Derma Danger: Bogus Botox
Supply and demand. Botox popularity is on a steep rise, and with only one FDA-approved maker for a long time, Allergan, the price is also steadily increasing (higher than inflation). Naturally, a black market has appeared on the scene with counterfeit Botox products, mostly out of China. The Chinese have many great talents, but making reliably safe products just doesn’t happen to be one of them. BTX-A, Botutox, Estetox-A, Refinex, Novotox, Canitox, QuickStar and Linurase are all such products.
Yesterday, several Seattle injectors were accused of using these harmful and non-FDA-approved substances. Earlier this month, 5 injectors out of an Albany plastic surgery office pleaded guilty. How can you know your face-puffer is legit?
-Never get Botox at a ‘party’, or anywhere else besides a doctor’s office. That this even exists is ridiculous.
-Ask to see the holographic sticker Allergan has put on the bottle.
-If the price is too low, don’t go.
-Check with the American Society of Plastic Surgeons for information and provider info.
-Even legit Botox isn’t always safe, so make sure there is emergency equipment/care on-site.
Dysport is the only other FDA-approved injectable similar to Botox that may be available at a slightly cheaper price. Oh, and also important, bong hits are apparently safe to do while getting injectables, although not FDA-approved and often done at a party….
Nice site!
In fact, the “unapproved substitute” botox” was a purer, safer, longer-lasting version of the “approved” product, and according to the 2004 press releases, hundreds of doctors in the U.S and abroad effectively treated thousands of patients without a single problem or complication. Identical preparations of purified botox are approved worldwide and will be approved here in the U.S in a year or so. So why have the FDA and DOJ prosecuted these cases so vigorously, using an obscure statute intended for drug manufacturers, even now, 5 years after the fact?
The FDA has no authority over and does not regulate the practice of medicine, and there is no Federal law prohibiting a physician from using an “unapproved” drug. When one looks past the FDA and media “spin”, the alleged offense being prosecuted is the MARKETING (i,e. the “Misbranding”), not the actual USE, of the product. So in fact the FDA is NOT “protecting the public health”, but apparently it IS protecting SOMETHING, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what that “something” is-just follow the money!