Seriously, is there anything neuromodulators can’t do?
Recent studies have said injecting Botox into the stomach might be possible form of weight loss—and now doctors are saying they’re seeing patients who are curious what the next steps are.
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But it’s not exactly what you think…instead of the injection site being on the skin’s surface in the midsection, there’s an endoscope involved, and then (in a nutshell) the neuromodulator (Botox, Dysport or Xeomin) is injected into the actual stomach.
“You basically go in endoscopically, attach a syringe and inject the stomach muscle—anything that is a muscle, which the stomach is, can potentially be treated with Botox to relax it,” explains New York dermatologist Marina Peredo, MD, who does stress the appropriate doctor to perform a procedure like this would be a gastroenterologist.
So how does it work once it is injected? “You’re slowing down the speed at which food travels, so it takes takes food longer to stay in the stomach—and you feel fuller for longer,” she adds. “It’s a controlled amount of eating, and when you eat less, you lose weight.”
While this “gastric Botox” is not FDA-approved, Dr. Peredo says, in her opinion it is practical. “I think it is going to be a big trend, but it’s important to remember it is a complicated surgical procedure that is not without its risks.”
But Washington, D.C., dermatologist Elizabeth Tanzi, MD, says to consider this: To get that amount of Botox to render effective in that big of an area would be a VERY expensive form of weight loss. “It’s better to eat a clean diet, hit the gym and then spend that money on new clothes for a slimmer figure!”
