Botox is a miracle drug that is mainly known for helping women (and men) look great. A new research paper reveals that some women are actually becoming depressed due to the fact that they are unable to smile due to the Botox restricting muscle movement. As you may know depression is a leading cause of suicide.
This all came about a few days ago after the BPS (British Society Conference) when Michael Lewis, a renowned psychologist revealed that Botox freezes facial muscles and can inhibit the signal that the smile sends to the brain when someone is happy enough to smile.
This kind of makes sense.
“The expressions that we make on our face affects the emotions we feel; we smile because we are happy but smiling also makes us happy,Treatment with drugs like Botox prevents the patient from being able to make a particular expression.” Lewis stated in an interview.
Lewis studied 25 different women who have had Botox (or fillers) for frown lines over a period of time. These women answered a series of questions and were queried on a number of different depression symptoms.
The findings
Those who were treated with Botox experience a “denervation of their frowning muscles” thus were no longer able to frown. These women were (noticeable) much more happy than other women that have had Botox.
“This interrupts the feedback they would normally get from their face and they feel less sad,” Lewis stated in an interview.
The goal here is to educate women on this topic, and to let them know that this may be the case.
One possible solution to this would be to use less Botox or facial fillers around the smile, to allow some more movement for a smile.