It's designed to stop wrinkles in middle-age – but Botox could also protect people from catching Covid, according to a French study.
Researchers said that out of their almost 200 patients who got the treatment up to July last year, only two had signs of being ill.
For comparison, they suggested 4.4 per cent of the French population had already been infected with the virus.
But experts described the study as being 'extremely poor' and insisted that it proved nothing about whether Botox had any promise in the fight against Covid.
More than one million Britons get Botox injections every year, and the procedure is even more common in the US.
French scientists have suggested botox can stop a Covid infection. But experts in England have said their study was 'extremely poor'. Stock photo
The toxin, one of the most dangerous known to science, helps to reduce wrinkles because it relaxes muscles in the forehead.
But it is also used for medical reasons, and given to patients suffering migraines and involuntary muscle contractions to help soothe symptoms.
Some 193 patients were involved in the study, of which three quarters were women (146). They were in their fifties, on average.
They had all received Botox for medical ailments, the Montpellier University Hospital team revealed.
All volunteers were followed for three months after they received the
