A buzzing beauty trend aiming for a slimmer, contoured neckline brings a set of potential health risks that cannot be overlooked, according to medical professionals.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, “Barbie Botox” is a procedure that was initially developed to relieve back and shoulder pain by injecting botulinum toxin into the trapezius muscles. It has recently taken social media platforms by storm, with people touting it as a way to achieve a slimmer, more feminine aesthetic.
The hashtag #barbiebotox has garnered nearly 13 million views on TikTok as of September 18.
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This is certainly not the first beauty trend to be inspired by the Barbie doll, but the newly released Barbie film has helped give further momentum to such fads.
For instance, in recent months, the Barbiecore trend of wearing hot pink clothes paired with nostalgic accessories like plastic purses and ultra-high pumps has swept street fashion and haute couture.
Yet, while wearing a vinyl miniskirt is one thing, having Botox injections paralyze the main muscle responsible for holding up your head is quite another, which is why some doctors have urged caution to those seeking out Barbie Botox.
While not condoning the practice, Dr. Olaide Ajayi, a neurosurgeon with Texas Health Fort Worth and Texas Health Physicians Group, suggested in an interview with CBS News Texas that anyone interested in the procedure first research the risks.
“The worst [risk is] that the individual has significant trouble holding their neck up, which in extreme cases could lead to cases of chin and chest deformity, where one’s head, neck or chin literally touches one’s chest due to the lack of structures for the muscular support in holding that up,” Ajayi explained.
Moreover, since the neurotoxin paralyzes the muscles and stops them from contracting, they will shrink over time.
For such reasons, having an experienced medical professional perform the procedure — rather than one considered “off-label” by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration — would be preferred to reduce the risk of complications.
Still, some facilities have a general lack of oversight for Botox injections given by underqualified staff.
“There are no regulations on the type of doctor that can run a medispa,” said Melissa Levoska, a board-certified dermatologist and assistant professor at Mount Sinai in New York, according to Reuters.
“So, a family medicine physician or OB-GYN physician can technically open up a medispa, and now increasingly there are also physician assistants and nurse practitioners who are doing injections,” she said.
One reason for this is that the market for toxin-based injections is extremely lucrative, with over $3 billion in sales each year in the United States.
Young people are turning increasingly to Botox treatments, raising some eyebrows among medical professionals in terms of the potential long-term consequences. For instance, Shilpi Kheterpal, a dermatologist at Cleveland Clinic, suggested to Reuters that some treatments might lose their efficacy for regular users.
“If [young women are] doing high amounts of Botox very frequently … [it] may lose its effect over time, not just with Botox, but with the other products in the market too, because they all have some similar molecule,” Kheterpal said.
Since the effects of Barbie Botox are temporary, anyone wishing to maintain the desired results would have to repeat the procedure every three to four months.
