Rhiannon Ingle
A set of identical twins have revealed the results after one used Botox for 13 years whilst the other didn’t.
Botox, which works by injecting a toxin to prevent a muscle from moving for a limited time, are often used to smooth wrinkles on the face.
Now, while we should all know by now that ageing is a privilege and we should all love the skin we're in, it's clear there's a massive market for Botox, with an estimated 900,000 people getting the injections in the UK each year, making it the most common cosmetic procedure here.
But, what are the long-term cosmetic effects of injecting yourself with millilitres upon millilitres of the stuff over a decade?
Advert
Well, a study conducted by researcher William J. Binder showed exactly that.
The research studied two women, referred to as Twin 1 and Twin 2, and saw the latter receiving regular treatments of Botox on the forehead and between the brows around two to three times each year, while the other had undergone minimal work.
The study happened over a period of 13 years, with the first check-in starting back in 2006.
Before-and-after pictures were taken of both women showing that, unsurprisingly, Twin 2 had noticeably smoother skin and less deep wrinkles on her forehead.
Twin 1, who had only received a couple of Botox shots in her life, had more visible forehead wrinkles and crow's feet lines around her eyes when she smiled - a feature less prominent in Twin 2.
"The differences between the twins in the severity of their forehead and glabellar lines are attributable to the difference in the number of Botox treatments that each received over a long period of time (rather than a greater propensity for skin aging in the minimally treated twin)," the study stated.
Then, six years after the experiment started in 2012, Binder followed up on the study to learn more about the impacts of Botox when the twins were around 44-years-old.
At this point, Twin 2 had less noticeable wrinkles around her mouth compared to Twin 1, who also appeared to have a fuller jaw, however, it's not clear whether Botox was a factor in this outcome.
While the twins both worked indoors, wore suncream when they went outside and didn't have any other treatment to alter the condition of the skin, they did live in two different places; Twin 1 lived in Munich, Germany, while Twin 2 lived in Los Angeles, California.
Concluding his findings, Binder said: "Regarding the aesthetic quality of their skin, consistent long-term treatment with onabotulinumtoxinA [Botox] seems to be the only major difference in the lives of these twins."
"With long-term treatment, the patient may become used to having little, if any, need or ability to contract the target muscle and may eventually 'learn' to avoid even trying to contract it," he continued.
"It is also thought that, by relieving the mechanical pressure of chronic muscle contraction in this way, dermal remodelling may be facilitated."