The FDA just approved Botox for cosmetic use

April 16, 2002 11:57 AM

The FDA just approved Botox for cosmetic use -- all the more reason to celebrate with a Botox Party! Join us as we sip cocktails, eat hors-d'ouvres and have botulism injected into our foreheads! Is this really "the Tupperware party of the new millennium?"
posted by me3dia (6 comments total)

From the Wall Street Journal's story on Botox parties:

Botox parties are the latest marketing gimmick by dermatologists, plastic surgeons and other doctors who see it as a way to treat many patients at once -- and as a way to create a buzz and more business. These intimate, though controversial, private gatherings redefine the notion of house calls. For patients, mixing cocktail hour with cosmetic injections takes some of the anxiety out of the procedure. And for doctors, providing Botox to as many as 10 patients in less than 60 minutes offers a potential financial boon. The treatment costs between $250 and $1,000, and must be repeated every three-to-six months.

I just can't wait to see how long it takes for this to get onto Sex in the City. Ridiculous.
posted by me3dia at 11:59 AM on April 16, 2002

"...have botulism injected into our foreheads!"

Maybe you were being facetious, but I hate to see the misinformation spread. What is being injected is botulinum toxin, the toxin produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. Botulism is a disease caused by infection with that bacterium itself (some of the symptoms of the disease are caused by the toxin released by the bacteria, and others by the bacterial infection itself).

And as the physician Paracelsus noted in the 16th century, "the dose makes the poison" (1), a principle still recognized in toxicology today. That is, any substance (even water) is toxic if you ingest enough of it; conversely, any substance is non-poisonous in a sufficiently small dose.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 12:25 PM on April 16, 2002

I was, indeed, being facetious. I'm well aware that it's the toxin, not the bacteria, being injected, and the stories quoted make it very clear also. I said it mainly to dramatize the idea of turning a medical procedure (even a minor one) into an opportunity to party.

But thank you for explaining it for those playing at home.
posted by me3dia at 12:34 PM on April 16, 2002

Old news. We have been having Botox parties for the last 3 years in Atlanta. :)
posted by oh posey at 5:24 PM on April 16, 2002

Yet another reason I'm glad I left. :)
posted by Vetinari at 6:15 PM on April 16, 2002

Funny thing though...the doctor is from Pittsburgh. :)
posted by oh posey at 3:42 PM on April 19, 2002