Some patients claim a resistance to Botox and this is a recent article about how to overcome this resistance
Botox is an effective injection method for diminishing certain undesired facial expressions. For the vast majority of patients, it works very well and will continue to do so with endless repeat treatments. But there is a very small percent of patients who either don’t respond well or find that ongoing treatments become less effective. In many of these cases, the source of the problem is how the Botox was reconstituted, its age, and how it was injected. But this doesn’t apply to all of these ineffective patients; the problem likely lies in their receptiveness to the Botox molecule.
A new medication designed to treat these ineffective Botox patients is now available. Zytaze is a zinc and phytase prescription medication that is used prior to Botox treatment. It was studied in the medical condition of blepharospasm, which is uncontrolled eyelid twitching, and is one of the original FDA-approved uses of Botox from the early 1990s.
In a series of 44 blepharospasm patients who responded poorly to Botox injections, control of their blepharospasma was difficult to achieve. In these patients, Zytaze was given in oral tablet form 4 days prior to Botox injections. The study shows that 93% of the patients improved the effect of their Botox injections or how long they last.
No explanation was provided for the mechanism as to why this supplement would be effective or how it works. Furthermore, whether its effectiveness in blepharospasm would translate to the more widespread use for the treatment of undesired facial expressions is unclear. One would assume that it would since it is not only a facial muscle but an associated periocular muscle, as well.
For patients suffering from Botox "fatigue" or resistance, Zytaze oral medication may be worthwhile to try. But don’t think that taking it will make the Botox last longer—unless the patient exhibits less effectiveness than what you had shown previously.
