I was sorry to see in your article entitled The Big Picture (TES Teacher magazine, September 17) that you missed the point about the significant benefits of Botox. Instead you concentrated almost entirely on its social use and trivialised its important medical applications.
Botox is widely used by medical specialists in the management of stiff muscles in children in conditions such as cerebral palsy, allowing significantly improved movement after treatment.
It has also been used to reduce saliva production in people who cannot swallow.
My three-and-ahalf-year-old niece who died recently of the disease spinal muscular atrophy type 1, a rare genetic degenerative condition, and who was unable to swallow, had huge benefit from intermittent injections of Botox into her saliva glands. Not a “toxic face fix” for her, but a life-enhancing treatment.
If this kind of article is to be used for educational purposes, it is important that The Big Picture should cover topics such as this in a more balanced way.
Elizabeth Cooper 34 The Thorns Marlborough Wiltshire
