April 15th marked the 10-year anniversary of the approval of Botox Cosmetic by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Since its inception as a cosmetic injectable, Botox has been used by thousands to reduce sweat in various areas of the body as well as eliminate or decrease wrinkle lines around the eyes and mouth. However, many people who receive Botox treatments or are considering the injectable medicine may not know much about Botox's long history.

According to CBS, San Francisco ophthalmologist Dr. Alan Scott is credited with creating Botox as a treatment for crossed eyes. And while the injections worked for those with the eye disorder, an unexpected side effect made the drug famous.

"Some of these patients that would come would kind of joke and say, 'Oh, doctor, I've come to get the lines out,'" Scott told the news source about his eye patients who were among the first people to receive Botox. "And I would laugh, 'Ha-ha,' but I really wasn't that tuned into the practical, and valuable aspect of that."

A few years later, in 1990, Scott sold his Botox creation to pharmaceutical company Allergan, and CBS reports that the company received a pretty good bargain. While Allergan paid $8 million for the drug, today the Botox industry is pulling in around $1 billion year, and showing no signs of slowing.
Botox wouldn't have achieved the popularity it knows today if it hadn't been for the approval by the FDA 10 years ago, The Inquisitr reports. That landmark moment allowed the injectable medicine to be used for cosmetic purposes, changing the face of cosmetic procedures forever.

"When approved by the FDA in 2002, Botox Cosmetic changed the way that physicians could treat patients who were interested in improving the appearance of their vertical frown lines between the brows," said David E.I. Pyott, President and CEO of Allergan, Inc., according to the news source. "Botox Cosmetic has become the number-one neuromodulator in the United States."

According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS), Botulinum Toxin Type A was the most popular nonsurgical cosmetic procedure in 2011, with approximately 2,619,739 procedures performed by a qualified physician over the course of the year.