Recent research has explored a link between looking happy and feeling happy, tying BOTOX® use to lower levels of depression. The dermatologists at Western Dermatology Consultants weigh in.
Legendary jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong once sang, “When you're smiling, the whole world smiles with you.” And new research has shown that the outer smile that comes with wrinkle-smoothing BOTOX® treatment can actually ease a depressed mood. This research gives further weight to what clinicians—such as the board-certified dermatologists, dermatology physician assistant, and registered nurses at Western Dermatology Consultants, who provide BOTOX® to Albuquerque and Santa Fe area patients—have already witnessed. Patients who receive a beautiful new smile on the outside smile all the way through as well.
According to this recent published research presented during the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in Toronto, the procedure, most often credited for its ability to smooth wrinkles almost anywhere on your face, can also result in as much as a 9.8-point decrease in your depression score. Compared to the control group, according to the research, patients who had undergone BOTOX® treatment were 4.6 times more likely to see a remission in their depression. In other words, patients who underwent BOTOX® treatment were nearly 500 percent more likely to experience no more symptoms of depression.
The conclusion was based on a detailed review of five papers, which painted a consistent picture that showed a correlation between BOTOX® and a decrease in depression symptoms. Researchers aren’t 100 percent certain as to why, but they have a few ideas.
In Albuquerque and Santa Fe, for example, a typical BOTOX® treatment is administered through a fast and minimally invasive skin treatment that holds long-lasting effects. A small, very fine needle helps ensure little to no bruising as the BOTOX® works to block signals between nerves and facial muscles in order to relax those muscles and reduce all signs of wrinkles. Based on the early predictions from the study, the way we use our muscles actually has an impact on our overall mood.
In other words, a smile really does brighten your mood more than a frown.
“Whatever you do with the muscles in the face actually send a signal back to the brain and tell your brain what the state of your emotions are,” Dr. Eric Finzi, a board-certified dermasurgeon in the Washington, D.C. metro area told Fox News.
Such effects have some doctors and psychologists excited about the potential to find new ways of treating depression. Earlier this year, Peter D. Kramer, MD, author of Listening to Prozac and Against Depression, told WebMD Health News, “It’s always hard to tell what’s going on, but it’s a very interesting time … .”
In fact, BOTOX® is now in clinical trials for FDA approval as a potential treatment for depression, which affected 7.6 percent of people 12 and older between 2009 and 2012, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
For patients in the Albuquerque and Santa Fe area who have questions, consider that the quick, simple operation lasts for four to six months after the treatment takes effect (this usually occurs in less than one week).
