a period of 4 to 6 months.
Alan Scott, a San Francisco ophthalmologist, first applied tiny doses of the toxin in a medicinal sense to treat crossed eyes and uncontrollable blinking, but a partner was needed to gain regulatory approval to market his discovery as a drug. Allergan, Inc., a small pharmaceutical company that focused on prescription eye therapies and contact lens products, bought the rights to the drug in 1988 and quickly received FDA approval in 1989. Allergan renamed the drug Botox.
Cosmetic benefits of Botox were quickly realized when the frown lines between the eyebrows appeared to soften following treatment for eye muscle disorders....