Botox – an injection that temporarily prevents formation of wrinkles by paralyzing facial muscles – is the most common cosmetic procedure in the United States. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, some 4.6 million people receive the treatment annually.
Today, there is new evidence that the wrinkle-reducer is hampers the ability to understand what others are feeling.
A new study has found that people who have had Botox injections are physically unable to mimic the emotions of others, ultimately preventing them from understanding what others are feeling. The New York Times summed up the research in a recent article.
In the study, women who had been injected with Botox looked at a set of photographs of human eyes and were asked to match them with human emotions. They were compared to a control group, who received a facial injection that does not paralyze facial muscles.
Those who received Botox were significantly less accurate at identifying emotions compared to the control group.
While this is just one study, it’s good evidence that you can never know the full impact of a medical treatment until you investigate all of the possibilities.
But maybe the egotistical who seek Botox in the first place never had those qualities to begin with.