時(shí)差N小時(shí):肉毒桿菌毒素

In our beauty conscious culture, people will goto great lengths to improve their appearance.Liposuction, tummy tucks, silicone implants--it's allbeen done. But surely we wouldn't resort toinjecting ourselves with a toxic substance thatcauses botulism, would we? Of course we would, inthe form of Botox injections, widely advertised as aquick, easy way to remove wrinkles and crow's-feet.

在這個(gè)崇尚美麗的文化里，人們會(huì)竭盡全力改善自己的外表。抽脂，緊腹手術(shù)，硅膠填充，應(yīng)有盡有。但想必我們不會(huì)對(duì)自己射入一些會(huì)引起肉毒中毒的有毒物質(zhì)，會(huì)嗎?當(dāng)然我們會(huì)注射肉毒桿菌毒素，它被大肆宣傳為一種快速、簡(jiǎn)單除皺和眼角魚(yú)尾紋的方法。

Botox is the marketing name given to a neurotoxin called botulinum toxin A. This toxincomes from the bacterium that produces the poisons responsible for causing botulism.Botulism is a form of food poisoning, the most serious symptom of which isparalysis.Botulism-related toxins attach to nerve endings, where they block their ability totrigger muscle contractions. If muscles can't contract, they can't move, resulting in paralysis.

肉毒桿菌素只是市場(chǎng)對(duì)肉毒桿菌毒素A這種神經(jīng)毒素的一個(gè)叫法。這種毒素來(lái)自細(xì)菌，它們可產(chǎn)生大量能引起肉毒中毒的毒素。肉毒中毒是食物中毒的一種，它最嚴(yán)重的臨床表癥就是身體癱瘓。肉毒毒素牽動(dòng)神經(jīng)末梢，阻止肌肉收縮，肌肉一旦不能收縮，肢體則無(wú)法運(yùn)動(dòng)，這樣就導(dǎo)致癱瘓。

So why would anyone risk injecting Botox into his or her body? There are legitimate medicalreasons, such as treating spasms and involuntary muscle contractions.Although the paralyzingeffects are not permanent, they can last up to eight months.And as long as Botox is injecteddirectly into a particular muscle group, there's little chance that it will spread to other parts ofthe body.

那么為什么人們還要冒險(xiǎn)往體內(nèi)注入肉毒桿菌呢?其中就有諸如治療痙攣和無(wú)意識(shí)性肌肉收縮等合法醫(yī)療因素。雖然麻痹的作用不是永久性的，但也能持續(xù)八個(gè)月。只要肉毒桿菌毒素直接注入到特定的肌肉組織，就不太可能擴(kuò)散至身體的其它區(qū)域。

As a beauty treatment, Botox does what it's meant to do: paralyze muscles. For example,injecting botox into muscle groups near the eyes will temporarily paralyze those muscles,keeping them from scrunching up. Consequently the wrinkles, or crow's feet, they causetemporarily disappear. In time, however, wrinkles reappear.Not even Botox canpermanently reverse the march of time.

對(duì)于整容來(lái)說(shuō)，肉毒桿菌確實(shí)做了它該做的：麻痹肌肉。例如，在眼睛附近的肌肉組織注射肉毒桿菌毒素，會(huì)暫時(shí)性的麻痹那些肌肉，使它們不皺起。結(jié)果就是皺紋或眼角魚(yú)尾紋會(huì)暫時(shí)性的消失。然而，時(shí)間一長(zhǎng)皺紋會(huì)重新出現(xiàn)。即使是肉毒桿菌也不能讓時(shí)光永遠(yuǎn)倒流。