Botulinum Toxin as a Scar Treatment

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Botulinum toxin is a versatile injectable. Its function extends to more than just in aesthetics and treating glabellar lines and crow’s feet. Dermatologists use it for hyperhidrosis, while some other physicians use it for migraines. 

Scars have been a popular topic in the start of the year. It appears that many breakthroughs have been made and that scars are becoming more of a concern than ever. Among the topics that are of relevance are the perception of scars by patient against physicians’ and scar healing by using fat to regenerate myofibroblasts.

It is inevitable that scars appear in most plastic surgery procedures. It seems that scar appearance is an area of concern as physicians try to examine different methods to reduce it. Botox is an option for many physicians to treat scars, as opposed to known conventional methods such as silicone, surgery, and corticosteroids (Monstrey et al., 2017).

The discussion of botulinum toxin with regard to scar treatment is very limited, but many researchers found that botulinum toxin can be another alternative in treating scars. Other non-surgical alternatives like lasers, fat injections, and even hyaluronic acid are examined by different researchers as well.

A recent study shows that immediate post-surgery Botox injection could create a better scar appearance as opposed to delaying the Botox injection days after (Hu et al., 2018). The participating authors used saline to treat the other side of the scar side of the scar. Nineteen scars were evaluated in the study, and the authors used the Vancouver scar scale and the visual analogue scale. However the study is limited to only 14 patients.

Findings:

  • The Botox side of the scar reduced in appearance and narrowed as opposed to the side injected with saline.
  • Patients did not experience adverse effects.

Botulinum toxin remains as a cosmetic powerhouse. Many researchers continue to find other uses of Botox, mostly for cosmetic and rejuvenating purposes. The use of the injectable would not slow down in the coming years, and it will continue to rise in the coming years.

http://www.jprasurg.com/article/S1748-6815(14)00173-9/fulltext
https://journals.lww.com/plasreconsurg/Fulltext/2018/03000/Effects_of_Botulinum_Toxin_on_Improving_Facial.14.aspx