Wrinkle treatment now helps paralyzed patients walk again

Wrinkle treatment now helps paralyzed patients walk again

July 14, 2006

By LORI TUCKER
6 News Anchor/Reporter

KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- A medical breakthrough has been found in what's been a popular procedure to erase your wrinkles.

Now, Botox is helping paralyzed people walk again.

Doctors at UT Medical Center figured if the toxin can smooth out facial muscles it can smooth the trembling in legs, arms, and back muscles of people who are paralyzed.

Thanks to the new treatment, Barry Wells is walking again after an assault left him paralyzed from the neck down 6 years ago.  

Now, every three months he comes to UT hospital for close to 30 Botox injections in his arms and legs.

Botox wears off and Barry can tell when it's time for a new round of shots.

"This hand right here will become a complete claw and I feel it in this leg," Wells said. "Here where it's not stable I fall at the house. You can just tell it in your body."  

"Barry has had injections in the key spastic muscles of the arm and leg using a machine that detects the electrical activity and then inject medicine in those extremely spastic muscles," explained Dr. Jeff Hecht.

"That's a little different than one does with cosmetics, where you just aim and shoot where you know the muscles are," Dr. Hecht continued.

Barry admits the shots are painful, but says that's a small price to pay for what he calls a true miracle.

"It's hard days and there's easy days, but still my life goes on," Barry says. "I enjoy it thoroughly."

Most patients need to get Botox injections every ten to twelve weeks. The therapy works well on many stroke patients who've lost the use of an arm or leg.  

It's expensive, more than $800 for two vials of the toxin.

But Barry's insurance covers the cost.