Botox injections outside of medical settings, often promoted on social media, are illegal and can have serious health effects, the drug agency warned Thursday after eight women were hospitalized with severe symptoms of botulism.
These severe symptoms were observed in people who had to be admitted to intensive care in the Paris region between August and September 2024: "difficulty speaking or swallowing, difficulty walking, blurred or double vision, breathing difficulties that may require a tracheotomy," the ANSM detailed in a press release.
Botulism is a serious neurological disease whose symptoms appear 24 to 48 hours after injections "for cosmetic purposes, by unqualified persons" of Botox, an injectable product used in cosmetic medicine to temporarily improve the appearance of wrinkles.
These cases required "immediate hospitalization in intensive care: for some of these women, we were in life-threatening situations," Mehdi Benkebil, director of surveillance at the drug agency, told AFP.
In recent years, sporadic cases have been noted, "but this is a cluster, an exceptional situation," he said, as all the women hospitalized had been injected - "in the face and around the eyes" - in the same center in the Paris region, with adverse effects mainly linked to an "overdose."
Also used to treat certain muscular or neurological disorders, botox or botulinum toxin is a medication that "only doctors specializing in plastic, reconstructive and aesthetic surgery, dermatology, face and neck surgery, maxillofacial surgery and ophthalmology can purchase and administer," recalls the ANSM.
Any "aesthetic provider" who administers it to their clients "is acting illegally and endangering their clients' health," added the drug agency, which referred the matter to the public prosecutor in September 2024. The center was subsequently closed, Mr. Benkebil said.
The ANSM therefore calls for "the greatest vigilance in the face of dangerous practices which may be promoted via social networks and constitute an illegal practice of medicine."
According to the French Medical Association, illegal medical and surgical procedures for cosmetic purposes are experiencing a worrying increase in France. In 2024, the number of reports reached a record 128, compared to 123 in 2023 and 62 in 2022.
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