Snake Venom
Gigantor, a deadly Australian Eastern Brown Snake, is milked for its venom by handler Billy Collett at the Australian Reptile Park in Somersby north of Sydney, January 21, 2015. Measured at an unusually-long two metres (6 feet), Gigantor was found in a suburban backyard in Sydney, is the second-most venomous snake in the world and is now regularly milked for its venom as part of the park's life-saving anti-venom program. Reuters

A Romanian woman who went to a plastic surgeon to have Botox injection on her face found out belatedly that it was snake venom that was used on her.

The victim, 38-year-old Racula Crisan, filed a lawsuit against the cosmetic doctor, 47-year-old Adrian Oancea, who injected the liquid below her eyes and in her lips. Oancea told the court that he didn’t know that snake venom was inside the bottle since the Botox vial had markings in Chinese character, reports Central European News.

Crisan, a resident of Alba-Iulia in central Romania, said her face was paralysed for almost one year. It included the glands that produces tears that she now has to permanently use pharmaceutical drops. She also couldn’t use her facial muscles, which meant she couldn’t smile or cry.

After two years of intensive treatments, Crisan is now in control of 70 percent of her facial muscles.

Despite the suspension of Oancea from the Alba County Hospital, he could still see patients in his private clinic. After two years of trial, his verdict has yet to come out.

According to CEN, snake venom is used for reduction of wrinkles, but it is mixed with cream and applied on the skin, not injected in its pure form.

In 2008, Daily Mail reported that Planet Skincare launched an anti-ageing daily moisturizer that claims its synthesised viper venom stuns the skin like a real snake bite would and helps keep the epidermis smooth.

The cream sold for 60 pounds jar and went on sale in the first week of September 2008 in Selfridges, selling 50 pots a day and making it the store’s best-selling premium skincare product.

To contact the writer, email: v.hernandez@ibtimes.com.au