National Botox Supply Shortage
WHERE’S THE BOTOX?!?
A world without Botox! That’s where this country has been for the past week. As many of you know, we have had to cancel all of our Botox clinics in the past week due to a lack of supply.
So, where’s the Botox?!?
It’s been almost 2 weeks since a devastating winter storm hit Texas, causing power outages, broken water pipes, and a lack of heat amidst freezing temperatures. Fortunately, most of these issues have been resolved in the last 5 days.
Unbeknownst to us, Allergan, the maker of Botox, houses its only United States Botox Storage Facility in the city of Houston. Botox is bottled in a powder form in vials that must remain frozen. It is delivered to individual clinics on dry ice via overnight Fed Ex delivery. It is then immediately placed into a freezer, and when needed, is reconstituted with saline, and is then ready to make us beautiful.
Botox delivery was affected by the Houston storm primarily due to problems with the normally very efficient Fed Ex delivery system, which was essentially shut down by the storm.
Botox, of course, is important to all of us, but truth be told, there are some things that are more important than Botox, such as the delivery of COVID Vaccines, and other medications that treat life threatening conditions. They, of course, took preference once Fed Ex was able to resume their deliveries.
Adding to the dilemma, some Botox shipments left the Houston facility, only to be delayed in Dallas, and took 5 days or more to arrive at Essence. At that point, the dry ice was gone, and even though Allergan says that Botox can remain “stable” for up to 5 days not frozen, we, at Essence, didn’t feel comfortable treating our patients with a possibly less than optimal product. So, as painful as it was, we refused the long awaited deliveries to wait for an overnight shipment on dry ice to be sure it was not a compromised product.
Buyer Beware of possible diluted Botox in the Aesthetics community that may be used in light of the short supply, OR sub-optimal Botox that has thawed in the delivery process.
At Essence Laser & Wellness, we have your best interests in mind. We are expecting our next overnight frozen delivery of Botox on dry ice any day.
Thank you for your patience. Good things are worth waiting for.
Melinda C. O’Rourke, MD
Essence Laser & Wellness, PC