'Barbie Botox' goes viral but doctors inject caution

The viral trend of "Barbie Botox" that has women as young as in their 20s rush for toxin-based procedures to mimic the looks of the movie's lead actress Margot Robbie may lead to resistance among users and hinder medical use in future, doctors cautioned.

The viral trend of "Barbie Botox" that has women as young as in their 20s rush for toxin-based procedures to mimic the looks of the movie's lead actress Margot Robbie may lead to resistance among users and hinder medical use in future, doctors cautioned.

The procedure, also known "Trap Tox," has been widely used by doctors to inject a class of drugs known as botulinum toxins, such as Botox, into the trapezius muscles of the upper back to treat migraines and shoulder pain.

But since the "Barbie" movie released in July, there has been an uptick in demand for use as a cosmetic procedure. The hashtag BarbieBotox had 11.2 million views on TikTok.

The procedure "supposedly slims the neck and somehow that got attributed to the actress that's playing Barbie," Revance Therapeutics RVNC.O CEO Dustin Sjuts told Reuters in an interview.

"They're not treating wrinkles or lax skin. They want less girth to their neck, a slimmer, more contoured neck," said Scot Glasberg, president-elect of Plastic Surgery Foundation, who practices in New York.

The approval of such injections for cosmetic purposes is only limited to procedures involving the face, making the use of the injection in the trapezius "off-label."

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration places the responsibility of "off-label" use on health professionals to judge such procedures as "medically appropriate."