Botox for Foot Wounds

ST. LOUIS (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- It's been used for wrinkles, muscle spasms and even Tourette syndrome. Now Botox may now save limbs from amputation.

Each year, foot ulcers lead to more than 82,000 amputations. They’re a devastating complication of diabetes.

"Every time you have an ulcer, this is just one more opportunity to develop a limb-threatening infection that might require an amputation," says Jeffrey Johnson, M.D., an orthopedic foot and ankle surgeon from Barnes-Jewish Hospital at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Researchers at Washington University say healing the ulcers is tough, but keeping them healed is tougher. Dr. Johnson says: "The problem is the recurrence rate is very high. Within the first month after healing these ulcers ... 60 percent or 80 percent of patients will re-ulcerate during that time."

Now, researchers are turning to Botulinum Toxin Type A, or Botox -- a poison that’s commonly used to treat wrinkles.

Wounds are most common on the ball of the foot, and the pressure on wounds is highest when a person walks. That’s where Botox comes in. "What the botulism will do is weaken that muscle, the muscle that pushes you forward during walking, and so then you can’t develop the high pressures under the front of your foot," says Mary Hastings, a physical therapist at Washington University who is leading the study. Botox allows time for the ulcer to heal.

In a new study, doctors will inject Botox in six different places in the calf muscle. Then, they’ll cast it. They know the Botox will weaken the muscle, and they hope that’s enough to keep the wounds healed.

"The more time you spend without a sore on the bottom of the foot, the less chance you have for an infection that will develop into the potential for a need for an amputation," Hastings says.

The study has already started enrolling patients. And for the more than 18 million diabetics in the Unites States, that’s encouraging news.

Botox is already approved by the FDA to treat other medical conditions. Hastings says this is the first time Botox has been used for foot wounds.

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If you would like more information, please contact:

Diane Duke Williams
Public Relations
Washington University School of Medicine
4444 Forest Park
Campus Box 8508
St. Louis, MO 63108-2212
(314) 286-0111
williamsdia@wustl.edu