Thousands of men and women undergo plastic surgery each year.  According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons the most sought after plastic surgery is breast implants.  While thousands of people go in for a nip here or tuck there, according to the numbers, about 296,000 women had enlargements last year alone.  While that may be the top surgical procedure, Botox injections far surpass those numbers.  More than 5 million people had Botox injections to smooth away fine lines and decrease wrinkles.  Now the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved it for a completely different use.

Botox, its new use
Health officials have approved Botox for people dealing with bladder problems caused by spinal cord injuries.

According to a press release put out by the FDA, “Uninhibited urinary bladder contractions in people with some neurological conditions can lead to an inability to store urine. Current management of this condition includes medications to relax the bladder and use of a catheter to regularly empty the bladder.”

However, after several studies, Botox has been shown to relax the bladder and increase storage capacity and decrease embarrassing leakage.

Its effectiveness
Botox was tested on about 700 patients during two different trials.

“The patients had urinary incontinence resulting from spinal cord injury or multiple sclerosis. Both studies showed statistically significant decreases in the weekly frequency of incontinence episodes in the Botox group compared with placebo.”

Botox was injected into the bladder through a scope, which may require anesthesia.  The effects of Botox lasted about 10 months.

What’s Botox?
Botox is a drug made from a toxin, the same toxin that causes the life threatening type of food poisoning called botulism.  Doctors use it in small doses, which leads to weakening or paralyzing certain mussels and blocking certain nerve endings.  That’s why its used to remove the looks of aging.

While the injections have become widely popular, other competitors have come on the market, which is one reason some experts speculate the company is branching out to other areas.