Botox injections are used primarily for the reduction of facial wrinkles. They are also used in treating excessive sweating (hyperhidrosis), neck spasms (cervical dystonia), lazy eye, chronic migraines etc. Botox was the first botulinum toxin used, which is Onobotulinum toxin A. Dysport which is Abobotulinum toxin A and Xeomin which is Incobotulinum toxin A are also popular brands available in the market today. They all have the ability to prevent muscles from moving temporarily, thereby reducing wrinkles on the skin, especially on the face.

This toxin is produced by the microbe Clostridium botulinum, an anaerobic gram positive spore forming bacteria that causes botulism, a type of food poisoning. Seven different strains of botulinum have been identified and are categorized A-G, depending upon the type of botulinum neurotoxin produced. All of this neurotoxin varies themselves in the size, structure and mechanism of action. The most commercially produced and clinically relevant subtypes are A and B. Botulinum toxin A is thought to exert the most powerful neuromuscular blockade and is of longer duration of time.