Botox Treats More Than Wrinkles

Everyone knows about Botox, the wrinkle-reducer that’s injected into the face to retain a youthful look. It turns out that the procedure now has a number of new uses. Botox can also reduce excessive sweating and relax facial muscles.

We’ve all seen models with flawless, porcelain skin. Forgetting that much of this perfection is due to hours of makeup and airbrushing, their skin probably does start out smoother than normal people.

The rest of us, with real-world skin, are left envious.

“I have open pores and very greasy skin around this area, next to the nose,” Botox patient Guadalupe Pensado said.

Those skin problems have bothered Pensado for a long time, but there wasn’t all that much she could do about it.

But now, she’s seeing facial plastic surgeon Dr. Kamran Jafri, who’s developed a new way to use Botox.

“Right along the cheek area here on the right side, we have some moderate pores there, and even as I’m working with the Q-tip I see a fair amount of oil production as well,” Dr. Jafri said.

A close skin exam confirms the problem, and the solution is intra-dermal Botox injections, which are different from the anti-wrinkle variety.

“It doesn’t go below the skin, it doesn’t go in the muscles below it,” Dr. Jafri said. “The injection is only in the skin, to affect the things that we’re seeing on the skin.

Dr. Jafri injects a more dilute Botox solution every quarter inch or so in the problem areas, and the treatment works by doing the same thing that deeper wrinkle injections do, only in the skin.

“Our skin contains these tiny little muscles, and these muscles are what give us goose bumps – they keep our pores open,” Dr. Jafri said. “By weakening those muscles, much like weakening the muscles that cause wrinkles, you actually cause the skin to tighten.

“You decrease oil production, and you help the pores shrink up a little bit,” Jafri said.

The treatment shrinks pores, and patients report reduced oiliness. In some cases, even the discoloration of skin that comes with acne is reduced as well.

Minutes after her treatment, Pensado can see a difference.

“I love it, look at my nose,” she said. “Of course I can tell.”

source: http://wcbstv.com/topstories/botox.pores.oil.2.869421.html