The Professional Geriatric Care Manager’s Blog

A Surprising Off-Label Use for Botox?

Botulinum toxin is kind of a scary thing – as the most toxic protein known to man, it’s used as a medication for a number of purposes, ranging from the cosmetic application to the prevention of muscular spasms.

These days, however, it looks like Botox is claiming another procedure for its repertoire of successes: freeing up muscles of stroke victims. Though not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration, the off-label use of Botox on stroke victims has been widely accepted by Medicare as a reimbursable procedure.

For this, the patient is injected deep into the muscle tissue with Botox. Though Botox cannot restore the use of muscles when stroke has destroyed the brain region that controls them, it can help patients look and feel better and often find it easier to dress, hold objects and bathe themselves.