Love hurts but Botox may help the heartsick
Who hasn't felt the pain of love lost? It's the subject of country songs and rock ballads belted out by the brokenhearted, but there's a trend doctors are observing that's related to the split with an ex called "Break-up Botox."
"It's actually quite common," says Dr. Ramsey Markus, a dermatologist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. "I see a lot of people come in when the marriage or dating relationship ends...I think it helps to restore confidence. Anytime you can do that, I'm all for it."
It's not all superficial either. Studies suggest this is more than skin deep. A German study of patients whose depression was resistant to other therapies found that nearly half of those who received Botox had improvement in symptoms. Why? The theory is that the inability to frown may actually improve mood, just like smiling can make you feel happier.
Another interesting phenomenon is that patients come in for Botox injections before joint bank accounts are split up. A chance to bill the soon-to-be ex for a pick me up that may help people put their best face forward, as they head into a new chapter.