Happiness Can Be Achieved with Botox, Scientists Say

Because of the massive (yet unofficial) celebrity endorsement it receives, Botox has often been flagged as a too fake procedure that, aside from eliminating frown lines and wrinkles, also “freezes” the face, leading to quite a plastic-looking countenance. However, it is precisely this quality that the treatment has that can ultimately boost happiness, as a new study reveals.

Researcher Michael Lewis will argue for the British Psychological Society today, during its annual meeting, that, because our facial expressions influence our mood, Botox actively brings about happiness because it completely eliminates all possibility of other types of expression. In other words, because Botox makes us look happy, we actually are so, as a recent study has revealed.

“When you make an expression of happiness, it makes us feel happy. If we frown, it makes us feel sadder.” Dr. Lewis says for the Daily Mail. This conclusion has been reached following a study on 25 volunteers who had been given different beauty treatments, including Botox, cosmetic peels, laser surgery and other treatments to improve wrinkles on their face. At the end of the trial period, it was established that the subjects who had been given Botox were actually less irritable, anxious and depressed, which automatically links this treatment to a boost in happiness, researchers believe.

Further studies might hold the key for the development of a new drug for depressive illnesses, Dr. Lewis also adds. However, while the finding that Botox positively influences one’s mood because it freezes the muscles of the face is nothing short of a breakthrough, as researchers say, promoting it as a mood-booster would not be fair to patients, experts warn.

Nigel Mercer, president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, tells that selling the treatment as a mood-booster, a voucher for happiness of sorts, would be deceiving patients until further research is done on the topic. Moreover, studies should also establish if this side-effect is present in all men and women who have had Botox before marketing it as such, Mercer further adds.