Botox may ease depression – even when used for wrinkles

Researchers at Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at University of California San Diego have mined the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)'s Adverse Effect Reporting System (FAERS) database to see what nearly 40,000 people reported happened to them after treatment with Botox for a variety of reasons.

In the study, published July 30, 2020 in Scientific Reports, the team discovered that people who received Botox injections – at six different sites, not just in the forehead – reported depression significantly less often than patients undergoing different treatments for the same conditions.

"For years, clinicians have observed that Botox injected for cosmetic reasons seems to ease depression for their patients," said Ruben Abagyan, PhD, professor of pharmacy. "It's been thought that easing severe frown lines in forehead region disrupts a feedback loop that reinforces negative emotions. But we've found here that the mechanism may be more complex, because it doesn't really matter where the Botox is injected."