Women don't just flash when they're hot, they flush and blush and often perspire copiously. The symptoms persist for up to five years after menopause. The forehead is one place when we get a hot flash that we can experience a flood of perspiration that can steam the glasses, blur the vision, drip the sun screen and overall make us miserable. When a woman hot flashes she does get has a dramatic increase of local skin blood flow. And researchers in London and Texas, in a study supported by the NIH National Institute of Aging have shown that this skin blood flow is in fact sensitive to being controlled by Botox. And the treated patients were less likely to get forehead and forearm sweating in response to heat generated by being exposed to heat (ie an 'experimental hot flash'). We could have predicted some of this response as Botox is already used to control severe facial blushing as well as underarm sweating. Remember that this study didn't confirm that Botox should be used for hot flashes, as they weren't studying hot flashes exactly, but getting hot by being exposed to heat which may produce a physical stress that is completely different. And we know that women who are heavy will have worse hot flashes, so it's important to get the whole picture before you pull out the Botox! But some will say this research paves the way for your gynecologist to treat your flushes in a whole, new, non-hormonal, although not necessarily completely non-invasive, way!
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