Botox Injections May Lessen Depression

FDA database of drug side effects indicates the benefit may hold up no matter where Botox is injected.

Botox, a medication derived from a bacterial toxin, is commonly injected to ease wrinkles, migraines, muscle spasms, excessive sweating and incontinence. Forehead injection of the medication is also currently being tested in clinical trials for its ability to treat depression.

Researchers at Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at University of California San Diego have mined the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s Adverse Effect Reporting System (FAERS) database to see what nearly 40,000 people reported happened to them after treatment with Botox for a variety of reasons.

In the study, published July 30, 2020 in Scientific Reports , the team discovered that people who received Botox injections — at six different sites, not just in the forehead — reported depression significantly less often than patients undergoing different treatments for the same conditions.

Release date: 30 July 2020