rarely hear from a patient … ‘my Botox seems to be out of use earlier than usual “… or … “I had Botox but does not seem to work.” A few patients, even suggest that they may be immune to Botox or being made resistant ot. Many physicians and even manufacturer representatives say that such immunity is impossible. But is it? Botox is immunity for real?

First and foremost any drug, no matter what its mechanism of action raises the potential for reduced effectiveness with repeated use. The classic example is that of antibiotics. (although this actually represents the resistance of bacteria that infect not necessarily how the body responds to it), but the immunity or the development of an immune response to a toxin, an artificial molecule that the body can recognize as foreign and harmful, is more likely. While I have most of the answers on the Internet as a source of absolute scientific information, there are not too many patients respond to different websites that claim a lack of response after injection or a dramatic abandonment of the effectiveness of a of years of use. (more common) While some, if not many, of these may be the result of the use of Botox overdiluted or old or poor injection technique, they can not be completely drug-related issues or the injector. Resistance to one serotype of botulinum toxin (Botox and Dysport) has been reported in some series of doctors, but the incidence is very low. (usually less than 1%) The point is … have been reported in professional medical journals in large patient series. Anectodal statements by some doctors as “I’ve never seen” and the like does not count as evidence. Never having seen this does not mean it exists. Most of us have never seen a platypus in the wild, either, but we know they exist.

Once you develop immunity Botox, what can you do? There is no absolute answer to this problem rare. Perhaps waiting a period of time (6 months to a year?) Before attempting to repeat Botox is one option to see if your immune response decreases. The other option is to use a different serotype, type B (Myobloc) and see if you get a response. In theory, different serotypes have slightly different molecules so that their immune response may be very specific to a single type.

If someone can be completely immune to Botox without injections, is a different matter. There will be no natural immunity to Botox because most of our immune systems have not seen before in the molecule. When a patient first of mine called me and said that had no response, the real test every time it shows that they actually have an answer that is not as deep as I thought it was. This is a question of managing expectations and doses, rather than natural resistance to the drug.

For now, the most common experience of patients in my practice with Botox is that patients actually develop a reduced need for Botox in time. After three or four treatments, many patients find that Botox seems to “take” and that only need injections twice a year instead of every three or four months. This is not because the patient has developed greater sensitivity to the drug, but because they are more likely to “review” of its expressions. that are learned movements anyway. Once you have not moved or have less movement of the muscles for a long enough period of time, you may have inadvertently retrained your expressions to some extent. Acquired Immunity

Botox is a real but rare. It usually occurs in the patient who has had Botox treatments for multiple, after a year or two, with less response to the dose tested, or sometimes no response at all. Botox without resistance before the exposure is more likely a problem of expectations and proper dosing rather than a natural immunity.