Texas Personal Injury Lawyers – Jim Adler & Associates – Blog

Beauty knows no pain,” the old saying goes. But it does have a price. Illegal Botox scammers are paying with fines and prison sentences. Victims are paying with facial paralysis. What the beauty-seekers hoped would eliminate forehead wrinkles put some in the hospital. Botox is made from the toxin of a bacterium that causes botulism, a severe form of food poisoning. The scammers knowingly used a cheaper version of it that is not approved by the FDA. Twenty-nine people, including several doctors, were convicted of knowingly injecting the unapproved Botox into nearly 1,000 victims. The FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations (OCI) handled the case after four victims were hospitalized. There were no deaths and the paralysis was temporary. But the OCI uncovered instances of illegal Botox use across the United States, resulting in 68 arrests. Botox Cosmetic is the only FDA approved version of Botox. It is made from highly purified botulinum toxin. Small amounts of it injected between the eyes, affect the muscles ability to contract, smoothing out facial wrinkles for several months.