BOTOX Specialist

What is Botox?

Botox is a purified form of botulinum toxin that’s well-known as an injectable treatment to diminish facial wrinkles. However, long before Botox was used for cosmetic purposes, doctors relied on its therapeutic action to treat muscle spasms. In urology, Botox injections are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to treat an overactive bladder (OAB).

What is overactive bladder?

OAB causes a sudden and very intense urge to urinate. The need to urinate is so strong that many patients involuntarily leak urine, a condition called urge incontinence. However, you can have OAB without incontinence.

With or without incontinence, OAB causes urinary frequency, making you go to the bathroom often throughout the day and night.

OAB is usually caused by:

Abnormal nerve signals

Nerve signals from your brain may tell your bladder muscles to contract even when your bladder isn’t full, and you don’t really need to urinate.

Overactive muscles

Your bladder walls are formed by detrusor muscle, which contracts to push urine out of the bladder. Just as its name suggests, OAB occurs when the bladder muscle is too active, making it contract frequently and strongly enough to cause urination or urge incontinence even if you just went to the bathroom.

How is overactive bladder treated?

The first line of treatment for an overactive bladder usually includes dietary changes to eliminate foods and beverages that may irritate your bladder, exercises to relax the bladder muscle, and behavioral therapies designed to train your bladder to retain urine longer.

If those therapies don’t help, your doctor at Urological Associates may prescribe medications to relax the bladder muscle. When you still have an uncomfortable OAB, the next tier of treatment includes Botox injections and nerve stimulation, such as the implantable InterStim® device that normalizes nerve communication between the brain and bladder.

How does Botox help relieve overactive bladder symptoms?

Botox is well-suited to treating an overactive bladder because it relaxes muscles. When your doctor at Urological Associates injects Botox into the bladder wall muscle, the medication blocks nerve signals that tell the muscle to contract. As a result, the muscles relax, and you no longer have overactive muscles urging you to urinate. Botox treatments wear off over time, but you can receive another injection to maintain the results.

If you suffer from an overactive bladder, call Urological Associates or schedule an appointment using the online booking feature.