Having Botox Injections in Your Face May Reduce Your Ability to Read Others Expressions

Botulism is caused by an anaerobic bacteria that is usually found in canned foods. The name means "sausage poisoning" because it was originally found in sausage with an airtight skin. This was before the use of sodium nitrate, or saltpeter, which prevents it. If you ingest the poison it is more often than not fatal. The bacteria itself is harmless. It's found in soil and you ingest it whenever you eat any kind of root vegetable.

But once it's in an airtight environment, it produces a deadly nerve toxin. A couple of teaspoons of the stuff, equally distributed, could wipe out half of the planet. It has been used in biological warfare. Even a single outbreak in food is considered an epidemic.

I almost had a run in with Botulism when I was in the restaurant industry. I got a call from the main office to check the serial numbers on some chili beans that had been recalled. I had just had a bowl of chili for lunch. When I checked the cans, all of the ones that I had in stock had the recalled serial numbers! The next few hours were very intense until the office called and said it was just plain old salmonella that had caused the illness.

Botulism toxin has some uses in medicine. The most common use is when it is injected into the face to paralyze the nerves controlling the muscle movements in the forehead. This is supposed to make the wrinkles look less pronounced. Having one of the most toxic substances on earth injected into your face, even in tiny amounts, shows you how far people will go to look better.

The only problem is, depending on which part of the face you have it injected, your face may look tight and stretched and you may lose your ability to smile or frown. That's bad enough, but recent research has shown that it may affect your ability to read others people's faces as well as they not being able to read your face because it has no expression on it. According to Medical News Today:

"Having Botox injections to smooth facial wrinkles dulls people's ability to read emotions in others, said two US psychologists in a study published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science recently."

The researchers suggest that we read other people's faces by mimicking their facial expressions. If you can't move your face like theirs, you may not be able to get a clue as to what they are feeling as they speak to you.

It's a little ironic that people pay for expensive Botox treatments so they can look better and improve their confidence in social situations, but then do worse because they can't read other people's emotions. We definitely don't want botulism toxin in our food, I'm surprised that we would want it in our faces.

Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/223242.php