Penelope Trunk writes that Los Angeles is at the forefront of plastic surgery trends and what we see there will soon spread to other parts of the world (not to mention spreading to our brain stems). She says;

And just ten years ago, I remember talking with my friends about how gross Botox is. But my friend Sharon, who is a hairstylist in Los Angeles, says that the majority of her clients—who range from normal housewives to corporate lawyers—have had some sort of Botox injection. She says it’s so mainstream in Los Angeles that it’s almost a statement if you don’t have it.

The photo here is Los Angeles at Sundown.

The Telegraph is reporting that Victoria Beckham has quit using Botox. She doesn't want the frozen face of Hollywood.

Instead she is trying to keep her skin smooth and young by eating a lot of goji berries. Goji berries reportedly have 500 times more vitamin C than oranges. They also have linoleic acid, which is key for making skin plump. We assume the '500 times as much Vitamin C' refers to an equal weight of orange to goji berries? How many goji berries would one have to eat to get their recommended daily amount of Vitamin C?

See more about foods that fight wrinkles here.

A famous dermatologist in Beverly Hills, Dr. Arnold Klein, has just issued a press release where he says a study about the effects of Botox was misrepresented by Allergan, the company that makes Botox.

He is referring to a paper which included graphs "demonstrating a worsening of wrinkle severity after the Botox wore-off".

It's surprising that Dr. Klein is on a mission to inform the public about the dangers surrounding the improper use of Botox. He used to serve on the advisory board for Allergan and may have received over a $100,000 per year for his duties. But since he has raised concerns over these issues he's been let go from his advisory board position.

See his press release here.

Surgical and non-surgical cosmetic procedures saw a growth of 457 percent in the past 10 years according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. Last years growth was 8 percent.

The most popular non-surgical procedure last year was botox. There were almost three million botox injections applied last year. Non-surgical procedures such as Botox grew by 754 percent over the 10 year period while surgical cosmetic procedures grew by 114 percent.

Liposuction was the most popular surgical procedure with almost half a million liposuction operations performed last year.

Simon Cowell is a regular botox user. He told U.K.'s Glamour magazine that he doesn't think Botox is any more unusual than toothpaste. He's got no qualms about using it, and it works great for him.

He also revealed that he usually wears one-inch lifts in his shoes to make him look taller. Simon Cowell is 48 years old and about 5 feet 8.5 inches tall. He's been working out to get into superb shape over the past year.

Cowell is best known as a judge on American Idol and makes over $100 million a year from all his entertainment related businesses. He's always going to be a bachelor. He says if he got married, his wife would soon hate him.

A study at a Canadian university has found that botox injections spread into neighboring muscles and tissues. Sixty rabbits were injected with botulinum type-A toxin for this study.

"The message here really is that you have to be very careful because the drug is not so specific. It can go into other tissues and it is a toxin."

The head of the study said the results should not sound any alarm bells. But they should serve as a warning to doctors to be vigilant when targeting a muscle and to stick to the dosage that's required for therapeutic effect to minimize the toxin spread.

But as for his personal opinion about using Botox for cosmetic purposes he says "Botox is a poison. I would be completely against (putting) any poison in my body purely for cosmetic purposes."

See the botox seeping story at the Calgary Herald.

Update: April 2008, see new research released today that says Botox may spread to the brain.

Vanessa Willams, age 44, has told OK Magazine that she does Botox and she thinks that "almost every woman that I know has imbided". She says she started using Botox last year and first sought anti-aging help after she turned 40 in 2003. The beautiful Williams lives in Beverly Hills, is twice divorced and has four children.

We'd like to know if she has experienced any of the potential side effects of Botox including headaches, sinusitis, pain, flu-like symptoms and respiratory problems.

Allergan is the company that makes Botox and they are by far the largest company in Orange County, Los Angeles based on Wall Street rankings. The company is worth about $20 billion based on their current market cap. Botox accounted for about 40% of their 2007 revenues.

But a new competing product to Botox, Reloxin, will probably be launched before the end of this year. It's a wrinkle remover that's chemically similar to Botox but developed by their competitors, Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp.

See more about the competitive situation coming up for Allergan here.