Allison has been asked to appear on Calendar again, this time to comment on an outrageous report that has been mentioned in various media including Woman’s Hour.
(We’ll refer to Botulinum Toxin A as “Botox”.)
Around 900,000 Botox treatments are carried out in the UK each year. The authors of this report, which is presented like a scientific paper, claim to have found 452 (69% of 655) people who say they’ve had “long-lasting adverse effects” following Botox treatment but, by their own admission, they completely fail to establish the treatment as the cause. A condition without a cause isn’t an effect, it’s just a condition.
As an example a number of people will suffer tonsilitis after having a scale and polish at their dentist. Are we supposed to conclude that a scale and polish gives you tonsilitis? Of course not.
In conversation with Allison Dr Patrick Treacy (author of 5 books on aesthetic medicine and voted best Aesthetic Practitioner in the world) said, “Over thirty years there is no medical or scientific data to support this paper. This paper is poorly written and has no scientific relevance.”
Dr Treacy commented that, in over 45,000 Botox treatments, he’s never witnessed one single patient having long-lasting adverse effects. Not one. After around 13,000 treatments Allison’s experience is the same.
The question is who would benefit from people believing Botox isn’t a safe treatment? Plastic surgeons certainly would. The number of cosmetic surgeries carried out in the UK fell by a staggering 70% between 2015 and 2021 as more and more people are opting for temporary, safer and less expensive treatments such as Botox.
This research panel doesn’t include a single Aesthetics Practitioner but who does it include?
• David Zargaran, UCL Department of Plastic Surgery
• Alexander Zargaran, UCL Department of Plastic Surgery
• Sara Sousi, UCL Department of Plastic Surgery
• Hannah Cook, UCL Department of Plastic Surgery
• Alexander Woollard, UCL Department of Plastic Surgery
• Afshin Mosahebi, UCL Department of Plastic Surgery
I think we can draw our own conclusions.
Don McCarron.