Botulinum toxin was used to treat senile entropion in 12 patients by injection into the preseptal orbicularis muscle of the lower lids. It produced relief of symptoms in 10 patients but this was transient, lasting for an average of 14.8 weeks before orbicularis function returned. The technique is simple and easy to perform, and may be useful in selected patients, but surgery offers a more perma...

The treatment options for facial rejuvenation using dermatological, nonsurgical techniques have dramatically increased in the past 10 years. This follows the introduction of botulinum toxin and a variety of dermal fillers. The public interest in noninvasive treatments has changed the market beyond recognition with more physicians involved in providing services to satiate the demand. The impact ...

Botulinum toxins are among the most potent neurotoxins known to humans. In the past 25 years, botulinum toxin has emerged as both a potential weapon of bioterrorism and as a powerful therapeutic agent, with growing applications in neurological and non-neurological disease. Botulinum toxin is unique in its ability to target peripheral cholinergic neurons, preventing the release of acetylcholine ...

This session of the TOXINS2008 conference was organized with the aim to provide an open forum in which similarities and differences between the various botulinum toxin (BoNT) preparations are highlighted and discussed. To this end the organizers invited representatives of the manufactures of the four commercially available BoNT products, Botox, Dysport, Xeomin, Myobloc/Neurobloc, to briefly sum...

An important priority has been the development of quantitative methods for measuring the disability status of patients undergoing rehabilitation. Intramuscular injection of botulinum toxin is an effective new therapy for spasticity due to a number of causes.

A Sebastian Schroeder, Inga Koerte, Steffen Berweck, Birgit Ertl-Wagner, Florian Heinen 1 Department of Paediatric Neurology and Developmental Medicine, Dr von Hauner's Children's Hospital, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Munich, Germany. 2 Institute of Clinical Radiology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Munich, Germany. 3 Specialist Centre for Paediatric Neurology, Epilepsy C...

Hyperhidrosis is a debilitating condition characterised by sweating that exceeds the need of normal thermoregulation. Surgical management of primary hyperhidrosis by upper dorsal sympathectomy is the treatment of choice for intractable hyperhidrosis, however, paradoxically it may be followed by troublesome compensatory hyperhidrosis in a significant number of patients. The frequency of compensa...

The mouse LD50 assay is routinely used for potency testing of botulinum toxins. Unfortunately, this test is associated with severe pain and distress in animals and requires large quantities of mice. Here we used cocultures of spinal cord and muscle tissue as an alternative for probing botulinum toxins. Cocultures were prepared from mouse embryonic tissue (C57/BL6J) and cultured for 24-27 days. ...

In this Practice article by Antony Smith and colleagues (BMJ 2013;347:f5170, doi:10.1136/bmj.f5170), the section on use of botulinum toxin A for treating overactive bladder wrongly stated that botulinum toxin type A did not have a UK marketing authorisation for this indication. It should have stated: “At the time of publication (September 2013), most botulinum toxin type A preparations did not ...