Safety, tolerability and efficacy of incobotulinumtoxinA for the long-term treatment of upper facial lines

Non-invasive cosmetic procedures have become increasingly popular in the UK in recent years, including procedures involving the neurotoxin, botulinum, a highly effective drug for the treatment of facial lines (Li and Filobbos, 2020). Between 2002 and 2011, the number of people having cosmetic surgery procedures increased by approximately 285% (Nassab and Harris, 2013; Li and Filobbos, 2020). Although the overall safety and efficacy of botulinum neurotoxin treatments is good, around one in five clients report being unsatisfied with the results of their treatment, or experience an adverse effect (Sethi et al, 2021; Zargaran et al, 2022). In aesthetic practice, lines in the upper face (glabellar lines) are commonly treated with repeat-dose injections, but there have been some concerns regarding the long-term effects of repeated treatments with the most used formulations (Carr et al, 2021) such as the gBoNT-A and BoNT-B. It is therefore important for clinicians to understand the safety and efficacy of these elective procedures when offering them in practice.