I’ve been reading your blog for a while now and was glad you covered botox in this post. I’ve always had a really bad frown line and have always thought that easing these frown lines would make me look a lot younger and fresher.

I stayed away from botox for many years due to fear of looking frozen just as many people often fear. After many years of careful searching, I finally found a doctor who I was confident could perform the shots on me in a safe manner while achieving the results I was looking for. It’s been a month since i got my first dose of botox and I am very happy with the effects. People say I look a lot friendlier and younger. I just turned 32 in January but poeple tell me I dont look a day over 25.

So far so good, no bad side effects or reactions. I think I’ll keep it up.

After reading your book, Beauty Confidential, I’ve loved coming to your blog to get the latest and greatest beauty scoop! I mean seriously, help navigating all those beauty products? Count me in!

But after I was perusing your posts this week, I noticed this one on Botox use. Frankly, I was kinda concerned. In this post you make Botox sound perfectly safe…which it might not be.

Just last Monday, Newsweek printed an article in their magazine called “A New Reason to Frown Does Botox get into the brain?–Troubling research contradicts earlier findings about the treatment.” Which discusses the use of botulinum, one of the deadliest poisons in nature and a possible bioterrorism agent, that is (in very dilute doses) in Botox and Myobloc. It seems like the earlier FDA tests didn’t catch the fact that this poison can reach your brain and spinal cord.

It surprised me to learn that “In 2005 scientists at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration analyzed 1,437 such ‘adverse events’ between 1989, when Botox was approved for eye spasms, and 2003. Most came from people who got Botox to erase their wrinkles, but the 28 deaths occurred in people who had received it for medical purposes.” The FDA also has “evidence that [serious reactions and even death] can happen in a broader population,” said the FDA’s Russell Katz. “Is it possible with cosmetic use? Possibly.”

“Now, the FDA’s Katz said that people getting Botox for cosmetic reasons should ‘make their own personal best judgment about this’ and ‘be aware that there’s the potential for’ the neurotoxin to spread.”

I don’t know about you, but I had no idea about any of this! I thought that since Botox had been used for so long, that it was pretty much guaranteed to be safe. Apparently, I was wrong. And I also think that other women who are considering Botox should be aware of all of this too. It might make a difference!

*A link to the Newsweek story I quoted can be found here…http://www.newsweek.com/id/131749.