Do it yourself Botox? A very bad idea.

Do-it-yourself Botox..... a really bad idea.

I had heard rumors that you could buy Botox "do it yourself kits" on line but frankly I didn't believe it. I was stunned to find that it is true. Not only botox but dermal fillers as well. Here are a couple of things to keep in mind if you are the "do it yourself" kind of person.

1. It is illegal to sell and illegal to buy without a prescription.
2. Such operations can and will be shut down. You could loose your investment as well as be prosecuted.
3. The pricing is so low that the products can not be legitimate. The wholesale cost to physicians with bulk discounting is 2-3 times what these wesites are offering. I don't like the fact that these raw products are so expensive either, but that is the market pricing.
4. These ares not FDA approved BOTOX or dermal fillers. What is it? Who knows.
5. I've done thousand of injections. Its one thing to inject someone else, a completely different thing to inject yourself in a mirror. Everything is reversed and you lose depth perception.
   
6. Ask yourself this question. Would you want the doctor injecting you to be experiencing the pain of injection right at the moment he or she is focusing on making an artistically placed injection in you.
7. My moto is "you can't rush art", and you sure can't make good art while under the stress of self inflicted pain.

Do-it-yourself Botox business busted in Mansfield

by REBECCA LOPEZ / WFAA-TV

Posted on November 25, 2009 at 10:00 AM

Related:

• Attorney General's lawsuit against Discount Medspa and Ontario Medspa (PDF)

MANSFIELD -- Undercover officers raided the home of a Mansfield woman who they say was selling do-it-yourself wrinkle treatments.

Police confiscated boxes, computers and more at the home of Laurie D'Alleva. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott charged the Tarrant County woman with illegally offering prescription drugs -- including botulinum toxin (Botox) injections -- without a license.

The legal action also alleges that D'Alleva operated illegal Web sites to market her products. The state obtained a restraining order to keep her from selling the drugs and shut down her Internet sites, Discount Medspa and Ontario MedSpa.

The sites included video demonstrations of how to use the prescription drugs, along with customer tesimonials about the results they were getting.

Doctors caution that self-injecting or taking any drug without the authorization of a doctor can be harmful -- even deadly.

The state said D’Alleva falsely claimed that her membership in the "Texas Medical Council" authorized her to sell prescription-only products. There is no such organization.

According to court documents, undercover investigators bought a “Newbie Starter Kit” from D'Alleva which contained the prescription Restylane in a filled syringe. They also purchased Dysport and Freeze, both of which contain purified neurotoxins, which are used for wrinkle-reduction.

Empty syringes, needles and other pharmaceuticals were also seized at D'Alleva's home.

Residents of the quiet Mansfield neighborhood said they were surprised when they saw officers entering the residence.

"I thought she was a housewife," said Dana Child.

The Attorney General's office is seeking civil penalties of up to $25,000 per violation per day.

Dysport...the new Botox? Is it safe?

A lot of my clients have asked me about the new product Dysport. Like Botox, it is a form of botulinum, which is a neurotoxin that relaxes muscle movement. Botox is a known drug with a long safety record and Dysport is the new guy on the block that has his own reputation to make. Data has shown that the two have comparable efficacy, but Dysport can migrate to a larger area. The good...you can cover larger areas with one injection...the bad...it may be that you have a greater risk of getting the toxin where you don't want it (ie. a droopy eyelid. It also requires more units of Dysport to get the same effect as Botox. There have been reports that it works faster and lasts longer...but there is no hard data on that. Dysport is FDA approved, but it may not be quite as safe as Botox because injector's do not have as much experience with the new drug. Doctors have been using Botox for 20 years or more and when you look to the guy in the neighborhood whose got your back....you want the guy that's been around the block a time or two.
Hopefully a little healthy competition among manufacturers will help bring the price down as the makers of Botox have had a virtual monopoly for years. However, at this point I trust botox and I am going to take a wait and see attitude toward Dysport. You know the saying..."If it ain't broke don't fix it".