h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

'Botulinum toxin is an incredibly potent neurotoxin. Popularly sold under the brand name Botox, in 2001 over one million patients were treated in the United States. Sales in the United States exceeded $300 million in 2001'.

The bit about 'the most popular cosmetic treatment in the UK would sit comfortably here.



Despite its popularity most people Botox > Despite its popularity, TO most people Botox ...



'Botox has a strange place in the public's eye. Still stranger are the remarkable uses for this deadly neurotoxin'.

The strangeness is in its use as a cosmetic treatment - not in its medical uses, which capitalise on its property of being a neurotoxin.]

Very informative entry Friar. Well done!

Just 2 really small nits.

You have 2 footnotes after the word "neurotoxin" - you could probably put footnote 3 after the word "Clostridium botulinum".

Also the header "Botox is good" is doesn't really do it for me. It reads like a personal value judgement. What about "Positive Aspects of Botox" or something like that?

On another point, the text around spasticity is really good, but I was expecting just a tad more around the cosmetic piece. It's comparatively lighter on detail.

Otherwise I think this is nearly good to go.

'A bacterium called Clostridium botulinum produces seven forms of neurotoxin' > Bacteria of the species Clostridium botulinum produce seven forms of neurotoxin... (because there are several different strains each producng a different toxin)

'Botulism poisoning can occur from canned foods or poorly smoked meats or fish that have been tainted with Clostridium botulinum or its spores. Tragically, this can also affect infants (but not older children or adults) who ingest tainted honey7' >

Botulism poisoning can occur from canned foods or poorly smoked meats or fish that have been CONTAMINATED with Clostridium botulinum or its spores. Tragically, this can also affect infants (but not older children or adults) who ingest CONTAMINATED honey7

radio-
I corrected several bits:
tainted became contaminated
the bit about most popular in the UK was added (I hesitated as I did not have a reference for it)
the bit about species of c. bot. I fixed (how is that we didn't see that earlier? after a dozen readings I guess I kept glossing over it)

Thanks for all your help with this entry!

Wood-
Thanks for the input. You're right, the Botox is good was bad (heh) and I fixed it. I added a little to the cosmesis part, but most of the basics are covered earlier in the discussion of muscle spasm (appearantly it's h2g2 no-no to say the spasti** word).

Thanks all

Looking for more comments. . .

Hi Friar,

The hyperlink to the BBC News article isn't working. Check you've keyed in the URL correctly.

"There is a risk of the body becoming used to the botulinum toxin and generating antibodies to prevent it from working. Because of this risk, most doctors recommend distancing botulinum toxin treatments as far apart as possible and using as little medicine as is effective. Drug companies continue to search for the other toxins (Botulinum toxin A and B are used today) in an effort to avoid this antibody formation".

>There is a risk of the body becoming immune to the botulinum toxin and generating antibodies to it, thus preventing it from working. Because of this possibility, most doctors recommend spacing botulinum toxin treatments as far apart as possible and using as little toxin as is effective. (Note to Friar: Hmm! This is already incredibly low due to its extreme toxicity] Drug companies continue to search for the other toxin types (Botulinum toxin A and B are used today) to create a range which can be used successively to avoid elimination by antibodies. [Note to Friar: You won't avoid antibody FORMATION because antibodies will be created against asny foreign protein).

There is still s'thing niggling away at me and I think it's these two (separate) points.

1. There are some people , who have had muyltiple treatments, for whom the toxin is no longer effective. This is probably due to the immune response, and I think you should emphasise this point more strongly.

2. I think I've read that, for some people, botox is giving a totally un-natural look. This maybe linked to the fact that, as people age, there skin naturally becomes more wrinkly (acquires more character, I like to think!) Tyere is something un-natural/;weird about a relatively elderly person with a totally wrinkle-free complexion (sp!)

radio-,

Regarding dosage, the recommended maximum dosage per session is 400 units. Some practicioners use up to 900 units. There has been no evidence that the higher dosage sessions (those above 400 units) have contributed to either anitbody development or toxicity. The reason the limits are in place are because of theoretical risk.

The creation of new toxin strains for distribution decreases the likelihood that an antibody would be effective vs the toxin, if there is an antibody against A, then B, C, D, E etc would be effective.

I'll also make the point that treatment failure can happen.

As far as the way BoTox looks, that's kinda opinion-y (though I totally agree). I'd hate to tell people how they look. Many people love it. I did mention that some folks can have decreased facial expression with BoTox.

I'll try to make these points more clear...

Thanks again for the great comments.

Friar

This is the sort of thing I think you should emphasise more:

"One of the concerns about Botox is what already is being called "the Botox mask" -- a face that is flat and expressionless. Matarasso says that doctors trained in aesthetic surgery know exactly how to avoid this. But psychologists who study the social aspects of emotion say that when facial muscles are paralyzed -- no matter how tiny they are -- a person loses some ability to communicate". (If you Google this, you should find the source, coz I just cut & pasted it)

I added a paragraph, about the appearance issue.

I think it covers the point you brought up.

Does the new para help?

Yes, that's fine

"Botulinum toxin is an incredibly potent neurotoxin. Popularly sold under the brand name Botox, in 2001 over one million patients were treated in the United States"
Upon first reading that doesn't appear to make sense. It's powerful neurotoxin and yet it's sold under a brand name? What kind of a world are we living in fer cryin' out loud? What next - Sainsbury's selling AK47s? And what were this USians treated for?

I think it shoud be made clear that 'Botulinum toxin is both an incredibly potent neurotoxin and a cosmetic treatment. Popularly sold under the brand name Botox, in 2001 over one million patients were treated in the United States'

I do see your point. I'll take a look and reword that some.

Thanks.

Friar

What's up? Are we still in a state of work on this entry? Just thought I'd bring it to the top of the list.

Blimey, I'd forgotten alol about this one. Thought it'd been 'done and dusted' yonks ago!

This one is ready to go IMO.

Great Entry.

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