Botox While Pregnant: Can it Harm my Child?

Thank you for your question. I would not worry too much if you had Botox and found out you were pregnant. Botox works locally where it was injected and the dosing is very small. The makers of Botox would never consider sponsoring a study to see the saftey of Botox during pregnancy or breast feeding as it would be too risky for them. Likewise, for physicians. I generally provide reassurance for situations like yours and I do recommend that you stop any future injectable treatments until either the baby is born or until after breast feeding. I would also let you OB know that you had a Botox treatment during pregnancy so they are aware.

Hi Molly.  Sorry to hear about all the anxiety this issue is creating for you.  While no one knows for sure if Botox can harm the fetus (there are no studies), Botox is normally confined to a very small area in and around the muscle to which it is injected.

While it's perfectly reasonable to have anxiety about this issue, we would try to do everything you can to come to peace with the issue for two reasons.  First you cannot go backwards and reverse the injection and second, more stress during your pregnancy will not be good for you and the baby.  Good luck.

There have been no formal studies looking at Botox and it's safety in pregnancy.  However, there is one study that found that women who received botox and later found out they were pregnant had uneventful pregnancies.  Always tell a physician that you are pregnant (at whatever stage you are in) whenever receiving any treatments or medications and consult your Ob/Gyn for further reccomendations and insight into this issue.