National / International News
Botox Appears to Ease Depression Symptoms
The Washington Post May 21, 2006 Page: A09 Shankar Vedantam
The Washington Post reports: The pilot study of 10 patients is the first to provide empirical support for what a number of clinicians say they have noticed anecdotally: People who get their furrowed brows eliminated with Botox often report an improvement in mood.
Alastair Carruthers, president-elect of the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery, agreed that the Washington study provides new insight into a phenomenon clinicians have noticed.
"Anyone who has injected much Botox into the frown area has had people come in and say they can't believe how they feel better as a result," said Carruthers, clinical professor in dermatology at UBC. "We've not really been able to put our fingers on why. We have been doing research based on appearance, but it may be due to some mood-altering effect of Botox that we don't understand."
