I mentioned that I might be interested to Botox to get rid of some wrinkles– the 3 or 4 rows of lines which used to appear only when I raised my eyebrows are starting to etch themselves into my forehead. My mother shrieked in horror because she thought the Botox was vile – a poison. Fact of the matter is, Botox does indeed have an illustrious history. It is a neurotoxin commonly produced by bacteria and was first used by a doctor in San Francisco in a purified form to correct strabismus (a squint). He injected Botox into the overactive eye muscle to cause a temporary paralysis of that muscle, which allowed the other muscles to function more normally, correcting the squint. In 1987, Botox started to be used formally for correcting muscular disorders of the eye such as strabismus and blepharospasm (uncontrollable twitching of the eyelids). In 1989, Botulinum Toxin A was licensed by Allergan Inc. Botox subsequently found its use in various other health conditions such relieving severe Continue Reading