Is Botox Addictive and a Gateway to Other Cosmetic Procedures?
Botox is the most widely used cosmetic procedure out there and in the last decade the number of people using it had increased by a whopping 750 percent – but are people addicted to the versatile injection?
Dana Berkowitz, an Associate Professor of Sociology at Louisiana State University and author of “Botox Nation,” joins The Doctors to weigh in on the Botox obsession and figure out if it is a gateway cosmetic procedure.
While interviewing people and doing research for her book, Dana found that due to Botox being temporary as soon as patients began to feel its effects wear off, they felt compelled to go back to their dermatologist for further injections. People she interviewed referred to the injections as a “quick fix” and another said she was “crack-like” when it came to her Botox. Dana feels that the injections serve as a gateway to getting other work done including fillers and even more invasive surgeries.
She explains further the motivation behind her research and book telling The Doctors, “As women, we’re already told to wear makeup, dye our grey hair, count calories, remove all of our body hair and now we’re being told to paralyze our facial wrinkles almost before they even exist and I’m arguing that this is creating this lifetime consumption.” Dana stresses that she does not feel that getting Botox is either good or bad, but she worries that with so many people getting injections that there are a lot of people who end up looking the same.
Plastic surgeon Dr. Andrew Ordon feels that Botox on a regular basis is no different than the act of getting your hair or nails done. Dr. Ordon does admit the age of those getting the injections is younger and younger.
Watch: Long-Term Effects of Botox
Dermatologist Dr. Sonia Batra adds, “If you are doing it for the right reasons, not when you are 16, but when you notice something in your face… and you have a minimally invasive tool to fix it, why wouldn’t you use the technology?”
Where do you stand on Botox? Are too many people getting it too often and at too young of an age?
