A new study published by the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology reports that using Botox may actually cause additional wrinkles. But before Botox fans start working on their worry lines, it’s important to understand specifically what the study notes, and what it doesn’t.
David Becker, MD, an assistant professor of dermatology at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, says that when a patient uses Botox to immobilize certain areas of the face, other facial muscles will remain active when the patient tries to express emotion. Since any repeated muscle movement can cause wrinkles over time, the study is recognizing that the face will still move even with Botox in certain areas, and those movements can cause wrinkles.
"Paralysis of a set of muscles," he suggests, "might lead to recruitment of other muscle groups in an attempt to reproduce the conditioned activity being blocked, resulting in more prominent muscle activity in adjacent regions."
Additionally, it is noted that the movement of muscles untreated by Botox may result in more "nontraditional" wrinkles. Rather than "crow’s feet" wrinkles around the eyes, a "bunny line," or horizontal line across the bridge of the nose, may appear.
[Source: The (UK) Daily Mail]