The Continuing Evolution of Neurotoxins for Nonsurgical Facial Rejuvenation: An Introduction

Abstract

As aesthetic surgeons and medical practitioners, we always welcome the opportunity to offer patients new treatment options that have been tested for safety and efficacy. The approval of a new formulation of botulinum neurotoxin type A (BoNTA-ABO; Dysport [abobotulinumtoxinA], Medicis Aesthetics, Scottsdale, AZ) by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) offers aesthetic specialists in the United States just such an opportunity. FDA approval of BoNTA-ABO is for treatment of cervical dystonia in adults and for temporary improvement in the appearance of moderate to severe glabellar lines in adults under 65 years of age. Back in the 1980s, it would have been difficult (if not impossible) to predict that within 20 years, nonsurgical rejuvenation would be the fastest growing segment of most cosmetic practices. I am well aware that the 1980s may seem like ancient history to some readers of Aesthetic Surgery Journal . In fact, in the ‘80s—when I was a medical student, house officer, and junior attending—if a senior surgeon referred to “how we did it back in the ‘60s,” I would listen politely but usually considered the information largely irrelevant. Like many young surgeons, I held the belief that the world was different then. Today, that's probably more true than ever, but to understand how we arrived at the point where an entire supplement of the world's leading journal of cosmetic surgery is devoted …