For crow's feet, new drug is better than Botox

Consumer Reports News: June 23, 2011 06:08 AM

Got crow's feet? You know, those lines at the corners of your eyes? In the first ever face-to-face comparison between the long-time market leader Botox and the related drug Dysport, which has been available for only about two years, the challenger came out the winner.

Ninety volunteers, all with crow's feet, had Botox (onabotulinumtoxin A) injections on one side of their face and Dysport (abobotulinumtoxin A) injections on the other side. After 30 days, 67 percent of the patients said they thought Dysport did a better job. The study authors agreed, writing "photographic evidence also pointed to a striking difference between the treated sides of each patient's face."

In the conclusion, co-author Kartik Nettar of the University of California San Francisco, wrote: "Ongoing studies will determine whether the demonstrated patient preference and early advantage in clinical outcomes is persistent, as both the efficacy in line effacement and duration of effect are both important factors in patient and physician decision making as it relates to the use of neuromodulators."

Have you tried Dysport? Did you think it was better than Botox? And see our story on the other uses of Botox—and the risks it can pose.

Sources
An Internally Controlled, Double-blind Comparison of the Efficacy of OnabotulinumtoxinA
and AbobotulinumtoxinA [Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery]
Crow's Feet Faceoff Yields Clear Winner [MedPage Today]

—Maggie Shader