Can Botox be addictive?
Keywords: botox – addiction – cosmetic surgery – prozac
A new study from Britain is causing a lot of controversy. According to this psychological analysis, Botox can be addictive. My immediate reaction was: So what’s new? All the way from Prozac to ADHD drugs to web surfing, we like to say that we are getting addicted to it.
A woman who puts on makeup each morning before getting out of the house – is she addicted to makeup? What if I always eat the same pizza because I like the combination of spinach, goat cheese, and sun dried tomatoes? Am I addicted to that pizza because I go out with my family each week to our neighbrhood restaurant? What if almost all my shirts are some shade of blue? Does that count as addiction to blue color?
In other words, while plastic surgery addiction is a problem, but regularly getting your Botox injections is not one of them. It is like your quarterly visit to the dentist or your annual physical checkup. Yes, you can argue whether people should be using Botox to looking younger but once someone makes that choice and decides to follow through, I am not sure it is addiction.
Doctor Simon Ourian agrees, callin the the use of the word “addiction” downright bogus. “Addiction is medically defined as a chronic disorder that is characterized by the repeated use of substances or behaviors despite clear evidence of morbidity secondary to such use. A quarterly use of Botox, as it was described in the study, absent any serious side effects hardly meets the criteria for diagnosis of addiction. A desire to look your best at all times is an inherent right of every individual. The findings have absolutely no connection to reality. High patient satisfaction following treatment is not the same thing as addiction,” he says.
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