Botox can have unintended side effects

An American study showed that when Botox is injected under the skin of the face, it can change the way the brain interprets the emotions of others.

Imitation helps the brain

The interpretation is associated with the expression “facial reactions”, which means that when we see someone’s face, people automatically imitate the expression we meet.

It is an unconscious process, but an important nonetheless. When our facial muscles imitate another person’s expression, signals are simultaneously sent to our brain, which helps us interpret the facial expressions we encounter.

In other words, the mechanism is important to our understanding of what other people are feeling. But when Botox is injected under the skin, you lose part of your facial expressions – and therefore also the ability to read other people’s expressions.

This was shown by US researchers in a study of ten women between the ages of 33 and 40 who all received Botox injections into the forehead as part of the experiment.

Before and after the injection, the women were made to look at a number of pictures of faces that looked happy, angry, or neutral.

As the women looked at the pictures, the researchers analyzed their brains using what’s called a functional magnetic resonance imaging scan — a scanning technique used to measure brain activity.

The ability to recognize faces

In their data, the researchers could see that activity changed in the women’s amygdala, the brain center important for processing emotions such as fear, after they received Botox injections. Changes to the same extent occurred when the women looked at the angry and happy faces.

At the same time, there were changes in the part of the brain called the fusiform gyrus, which is linked, among other things, to our ability to recognize faces. The changed response then emerged when the women were presented with happy faces.

The study published in Scientific reportsafter other similar research in this field, which indicated the same side effects of Botox skin tightening treatment.