Whilst there are a lot of different skin regeneration treatments available suitable for every need and every budget, the one that is perhaps more famous than any other is Botox.
Short for botulinum toxin, Botox is so well-known as a treatment that it has become close to a genericised trademark for any similar non-surgical cosmetic injection that helps keep the skin looking smoother and reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
It does this by freezing the muscles in a targeted area of the face, which is why many treatments involve multiple injections in very specific areas.
However, the cosmetic benefits of the treatment were a side effect of its initial use to help children and adults alike keep their sight.
Botox For Better Eyesight
A fairly common eye condition in children is strabismus, which is where your eyes point in different directions and consequently struggles to focus properly.
In children, the main treatment is to either wear a patch over the stronger eye to correct a lazy eye, do exercises to strengthen the eye muscles, use corrected glasses or have surgery. If it emerges later in life, surgery is more likely to correct it.
The surgery is relatively routine, but given that it concerns the muscles around the eye, it is very invasive for a treatment that is relatively short-term and often done on children. Doctors and surgeons looked for a better route and found it in a rather unlikely source.
Botulinum toxin is a poison that develops from the Clostridium botulinum bacteria and was initially found in contaminated black pudding (a type of blood sausage). As early as 1822, theories emerged about how it could potentially be used to counteract hyperactive nerves, although it would take nearly two centuries before this was the case.
In the late 1970s, several doctors, including Daniel Drachman, Alan B Scott and several of their colleagues experimented with injecting tiny amounts (mere picograms) of botulinum toxin as a potential way to stop the muscles around the eye from moving too much.
It was the most effective option after experiments with snake poisons, enzyme blockers, enzymes themselves, alcohols and anaesthetics of various kinds all proved to be ineffective.
The first successful treatment on humans was by Mr Scott in 1977, and by 1980 had become an effective front-line treatment for treating squints in children that would otherwise need medical intervention.
It took a long time for the treatment to become widespread, however. It was initially only approved for childhood strabismus although widely used off-label, and when the manufacturer Oculinum Inc. failed to get product liability insurance for a drug derived from a toxin, there was a major shortage that took four months to resolve.
Eventually, it would receive approval to treat adult strabismus and blepharospasm, an eye condition that causes involuntary eyelid twitches.
It has transformed the lives of many children and adults alike who have squints, as a simple injection can resolve the issue for months at a time and allow other treatments to be more effective.
Meanwhile, its approval meant that it was available to experiment with freely to help with cosmetic treatments, and plastic surgeon Richard Clark MD was able to help fix a botched facelift through botox injections.