BOTOX® for anxiety?

In a study published in the journal Scientific Reports, December 21, 2021, and conducted by Researchers at Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at University of California San Diego. anxiety was found to be significantly less in patients who had received Botox injections at four different sites, and not limited to the forehead.

Although anxiety is not an FDA-approved indication, the study was ironically based on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s Adverse Effect Reporting System (FAERS) database, which contained reports from nearly 40,000 people who reported what happened after they received Botox treatment for a variety of reasons.

According to the study, anxiety risk was found to be 22 to 72 percent lower in Botox-treated patients.

On May 31, 2022, clinical and experimental evidence for the Treatment of Depression with Botulinum Toxin was published in Toxins. In this review, the novel use of botulinum toxin into the frown area (glabella) was described as a novel therapeutic approach in the treatment of depression.

Although, we are not outright promoting Botox as a substitute for established treatments of anxiety and depression, which require medical evaluation, assessments, and oversight, we suggest that approved uses for Botox Cosmetic and Botox therapeutics may in the future be considered as an adjunct to treating anxiety and depression, a leading cause of disability.

If true, these potential benefits of Botox would be serendipitous!