Can Someone Using Botox Still Look Authentic To You?

In our society women are expected to wear makeup. So the exception is when someone doesn't. I used to be in the music business. One of our artists was k.d. lang. I never discussed it with her but she must have realized the same thing I did-- she had the most beautiful skin on earth. Using makeup would have covered up its other-worldly radiance.

But somewhere along the way men "in show biz" started wearing makeup to. Subtly. And women didn't just wear makeup, but started "getting work done"... to make them look more desirable. And then men did as well. And then, you know what happened? Non-performers in show biz-- executives, for example-- started getting work done too. Not just women, men too. I still remember when one of my more perceptive friends at work, Craig, said, "Oh, wake up! Everyone is dying their hair-- all the men in the company but you." And soon I was noticing they were either getting "work" done or, at least, getting shot up with Botox.

The idea of changing your appearance repulsed me. God made us look like this. Love it. It doesn't bother me any more. But it's not for me. (I do admit that after my stem cell replacement therapy a skin tag grew on my eyelid and I was relieved when my doctor said she wanted to remove it and test it. It was benign but I was glad to see it go.) Anyway, all this changing one's appearance spread rapidly out of show business and into show biz fans... i.e., everyone. And then politicians. It seems like a statement of dishonesty to me to see an elected official changing the way he looks or she looks. I always feel a little gratified when I see how ugly and hideous all those face lifts inevitably make them look. I know that's cruel.

And now we have Trump. As I've mentioned before, a friend of mine bought the medical practice where he was getting his work done, which included-- among other things-- regularly scheduled Botox shots. Even before Putin had him installed in the White House, Psychology Today ran a piece about how facial Botox changes your brain-- unintended neurological consequences make the cosmetic procedure far from benign.

Now that he is recognized by most as "president," the American Psychological Association, which is meeting this weekend in San Francisco is asking if he is giving America a nervous breakdown "There are no fewer than 15 symposiums, panel discussions and paper presentations devoted to the psychological ills that practitioners believe are spreading under the president. The list of Trump-related topics at the four-day conference covers the psychic waterfront. 'Metaphors and the Trump Administration: What Are Effective Responses?' 'Healing Practices and Models for Undocumented Students in the Trump Era.' 'Gaining Perspective: Intergroup Conflict Intervention With Trump Supporters and Opponents.' And, '#MAGA: What Pro-Trump Hashtags Tell Us About the 2016 Election.'... The political world is freaking a lot of people out."

In the association’s 2017 Stress of America survey, 57 percent of respondents said “the current political climate” was a top source of angst in their lives. More people were stressed out by politics than their family responsibilities (49 percent) or their health situation (also 49 percent).

Politics-related stress has never scored that high in the dozen years the organization has been putting America on the survey couch. Now, people who live in the world of the 50-minute hour are seeing poli-stress every day.

“We’re seeing it in our clients, we’re seeing it our colleagues-- people are on edge,” said Fred Bemak, a George Mason University professor who will be leading a symposium Friday on “The Impact of Global Politics and the Trump Era on Psychology.”

He's making us crazy, but has Botox made him crazy? Hard to say because he uses a lot of drugs to alter his moods, like Adderall, which have also impacted his mental health. Doctor Richard Cytowic wrote in Psychology Today early in 2015 that "The Injection of Botox to reduce facial lines and wrinkles has long been assumed to be purely cosmetic in nature. Hollywood’s rush to it has normalized the procedure and even given it an air of frivolity. New research, however, has revealed an unintentional and rather dramatic consequence: Botox injections in the forehead rearrange the brain’s sensory map of the hands. The scary part is that clients typically come back for regular injections, because the paralysis the toxin induces lasts only two to three months. The unanswered question is whether repeated treatments over a period of years results in permanent changes to one’s brain."

Botox is the brand name for botulinum toxin–a, one of the most lethal poisons known. The neurotoxin is produced by the bacterium Clostridium, a spore commonly found in plants, soil, water, and animals. The clinical syndrome of botulism, which is often lethal, typically occurs from either a wound infection or eating undercooked or improperly canned food. The toxin paralyzes muscles by blocking the release of acetylcholine, the principal neurotransmitter at the nerve–muscle junction.

For a long time we have known that the brain is plastic, meaning that it circuits and microscopic anatomy are malleable. They can physically change in response to a number of factors. For example, in violinists the brain map devoted to the non-bowing fingers is much larger than the same finger region in non-violinists. In newly-blind individuals learning braille, the cortical area devoted to the “reading finger” greatly expands into the suddenly unused visual cortex.

The brain maps of the hand and face territories lie next to one another in the sensory cortex. After hand amputations, tactile inputs from the face routinely widen and shift into the territory newly deprived of sensory input from the hand. Likewise, patients with facial paralysis due to Bell’s palsy or stroke have enhanced metabolic activity in the hand region of the sensory cortex. The principle is well established that the cortical representation of one body part widens in response to injury affecting another body part.

Based on this knowledge one would expect hand maps to increase after a patient’s face is paralyzed by Botox injections. And yet exactly the opposite happens. This suggests that the cortical reorganization to a limited Botox facial paralysis is intrinsically different from that observed after functional loss from amputations, facial nerve injury, or stroke.

The tentative explanation for this surprising observation is that the limited paralysis caused by Botox deprives the brain of sensory inputs normally generated by forehead movement. Even more unexpected is that both hands suffer a loss of cortical brain activity following a relatively small loss of facial movements.

And it's not just Trump... much of our political class has been poisoned as well-- Joe Biden, Mitt Romney, Nancy Pelosi in a tragic way (like Trump's sad, latest wife), John Kerry, Marsha Blackburn, Sarah Palin... Call me crazy but all this stuff make politicians look inauthentic-- another reason people are so drawn to political leaders who don't, whether Bernie Sanders, Randy Bryce or Alexandria Ocasio.