The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved Xeomin to treat severe frown lines or “11’s” between the eyebrows. Xeomin was already FDA approved for other treatments and has been used by more than 84,000 people worldwide since 2005. Like other drugs in this category, Xeomin works by paralyzing wrinkles. It blocks the signals from the nerves to the muscles. As a result, the targeted muscle cannot contract, which is exactly the way Botox works.
Botox, Dysport and Xeomin have a lot in common, but they also have some important differences. Unlike its predecessors, Xeomin does not need to be refrigerated. What’s more, Xeomin is “naked.” There are no additives , which may lessen a patient’s likelihood of developing antibodies to Xeomin.
Other neuromodulators, such as Dysport, have been released to the market ,but some inconsistencies and other problems have kept them from ever catching on. Xeomin comes in the same dosing as Botox, so essentially a unit is still a unit. The difference is the cost per unit should be diminished.
Xeomin is said to be more like Botox than Dysport. It takes about one week for the full effects of Xeomin injections to be realized, and once this occurs the results last from three to six months. Dysport, Xeomin and Botox should not be used interchangeably. They should also only be administered by skilled injectors such as dermatologists or board-certified facial plastic surgeons in sterile environments such as medi-spas or doctor’s offices.
XEOMIN is injected into muscles to decrease their activity. XEOMIN blocks the release of a chemical messenger—acetylcholine—that conveys the signal from nerve terminals and causes muscle fibers to contract. Not all terminals are affected by botulinum toxin, so the muscles can still contract, just less forcefully. This allows the muscles to contract more normally.
Not all botulinum toxin products are the same. This is reflected in the unique names for each product. The dose of XEOMIN may be different from other botulinum toxin products.
In nature, C. botulinum produces the toxin in association with accessory proteins (toxin complex). Merz takes the toxin complex and employs a proprietary manufacturing process that isolates the therapeutic component and removes the accessory proteins to produce XEOMIN.