 | | Pooja Bedi, who has been using Botox for three years now, is a vocal fan of the drug |
Celebrities may no longer be the only ones thankful for Botox. This drug, which is famous for its wrinkle-erasing properties, may soon be used to relax overactive bladders and cure migraines. The research clinic of Allergan, the creators of Botox, has been working on alternate uses of Botox. The pharma giant is optimistic about receiving FDA approval for the alternate uses soon. Pat Welch, vice president and managing director - Asia, Allergan, said, “Botox is already being used in India to treat juvenile cerebral palsy and post-stroke spasticity, even though these procedures are not sanctioned in the US. We expect a positive result on the research to use Botox to treat overactive bladders.” Dr Shailesh Raina, coordinator at Jaslok Hospital’s urology department, has been successfully using Botox to treat patients with overactive bladders for two years now. He says, “We used to perform clamp cystoplasty on the patients, which was expensive and confined the patient to the hospital for three weeks. With Botox, they can leave within a few hours and all it requires is the injection of 2ml of Botox at the cost of Rs 40,000 every three-six months.” However, Raina insists that doctors who administer these drugs need to be trained so that they do not cause pain or fatally harm patients. Botox usage is comparatively low in India with statistics showing that only 25,000 procedures take place in a year nation wide. | 
