By Ashlea Tighe

Australians are becoming habitual users of Botox. Picture: stevendepolo

Each year Australians are spending more than 40 million dollars to look younger, but academics say we are forgetting the consequences of our ‘quick fix’ lifestyle.

Joseph Ajaka from the increasingly popular Cosmo Clinic says requests for Botox are on the rise.

“They’ve got nothing to lose because it’s a very very safe drug. My opinion is that in 10 or 20 years time as Napoleon Perdis has suggested, a lot of our generation will be getting it more frequently, and it will become like getting a haircut.”

But Botox may not be the miracle treatment it claims to be. A study from the University of Wisconsin in America has found people who use Botox to have slower reactions to negative statements. Researcher David Havas says that paralysed muscles affect how quickly a user responds in negative social situations.

“When you paralyse the muscles that are used in expressing negative emotions, then you’ll get a slowing down of comprehension for language about negative situations.”

Practitioner and user Joseph Ajaka says he doesn’t see the problem.

“Well I mean sometimes that can be an advantage can’t it? To delay your reaction is to be able to think about it before you actually express it.”

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But many are undergoing the quick and increasingly cheap procedure to maintain their youth without considering the serious risks. Dr Sidney Wolfe, director of the Public Citizen’s Health Research Group in America told CBS News that Botox can kill.

“The only approved cosmetic use is for wrinkles in the forehead and when people get it down in the neck and so forth, you’re asking for trouble. What happens is that this very powerful neurotoxin migrates from where its injected to the oesophagus, paralyses the oesophagus, you can’t swallow, you may choke, cough up food, water goes into your lungs, you get pneumonia, and you can die.”

So while it may be gaining in popularity among Australians, it’s important for users to consider the possible negative consequences before going under the ‘needle’.