For years, Botox has been the only game in town for relaxing the muscles that cause wrinkles in the skin. Dr. Irwin tells you about the new competitor to Botox, and what she thinks of it versus Botox.

Transcript:

This is Dr. Brandith Irwin in Seattle, Washington. I am doing this video blog for our website skintour.com.

And you know what, I think I want to talk today about Botox competitors because many of you are seeing in the media, in magazines, all these things about other Botoxes. It's confusing I think, for most people because well what are these others products and are they really comparable? And so, I'm going to make this really simple, which is that Botox has been around for 20 years. It's made by Allergan. It has an extremely high safety and efficacy profile.

But, now there are some new things. One of them is something called Reloxin. This is a product that has been in Europe for a very long time. In Europe it is known as Dysport. And so, this is another type of botulinum type A, so, very similar to Botox. And, I'm going to talk about in just a second about why I think there needs to be quite a bit...why they need to prove they are as good as Botox.

The other product that you sometimes hear about is called Myobloc, that is actually botulinum type B, and it's used mostly for medical purposes not cosmetic purposes, but you may see it mentioned sometimes in comparison to Botox.

Here's what the problem is, I think, with Botox's competitors at this point which is that I think they really need to prove that they work as well as Botox does, that they have as good a safety profile as Botox does, and that they are equally comfortable. So, in my opinion, why switch to another drug that isn't as proven as Botox is. In my opinion, Myobloc and Reloxin, and any of the other Botox competitors, need to prove that they really are able to step up to the plate on all those factors to compete with Botox effectively. I hope they can, personally, because I think it would bring the cost down for all of us. But, until they do, I'm really opting for Botox. Because…I have no financial interest in Botox whatsoever and I don't take any money from any companies for anything . I have no financial interest in this company. I don't act as an advisor—again I won't go into all the details, but I don't take any money from these companies, and I think that these other companies, the other Botox competitors, need to do the studies, put the time in, and do the hard work to prove to all of us that they are as safe and effective as Botox is. So, that's my thought on that.