THE name botox is synonymous with a cosmetic treatment to halt the ageing process. But the Botulinum toxin has been used medically for 30 years to treat a wide range of conditions, such as facial ticks and eyelid spasms. met patients having botox treatment at Maidstone Hospital, who see their injections as a life saver, not just a way of trying to stay young.

FOR years meal times were an emotional battleground for Patricia Webster.

As she chewed her first mouthful, tears would start streaming down her face until she finished.

It had nothing to do with the taste of the food she was eating but a medical condition that was ruining Mrs Webster’s life.

Mrs Webster suffers from a little-known condition called crocodile tears.

Sufferers involuntarily cry while eating. Nerve fibres which should be used for salivation become damaged and re-grow into the lacrimal gland, situated under the eye, which control tears.

Thankfully, there was an answer.

Mrs Webster, a 58-year-old mother of three from Beechmore Drive, Boxley, is one of around 60 patients attending botox clinics at Maidstone and Pembury hospitals.

Mrs Webster, who attends the Maidstone Hospital clinic, said: “Over the years, the tears and a sobbing movement would just come when I ate.”

The treatment was alarmingly simple but needs some show of bravery.

Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust’s consultant nurse in Ophthalmology, Margaret Gurney, who runs the clinics, injects the botulinum toxin underneath Mrs Webster’s eyelid, into her lacimal gland.

In the same way botox paralyses facial muscles, giving a wrinkle-free side-effect, it blocks the message from the damaged nerves, meaning the tears no longer fall.

The Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust has begun using botox in urology cases, introducing the toxin into bladders and prostate glands, to ease sudden urges to go to the toilet. It can also block over-active sweat glands.

Dennis Wright, 56, from Folkestone, who worked most of his life at the Robins and Day Peugeot dealership in Mill Street, Maidstone, was just 39 when his eyelid and one side of his face began twitching.

Mr Wright, who has botox injected around the eye, said: “It was embarrassing, especially when you talked to people.

“The botox takes a little while to work, but the twitching does stop. I feel more confident speaking to people and without it, driving would be impossible.”

For the full story see the Kent Messenger