THE city’s hospitals have received a number of patients suffering from facial paralysis and poisoning around whole body after taking Botox injections. The Peking University Shenzhen Hospital alone has received eight such female patients over the past three months, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

    Doctors from the hospitals responded that Botox products that were approved to be sold rarely cause these symptoms, but fake Botox might be to blame for these female patients’ abnormal symptoms.

    According to a report by the Guangzhou Daily, a Shenzhen woman who suffered from serious respiratory muscle paralysis had received treatment at the cosmetic surgery center in a Guangzhou hospital early this month.

    Sun Zhongsheng, the director of the center, said that the woman’s life would have been in danger if she had not been treated in time.

    The report said that the woman had injected herself with 400 units of Botox at home because she wanted to have slimmer legs within a month. Consequently, she suffered from headaches, dizziness, blurred vision and eventually had difficulties eating and drinking.

    Sun found that the woman was too weak to clench her fists when they first met. “She was lying there and could hardly lift her feet or carry her bag,” said Sun.

    “Not only were her legs damaged by the Botox. The poison had spread to her whole body and she needed an external ventilator to assist her breathing,” the doctor said, adding that it would take four to six months for the woman to fully recover.

    Another doctor from the Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Zhu Hui, said a woman in her 30s has also suffered from symptoms typical of fake Botox. The woman had attempted to thin her face by injecting Botox at an unqualified beauty salon.

    After the injection, the woman could not even lift her head while lying down, her eyelids drooped and she could not breathe normally due to the paralysis.

    According to medical experts, Botox was initially used to make chemical weapons and later adopted to treat facial spasms or other muscle movement disorders. In the field of cosmetic surgery, this type of medicine is used to intervene with the activation of the nerves to control the shape of the face or body.

    Currently, China has only approved two types of Botox injections. One domestically produced brand is called “Hengli” and the other one is imported. All other Botox medications are banned in the country.

    Thirty-five people have been arrested for allegedly being involved in trading fake medicine, including fake Botox, from May 2015 to May this year, according to the Nanshan People’s Procuratorate. (Zhang Qian)