Recently former Housewives of Atlanta and current star of Don’t be Tardy and Dancing with the Stars, Kim Zolciak Biermann suffered a TIA or temporary stroke. There has been conjecture that botox she received days earlier may have caused or contributed to the stroke or TIA. This article is here to discuss if that is a possibility and if that can happen to anyone else.

Botox is a medication that is used to paralyze muscles of the face and body. It was created from a toxin from a bacteria called Botulinum. For years, it has been used by movie stars, politicians, and regular people to reduce fine lines and wrinkles on their face and neck. It is also used to inhibit sweating as well. Botox works by causing portion of the nerves that supply the muscle to die. In 3 months the nerves regenerate and as a result that is why doctors tell patients that their botox will “work” for about 12 weeks.

How does a stroke occur? A stroke is a blockage of a blood vessel to a part of the brain. When Mrs. Biermann suffered a stroke or TIA she lost use of part of her body along with numbness. This is because the processing area of the body (the brain), is not functioning properly from lack of blood supply. Blood brings oxygen and without oxygen the brain can’t function properly. Luckily for her, she did not have a stroke where the blockage is permanent but a TIA. TIA stands for temporary ischemic attack which means it is basically a temporary stroke.

Could botox cause a blockage of an artery? The answer is no. Strokes by injected medications are caused by medications with particles in them, such as steroids or filler. Medications that are clear liquid are unlikely to cause stroke especially when they are injected in such small volume in the face. Additionally, if the stroke was to occur it would be immediate (within minutes to hours), not several days after. Even if there was an air bubble in the syringe injecting the botox and it got into a blood vessel, it would cause an immedate TIA or stroke, not several days later.

Why would people make this connection if there is no scientific evidence to support it? A common phenomenon in medicine is the desire to connect a medical problem with a sentinel event. What does that mean? Often if someone develops a medical condition it is human nature to try to find a single event that may be the cause. An example may be a patient who develops lung cancer and remembers that they were at a party the previous month where there was a lot of smoke. Of course, exposure to smoke at a single party is not going to cause lung cancer but the human mind will try to make that connection.

The most common example currently is the false link of vaccines to autism. Normal child social development occurs right after vaccines are given. It is normal to perceive that if one’s child is not developing socially and the only intervention recently was a vaccine administration, that vaccines are the cause of the autism. Though there is no scientific evidence for it and has been disproven repeatedly, people will believe that connection falsely.

Why is this connection so strong? It is hardwired into us to try to connect things that happen to us with outside events. If the first time a caveman ate a poisonous fruit and vomited for several days, if he ignored that connection and the following week he tried to eat the fruit again, he would most likely be dead. Connecting cause to outcome is critical for survival and is helpful most of the time. It is the same reason when we were a kid and put our hands on a hot stove, we learned to not do it again. In our modern society however, it does not apply as much.

In fact since Botox is so commonly injected and the desire for a sentinel event is so strong often Botox is blamed for getting the flu, not being able to sleep, UTIs, or even stroke as in this case. It is a good example where the science trumps our human desire to link things together. So in summary, no Botox cannot cause a stroke. In fact, it often used to help stroke patients recover.

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