A new technology that temporarily zaps away forehead wrinkles by freezing the nerves shows promise in early clinical trials, researchers say.
The technique, if eventually approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, could provide an alternative to Botox and Dysport. Both are injectable forms of Botulinum toxin type A, a neurotoxin that, when injected in small quantities, temporarily paralyzes facial muscles, thereby reducing wrinkles.
"It’s a toxin-free alternative to treating unwanted lines and wrinkles, similar to what is being done with Botox and Dysport," says study co-author Francis Palmer, director of facial plastic surgery at the University of Southern California School of Medicine in Los Angeles. "From the early clinical trials, this procedure — which its maker calls cryoneuromodulation — appears to have the same clinical efficacy and safety comparable to the existing techniques."
Palmer is also consulting medical director of MyoScience Inc, the Redwood City, Calif.-based company developing the "cryotechnology."
The results of the clinical trials were to be presented Friday at an American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery (ASLMS) conference in Grapevine, Texas.
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[Source: Health Day/US News & World Report]
